Breakfast at Bordeaux Quay, Bristol

Taking kids out for a meal is part of the growing up process - for you as an individual, with your partner moving from being a couple to being a family, and for the children - a rite of passage that starts from the first time you struggle out with the buggy, nappy bag bulging, desperate to prove that 'nothing has changed' and then sit there breastfeeding under a napkin for the entire time while your food goes cold... It's one of those things that just keeps popping up on the agenda and as the little darlings get older, there's more and more to negotiate. Working out where to go so there's something that the children will eat. Taking a stand and going where you want to go, determined to prove that if they are hungry they will eat, and then enduring the embarrassment of the food flicking, the under the table sulking or, if you're really lucky, the complete and highly vocal refusal to eat any of THAT DIS-GUS-TING stuff, Mummy... 

As they get older, you let the children you think you've trained so well to enjoy good quality sophisticated food choose where you go - and end up in Pizza Hut trying not to balk as they pile an obscene amount of sugary sweets onto ice cream at the equally obscene 'help yourself' ice cream factory (if you haven't been there, just don't ask). And even as they get older, more grown up, become more fun, taking the kids out is still something of a minefield. You just NEVER know what's going to happen. Someone told me recently of leaving Honey and Co, revered Middle Eastern cafe, practically in tears because her kids had started flicking orange juice around the place...

For rather complicated reasons, we ended up in the Premier Inn Bristol Haymarket on Saturday night. A 'trailer trash' evening of take out pizza, Top Gear on BBC3 (the only thing on TV that late that we could consider allowing the kids to watch) and, for the Husband and I, wine in 18.7cl (i.e.small) bottles in our family room followed.  After a much better night's sleep than I'd anticipated (ie despite late pizza and sharing a room with the kids), we were refreshed and ready for the finest breakfast Bristol could offer us.

Graced with a beautiful blue sky and sunshine we sauntered down to the docks where, the Husband advised, we would find a great breakfast. I'm afraid I don't have any photos of Bristol on this glorious morning, but take it from me, it was lovely, the morning light reflecting off the stately buildings, very similar to Newcastle and Edinburgh in architectural style. Unfortunately, the establishment the Husband was intent on breakfasting at, the Mud Dock Cycleworks Cafe, was definitely closed when we pitched up, and with no indication of when it might open (if at all) we headed round the corner and spied Bordeaux Quay over the bridge, basking in the morning sunshine...

The name seemed vaguely familiar and we decided to give it a go. Plus Pink, who had refused a banana in the hotel room, had begun a constant grumble about how hungry she was and it was starting to get a little wearing.

Turns out it was a great choice: we got a prime window table in this habourside establishment, and warmed by the sun, we struggled with the menu - in the best possible way. "How many slices of toast would the full English come with?" was Blue's concern. Turns out he wanted enough to be able to have a bacon and sausage sandwich but he wanted more than just the sandwich. As long as the full English came with more than 1 bit of toast, his wildest breakfast dreams could be fulfilled. Pink just didn't want mushrooms, the Husband wouldn't tell me what he was having, in an attempt to force my hand without knowing what I might be missing out on, and I was torn between something sophisticated, possibly involving smoked salmon, or a plate of pork based products...

In the end, we had 2 full English breakfasts (one without mushrooms) for the kids, I had a vegetarian breakfast with bacon (because really, why wouldn't you?), and the Husband had a sausage ciabatta.

I can't vouch for anyone else's meal because no one was sharing, but my breakfast was delicious. 2 lovely organic eggs, grilled tomatoes, hash browns, crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, lovely big mushrooms and some lovely bacon, plus really really delicious homemade baked beans. The coffee was great too as was the hot chocolate the kids had. Judging by the clean plates, everyone else enjoyed their breakfast too - although I should mention one ting: the Husband's sausage ciabatta came with salad. A fairly standard leafy salad. It was just wrong. So the plates were all clean - APART from the salad. Sorry, Bordeaux Quay, but, please - why?

