this month I love

♥ a late spring clean in the Lavender household - I am a great believer in the theory that a clean house is conducive to clearer ideas
♥ all the speculation about the Royal Baby...
♥ ...talking of which, have you seen this hilarious photoshoot?
♥ working on a new sewing project - on a big scale! I can't wait to tell you more about it when things are more concrete
♥ old and new recipes - I made Jamie's spring vegetable lasagna from his 30 minute meals series, it was de-li-cious!

lemon poppy seed

Well, I guess there is no better excuse than being a young breastfeeding mother to allow for this to have happened this weekend...guilty as charged!

This cake is my quick go-to recipe for a moist lemony cake. As with a lot of my baking, it could not be easier. I posted the recipe here last year.It is delicious served with a mix of blueberries and raspberries.

The biscuits are even easier to make. I guess they're a bit like shortbreads, but in french they're "sablés", and here's how to make them- I hope you give them a go!

* With your hand (trust me, it's the easiest way to do it!), mix together 250g of flour, 150g of caster sugar, 150g of softened butter, one whole egg and a pinch of salt.
*Add the flavour you want - grated coconut / vanilla essence / lemon zest / poppy seeds / etc.
* Let your mix rest for a half hour or so.
* Spread it with a rolling pin and cut out the shapes you want. Bake in a warm oven until golden.

Breakfast

I make pancakes almost every weekend. They're quick, easy and can be accommodated in lots of different ways. Today we had them with honey and raspberries. Yummy!
For my batter, I mix self raising flour, a spoonful of sugar, ground almonds, one egg and some milk. I have never weighed any of my ingredients, so I must apologise for the random recipe. I remember an old episode of Nigella's about morning pancakes- it might be worth looking it up for more precision!

Homemade bread

Making bread is slowly but surely becoming a habit. A loaf lasts us nearly a week and keeps fairly well. Today I made this lovely smelling new one with a different kind of flour, and added poppy seeds for a bit of crunch.
I wish you could smell it, it 's intoxicating! I hope I can keep this habit going when my little one arrives. Everyone always says how therapeutic kneading is, and I have to agree.

winter comforter

This weekend we made a gorgeous butternut squash soup. It's hard to believe that no cream is required, as it always turns out to be so velvety. This recipe serves about 6 portions of soup, and is an absolute winner with toasted thick country-style bread and cold cuts for a full winter meal. It does that a while to cook (probably a good couple of hours) but is the simplest soup in the world. try it before the weather turns warm!

* Peel your squash, cut it in cubes and sprinkle cumin and coriander (a bit more of the former) and lots of olive oil.
* After about an hour, add 2 roughly chopped onions and 7 or 8 whole cloves of garlic (skin on, just bruised a bit)
* When everything looks dark gold, stops the cooking. Take the garlic skins off. Put everything in a blender with some vegetable stock.
* You want your soup to be quite thick to enjoy it at its best, but try it out and keep adding stock to taste. Add salt, pepper, and enjoy!

 

 

winter twilight

I could really get used to this - it's wonderful to be at home and see this kind of pretty scenery. It almost felt like a fairy tale! To celebrate the wintry weather we made a lovely boeuf bourguignon and a tarte amandine (one of my favourites, and so simple to put together). I wish I'd taken a picture or two but it was so yummy that it pretty much disappeared straight away!

For a yummy tarte amandine...

*Put a shortcrust pastry in a tart dish and prebake for about 15 minutes.
*Cover the pastry with pear halves (tinned are absolutely fine) and then prepare your almond mix.
*Beat together 3 egg yolks and 75g of sugar. Add 100g of ground almonds and a splash of your favourite tipple (pear liquor or Amaretto) and finally about 100ml of single cream.
*Pour over the pears and bake for about 30 min or until golden.

This is the ultimate treat - I really hope you try this recipe, it's the perfect dessert for this time of year.

Almond macaroons

Just for you, the simplest ever recipe I know. I hope you make at least a batch to try it for yourself, and let me know how they turn out.

Almond macaroons

 Mix together a hand-beaten egg white (I mean with a whip, not literally by hand ;) ), 75g of sugar, and enough ground almond (roughly 100g) to make your mix look like this

Put little blobs of your mix on a baking tray, stick them in the over for about 10-15 minutes at 180, and watch the miracles happen!

You will not believe how yummy those old-fashioned macaroons are. And they make a perfect last-minute present if you go round to your girl-friends for a spot of coffee and gossip!

summer cooking

Yesterday I made one of my old classic - tomato tart. I hadn't made one in ages, but the tomatoes smelled so good I thought it would be the perfect way to eat them. I even made the pastry for it, even though I wasn't really in the mood!

It is perfect served with a green salad. And the photos show you all you need to know about the recipe, really. I will post the recipe at the bottom of this post in any case, so feel free to use it, and enjoy!

Tomato tart

* Spread your shortcrust pastry in your previously buttered dish. (I just love my Pyrex one)

* Spread a thin layer of wholegrain mustard. Sounds wacky? Thinks again, it balances all the flavours out!

* Cut thin sliced of emmenthal / cheddar and put on top of the mustard.

* Cut your tomatoes into thick slices, and put them in a circle, one sort of on top of the next one. The more the merrier, right?