It wasn't cheap - to take the 4 of us for breakfast was £50.00, give or take, but the Husband and I reflected that actually taking the kids out for breakfast is quite a good option, rather than lunch, which can be rushed, or dinner when if you get it on the wrong day, or too late, they can be tired and grumbly, and not fancy what's on the menu. In fact, breakfast is a very non-threatening meal to take kids out for. They'll be hungry, and really, there's bound to be something they want to eat. As well as the breakfasts we had, Bordeaux Quay offered pancakes, toast, muesli or granola, croissants etc. And provided no one's had a terrible night's sleep, the darlings will be full of perky fun and entertaining conversation (if you're still at the breastfeeding under a napkin - or not under a napkin - stage, believe me, it does happen eventually!). It's possibly the perfect meal to enjoy in public with children.

It was also a lovely treat, and meant we didn't have to fork out for lunch at Bristol Zoo where we spent an enjoyable few hours in the sunshine...

Cardiff - puddings and pumpkin seeds

So where was I? Ah yes, skipping out of Wahaca in Cardiff last Saturday evening, admiring the pretty lights, replete with tacos and tequila, but not actually full to busting, having decided we didn’t fancy their puds and willing to try our luck elsewhere. 

Obviously the cocktails had gone to our head as we recalled the heady days BC (Before Children) when we lived in a flat in south London and on the rare occasions that we had any money to speak of, we would skip (figuratively of course, for we were young and hip... er actually no, we weren't but we didn't actually skip. It's figurative, OK?) off into the centre of Soho for late night cake, coffee and a walk along the river… 

Eager to repeat the experience, we were sadly brought up short by a distinct lack of comparable establishments in central Cardiff providing what we actually had in mind. The pie shop was closed up too, and most of the other places we found were heaving boozers, music thumping, pavements outside slick with beer (well, Wales had just beaten South Africa) so Carluccios had to do. Oh how times have changed. 

*insert nostalgic sigh for the days when a heaving boozer with beer-slickened pavements and thumping music would have been my idea of a top night out*

The waitress in Carluccios looked at us slightly askance when we declared our desire only for pudding and coffee, but she installed us at a table and produced a couple of the finest espressos I've had recently. There was nearly a major crisis when it transpired that they had (gasp) RUN OUT of lemon tart, but we managed to make do with 2 of their rather delicious chocolate offerings - a warm chocolate pudding for me, baked with ground almonds and served with ice cream, and a rich chocolate torte with raspberry coulis for the  Husband. I also managed a heady Amaretto - I love the stuff but hardly ever drink liqueurs so it was a real treat. I could actually just sit and sniff it and then drink it by dipping my tongue in the glass. But that's not for polite company, so I managed to restrain myself.

Of course, a cracking night out requires a decent breakfast the following morning, and while neither of us felt too shabby, despite tequilas and digestifs, a certain gravitas was required when it came to the contents of breakfast. We were staying on a room only basis in our hotel, so headed out to Bill's to enjoy their breakfasts and their industrial shabby chic restaurant.

I'd never heard of Bill's before and I was a bit disappointed to find out it was part of a chain, because on first glance it didn't feel very chain-like -nestled as it is in a lovely arcade, with a very independent feel too it, even down to the fleece blankets thoughtfully provided for those wishing to enjoy one of the outside tables. Then I spotted the blackboard hanging from the ceiling indicating that it had first started in a greengrocer's in Lewes, which is pretty far from Cardiff, and I was also a bit embarrassed because they seem to be EVERYWHERE. How have I not found out about this before?

Anyway, I can't vouch for the lunches or evening meals, but they do a cracking breakfast at Bill's. I had the eggs royale - smoked salmon and poached eggs on sourdough toast with hollandaise, scattered with pumpkin seeds which was a bit of a surprise addition, but I liked it. The Husband pondered out loud the fact that if he had a big breakfast, he'd feel full and have to moan about it, which lead me to believe he'd go for something else, but in fact he plumped for the full monty - the 'Bill's Breakfast' and enjoyed it hugely. And yes, he did moan about feeling full afterwards, but only in a half-hearted way. Lovely coffee too, although a couple of our drinks orders were missed or arrived very slowly - and in fact the Husband's second Americano just didn't arrive which meant we had to top up on caffeine in Cardiff Bay. But with the sun shining, that was no bad thing...

Breakfast for Dinner - a review

The basic premise of 'Breakfast for Dinner', by Lindsay Landis & Taylor Hackbarth is that all those things you eat for breakfast are so good that it's a crying shame to relegate them to that first meal of the day. This is particularly the case in our ever more rushed lives when we simply don't have time most days to sit and savor breakfast. 

I'm definitely a breakfast person. I really can't function unless I've eaten in the morning, but it goes further than that. I really love morning food - and I'm always interested in what's put out in the morning on those (very rare, these days) times I'm staying in a B&B or hotel. I think it says a huge amount about a place, how they treat their breakfasts: congealed scrambled eggs and a tin of greasy sausages in utiltarian stainless steel trays, or beautifully fresh fruit, home made granola, local bacon. I love the 'European' breakfast - the cheese, the meat, the fruit, the cake (as I discovered in Venice last year). As a result, I'm all for encouraging those breakfasty flavours and ingredients to spread their wings and take part in other meals - after all, it wasn't that long ago that I was pondering on how everything tastes better with bacon...

So the book. Well, it's well laid out with loads of great photos. There's a brief introduction to ingredients - and as it's a US book, there are some differences in description (and of course, the all pervading cups and spoons that I've touched on before) but somehow, these don't seem to bother me as much as they have in the US baking books I've reviewed. May be I feel more comfortable with the idea of going with the flow when it comes to cooking as opposed to baking.  The book is split into sections of Main Dishes, Sides & Starters and Drinks & Desserts and takes ideas from the breakfast menu and turns them into other meals. Eggs turn up in a Shaskshuka (eggs poached in a tomato sauce, one of my faves), Egg & Chorizo Burritos and on an 'over easy' pizza; sausage turns up in a ravioli with ricotta, granola makes its way into cookies, bananas into a glorious looking bundt cake (I really must get a bundt tin); pancakes are stuffed with lentils and carrot and rolled, or stacked in an enormous dessert layered with a kind of creamy banana custard.

And what of my favourite - bacon? Well, as you might imagine, bacon features in the mini BLTs but more intriguingly (and somewhat bizzarely) in Bacon Jam, candied, to top maple syrup cupcakes, and - wait for it - in a cocktail: the Bacon Old Fashioned. Yes really.

Bacon Jam. Yes, really.

Bacon cocktails aside, there's a lot in here that I would like to have a go at. There's plenty of veg involved, and some good ideas like using cornflakes as a crunchy coating for homemade chicken nuggets.

Cornflake coated chicken 'tenders'

I like that it also includes recipes for the basics that are used - pitta bread, pasta, pizza dough.

On Saturday, we had the scrambled egg and smoked salmon quesadillas for lunch. Well, actually, we had the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs cooked according to the recipe, but served on toast because I forgot the wraps, but as the filling's the most important part, I'm here to tell you that it's delicious, combining leeks and creme fraiche in the scrambled eggs as well as smoked salmon (which you could serve on the side if you preferred). And I bet it would be delicious served up as quesadillas too.

It's definitely an interesting book with lots of good ideas in it. Inevitably, a lot of it comes across as very 'brunchy' but is no less inviting for that, but there's plenty that I would serve up for lunch or supper. I think the idea of the book works and is well thought out, and I'll be happy to give it shelf space!

So here it is, the disclaimer! I was provided with a copy of Breakfast for Dinner by PGUK for the purposes of providing a review, but I was not required to write a favourable view. All views expressed are my own.

Forever Nigella 22 - Norwegian Cinammon Buns

Well, I couldn't host Forever Nigella, and not enter myself, could I? 

The subject of challenge (which I chose) is food to cherish your loved ones with and really, the reason I chose this was for these cinammon buns.

Warm, fragrant, oozing cinammony sweet butter. What better way to cherish your loved ones (foodwise, that is) than to knock up a batch of these beauties for that most important of meals, breakfast. I'm not saying I make this sort of thing every morning, but every now and again, well, I think you know what I'm saying.

I have a Swedish friend who I don't see nearly enough. She and I 'raspberry leaf tea'd and long brisk walked' our way through the final weeks of our first pregnancies. We were due 10 days  apart and ended up giving birth to our sons within 12 hours of each other, albeit in different hospitals. She coped with it all much better than I, birth, breastfeeding, the whole babyness of babies, and within weeks she was my Scandi saviour, bringing down to earth common sense to my hormonal, slightly post-natal slump, and Swedish cinammon buns.

It was she who was our saviour a couple of years' later, the chaotic day, 3 months in to Blue's treatment for leukaemia, that Pink arrived and Blue was very poorly following some chemo. When, later on in Blue's illness I turned to How to be a Domestic Goddess in an attempt to cook my way out of the frustration and anger that had built up inside me, I saw this recipe and immediately thought of her. This was one of the first things I made from that tome, and it has stayed firmly in my repertoire ever since. 

I do not know anyone who would not happily eat 2 or 3 (or, ahem, more, she said, red-faced) of these beauties. They have become the birthday breakfast of choice here and they are well worth it. The first few times I made them, I got terribly het up about the wetness of the dough, and also with the timings - because I never quite read the recipe through properly and they ended up taking me longer than anticipated. However, with my new found bread-making confidence, when I served them up this morning I was feeling calm and serene - very Domestic Goddess (although without the knowing pout or the slinky dressing gown).

When I made the dough up, I was careful with the addition of the liquid, and I stopped short of using it all, reserving what was left (a milky buttery eggy mixture) to glaze the buns on the final prove. I also made the dough up the night before and gave it the first rise in the fridge, so that in the morning, I just had to get it out of the fridge and let it come to temperature before forming the buns, giving it a second prove, and baking.

Norwegian Cinammon Buns

(makes 10-12)

Dough:

300g strong white flour
50g sugar
pinch of salt
11/2 sachets (about 10g) dried yeast
50g unsalted butter
200ml milk
1 large egg

Filling:

75g soft unsalted butter
75g soft brown sugar
1 tsp cinammon

(possibly an extra egg to glaze) 

You will need a lined baking/roasting tin - the one I use is 20 x 25cm.

Make the dough. Melt the butter and set aside to cool a little. Combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl, then whisk together the melted butter, milk and the egg.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients gradually, stirring to combine. You want a reasonably wet dough, but not so wet that it becomes unreasonable to manage, so if you don't use all the liquid don't worry - I had around 30ml left over. When you have a rough dough, turn out and knead to a smooth, springy ball of dough. You can do this in a mixer with a dough hook just as well as by hand - it won't take as long. If you don't use all the liquid, reserve the left over for glazing

At this stage put the dough back in the bowl and cover with clingfilm. You can leave the dough to rise for 25 minutes or so on the work top, or overnight in the fridge (which is what I did - if you do this, just get it out and let it come to room temperature before continuing with the next stage).

Preheat the oven to 230C. Make the filling by mashing and mixing together the butter, sugar and cinammon.

Take 1/3 of the dough and on a lightly floured surface, roll and stretch it out to fit the bottom of the tin. You then need to roll out the rest of the dough to make a rectangle. I completely failed to measure how big, but probably about 30-40 cm long by 15-20 wide. Certainly longer and wider than your tin, Not very helpful is it? Nigella herself makes a double quantity and rolls her dough to 50x25 cm.

Spread the filling all over the rectangle of dough 

and then roll up along the long side. When you have a big old roll of dough in front of you. slice it up into 2 cm slices, placing the little rounds into the tin swirl side up. They won't fit together snugly at this stage, but wait till they have puffed up and risen during the second rise and in the oven...

Glaze the buns with either the left over liquid from the dough, or with a beaten egg, and leave to prove under a tea towel for 15-20 minutes, then bung in the oven for 20-25 minutes, turning half way through.

It's going to be hard but try and wait for them to cool down a little before tearing apart and devouring with a cup of coffee and the satisfied sighs of delight from your loved ones. "Mummy, this is such a TREAT!". May be I'll make them more often...

Forever Nigella is the monthly blogging event organised by Sarah at Maison Cupcake, I'm hosting it this month and the announcement post where you will find all the rules and the linky is here.

Forever Nigella 22 - Food to cherish your loved ones

Well, what a great way to start 2013 - as far as I'm concerned, anyway: hosting Forever Nigella on behalf of Sarah at Maison Cupcake.

My fondness for Nigella is not  a secret, and choosing a theme was a source of much internal wrangling. In the end, I have chosen "Food to Cherish your Loved Ones". This is not necessarily comfort food, but food which makes people feel extra special - be they your partner, your children, your friends. It's not necessarily dinner party food, but the stuff that really hits the button. 

Nigella has some great recipes for this - my personal favourites are the Sake Steak in Feast and the Norwegian Cinammon Buns from Domestic Goddess. They are very different dishes: the Steak is a sophisticated grown up treat which the Husband utterly loves, simple and quick to make, but melt-in-the-mouth gorgeous. The Buns are admittedly more in the comfort food vein, but they have established themselves in the Recipe Junkie household as the birthday breakfast of choice for my children. My brother will also consider whether to visit or not based on whether these are likely to be on the menu, and this event gives me the perfect reason to make them again soon, so I'll add my own post to the linky soon!



 So here's the beautiful badge for you to download and add to your own posts - the rules and everything else including the linky is, I hope, all set up and ready to go at the foot of this post. What are you waiting for? What do you cook from Nigella's repertoire to make them feel extra cherished? I can't wait to see! 

Those of you who have entered this before will know the rules, but you can find them on Maison Cupcake here and for ease, here they are:

Forever Nigella Rules

Event themes are announced on host’s blogs near 1st of the month and their rounds ups roughly 1st of the next month. Entries must have been published since 1st of that month. Archived posts need to be re-published afresh if you wish to submit an old favourite.
Blog checking lines:
Forever Nigella #[number] is hosted by [name] of [blog]. This month’s challenge is to blog any Nigella recipe [describe theme]. Forever Nigella is organised by Sarah at Maison Cupcake.
1. Blog your entry by the deadline including:
a) the current Forever Nigella badge
b) a link to this month’s announcement post
c) a link to the Forever Nigella page at Maison Cupcake: http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella-faq (NB this is a new URL from Jan 13)
2. Remember copyright.
You must NOT reproduce Nigella’s recipes verbatim. Tell us which book it is from and/or link to it online. If you adapted it in some way i.e. changed at least two ingredients or amended the method then it’s ok to publish the a recipe in your post but you MUST write directions in your own words.
3. Submit your post
Use the linky tool at the bottom of this post, or email the (that's me! recipejunkie27@gmail.com) cc’ed to sarah@maisoncupcake.com.
Tweet your post using  #forevernigella - if you tweet me @recipejunkie27 I will retweet any that I see.

Nigella resources
If you don’t have any Nigella books check out these resources online:
Nigella’s official site: http://www.nigella.com/
BBC Food: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chefs/nigella_lawson
Channel 4 Food: http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/popular-chefs/nigella-lawson-recipes
UKTV Good Food Channel: http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530864/
Food Network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/nigella-lawson/index.html
Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Nigella+Lawson

You are next!

What?! More cranberries? Cranberry Jam & possibly a Bakewell Tart

Now you'd think I'd have learned - the fact that I had a bag of cranberries in the freezer left over from last year which I turned into cranberry & orange sauce ready to accompany the Turkey on Tuesday, says something about the way I shop when I'm not concentrating and my head is turned. So what possessed me to virtually chuck a couple of bags of fresh cranberries into my virtual shopping trolley AFTER I'd made the aforesaid sauce is a mystery. But chuck I did, and rather than consign them to the freezer ready to be discovered next year, I decided that this year would be different.

Once again, Nigella has come to my rescue. She has a whole section devoted to cranberries in Feast, first up is Cranberry Jam.

Cranberries are full of pectin so it's a really easy jam to make - just an equal amount of cranberries to caster sugar. I had 600g of cranberries so I put a splash (literally, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan) of water in a large pan, added the cranberries and 600g of sugar and stirred over a low heat till all the sugar was dissolved.

If you haven't sterilised your jars, do so first, and make sure you keep them warm, either in the oven or in a bowl of hot water - otherwise they may crack when you decant the hot jam into them.
It does take a bit of time, and you can tell when it's all dissolved when the syrup that's being produced around the berries looks clear rather than cloudy. If you scoop a little out on the spoon and feel it, the sugar is dissolved when you can't feel anything but sticky syrup.

Then you have to increase the heat and bubble up the contents of the pan till it reaches setting point. This is where I always get the fear with any sort of jam. I was feeling more confident because I know that cranberries set very easily, but even so. In the end, although I did bung in the sugar thermometer, I also set the timer for the 7 minutes the Goddess indicates. The jam hadn't quite reached temperature at the 7 minute point but it was looking pretty jam like and I was worried that it might start to burn.

The jam went straight into the jars, and there was enough left over to go on the brioche that I made yesterday, for breakfast. Happy times.

And if I get round to it, there will be a Cranberry Bakewell Tart on the menu for tomorrow's lunch. Watch this space!

I am, of course, linking up to Maison Cupcake's Forever Nigella event, hosted this month by Laura on her blog lauralovescakes . Enjoy!

Pure Vanilla by Shauna Sever - A Review

Pure Vanilla. More than just a recipe book, this celebrates the heritage and flavour of vanilla, with an interesting history of the vanilla bean from the Totonac Indians in Mexico who first discovered it to its use in the food and cosmetic industries today. It also includes a useful description of the different forms you can find vanilla in - pod, paste, extract - and 'tasting notes': I didn't know that there are different types of vanilla with different tastes and tones

I opened it up and read the introduction. I liked the style of the author, Shauna Sever, and having had a quick look at her blog, 'Piece of Cake' , I established that she was the sort of baker who would happily closet herself away with a cake and a spoon for company. In the blurb about the first actual recipe, she says "This...represents something I feel deeply about, that is to say, dessert disguised as breakfast". My kind of woman, I thought.

From breakfast (including a savoury recipe for bacon), we proceed through cake & pies and cookies & bars to candies & confections, custards & creams and finally drinks, including a vanilla mojito. I like vanilla and there are plenty of recipes that make me go "mmmm" from the title alone - Slow Cooked Vanilla Spiced Oatmeal, Cherry Vanilla Shortbread Cake Squares, Lemon Vanilla Dream bars, that mojito I mentioned - All good.

The book itself is very 'pretty' in a pale - I guess, 'vanilla' - type of way. Muted tones of cream, brown and blue. If you flick through it, there's not much that stands out to make you stick your finger in the pages and start to drool. so you do have to pay attention. There's also not as much photography as I'd like - you can go from page to tastefully designed pastel page with not so much as a doodle of a cake or a biscuit cookie. May be it's just me - but I do like to see what I'm aspiring to, but that's not the reason why I'm not leaping up and down with enthusiasm for this book.

No, not that. Here is the 'but' for me about this book: All the recipes are written in American measurements, and use the odd ingredient that doesn't fall easily into the shopping trolley in the UK. That's fair enough, the writer is American, but then the book doesn't have an easy conversion table for the measurements. Nor is there an explanation of the ingredients that might not be as familiar to the UK audience as they are in the US - such as corn syrup - and what a substitute might be. There is a conversion table in the back of the book, but it converts 'cups' and 'spoons' into a volume measurement. Call me picky, but I don't want to measure my butter in ml - I want it in grams, I'm afraid. I do have cups, but after a brief flirtation, I'm back to grams. And I have never been able to work out what a 'stick' of butter is. Even if the conversion table did the job I'd want it to do, flicking back and forward to the table is a little annoying in the first place. In Baked in America, probably my favourite American baking book so far, all the recipes have the ingredients in cups and grams, thus avoiding the need for flicking. It's a much more satisfactory way of approaching things. I'm sorry to say that this did put me off actually baking anything from the book at the weekend, when I had intended to.
 
If you can get over the recipe conversion issue - I'm sure I will at some point - and the lack of photos, it's a lovely book. There is a wealth of recipes to be explored, and fans of American baking won't be disappointed.  

If you're feeling like something a little less challenging to convert, rather than a whole cake or cookie recipe, the book has recipes to make vanilla extract and vanilla sugar, and I thought I'd share those here - they both have the potential to make good last minute Christmas presents for the foodie in your life (or, if that's you, then for your own purposes!)

Both these recipes and the photo are taken directly from the book, and I'm copying them with permission of the publisher.

Homemade Vanilla Sugar

Fill a lidded container with about 2 cups* of granulated sugar. Bury a vanilla bean** (or two, for more intense flavor), split lengthwise, in the sugar. Tighten the lid and shake the container like you’re competing in a dance contest at a dive bar. Store in a cool, dark place for 2 days and then open the container, take a deep whiff, and die a little from the glorious fragrance of homemade vanilla sugar, It’s that easy! You don’t even need a whole unscraped pod-use the empty scraped vanilla beans from recipes that call for just the caviar. Store the empty pods in the sugar; when your supply runs low, replenish by adding more fresh sugar on top.

Use vanilla sugar the same way you use the granulated stuff. It adds a bit more oomph to baked goods and is a delicious addition to coffee and tea. If you’re making vanilla-forward recipes like the ones in this book, vanilla sugar is yet another simple way to add that irresistibly ambrosial flavor.

To turn this recipe into a gift, pack the vanilla sugar in a decorative container-like a vintage Mason jar-topped with a scrap of fabric and festive ribbon. For an even fancier version, use raw turbinado*** sugar instead of granulated sugar.

Homemade Vanilla Extract
 
And it couldn’t be simpler. All you need is a clean jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid, whole vanilla beans, and a clear neutral-tasting liquor (vodka is my top choice). For an 8-ounce**** jar, 2 split beans should do, but you can add more if you like. Let the sealed jar sit in a cool, dark place for about 2 months before using. I also add scraped seedpods to the extract jar after I’ve used them in recipes, unless they land in my container of Vanilla Sugar first. As you use the extract, top off the jar with more of the same type of liquor for a nearly never-ending supply.

Aside from being a great way to save money on a pricey ingredient, making your own extract is an excellent opportunity to use some of the more exotic flavors of whole beans in liquid form, since store-bought extracts rarely come in such varieties. Magical! You can also combine several different varieties of vanilla in one batch of extract, creating your own special blends. Few things make a more fabulous edible gift than homemade vanilla extract in a vintage bottle decorated with a darling handmade tag. Martha’s got nuthin’ on you. 

 *OK don't say I never do anything for you - 2 cups of sugar is about up to the 500ml mark on a measuring jug. **A vanilla bean is what I would call a pod, and ***'turbinado' sugar appears to be very similar to demerara, but has hints of honey****An 8ounce jar is, I believe, 250ml. 
 
I was asked to provide a review and received a copy of Pure Vanilla for the purposes of carrying out the review. I was not required to provide a positive review. The views expressed are my own

Coriander & Chilli eggs - for lunch or breakfast!

What a time to be thinking about entering a competition? It's madness here. However, seduced by the possibility of fame, fortune and trip to Australia, I thought "Why not?" and emailed off to enter the Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off competition.

Next thing I know, a lovely selection of their tubes of fresh herbs arrives in a cute little pouch. While you can't beat fresh herbs, there are loads of opportunities to use these beauties - in fact when they arrived, I'd run out of fresh garlic and chillies anyway, and as fresh coriander often spoils pretty quickly, I can definitely see the advantage of the tube when you need it for flavour rather than as a garnish in particular.

Now, because of one thing and another, I have decided to take the quick and easy approach to my entry (or entries - I have used the tubes quite a lot, but I need to carve out some time to blog them!), so here's the first:

Coriander and Chilli Eggs

Ingredients for 1 (easily doubled)

splash of olive oil
2 tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and chopped to similar size
1 tsp Gourmet Garden Coriander
1/2 tsp Gourmet Garden Chilli (or to taste)
1 egg
2 spring onions, sliced
1 tortilla wrap

1 small frying pan
grill proof serving dish (optional if you can put the frying pan under the grill!)




Turn on your grill to medium - high. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the tomatoes and red pepper, cook for a minute or so to start the juices running, then stir in the Coriander and Chilli.

Once the tomatoes and peppers are semi-cooked and the herbs are nicely incorporated, grind in some salt and pepper, stir again, then take off the heat. If you are using the grill proof serving dish, scrape the sauce into the dish, and quickly make a well in the centre of the sauce (or just make the well in the sauce in the frying pan) and crack the egg into it.

Pop the dish/frying pan under the grill, and cook for 8-10 mins until the egg is cooked. This will depend on how hot the frill is and how close your dish/pan is to the element - keep an eye on it!

If you have room under the grill, fold your tortilla in half and pop it under too for a couple of minutes to crisp up.

Serve the eggs with the tortilla and extra salt and pepper as desired.

I ate this for lunch, and it was very tasty. The chilli was sufficiently spicy and the coriander gave a great flavour to the sauce. If you were feeling brave and a little like a taste of Mexico, it would work well as a kind of huevos rancheros style breakfast.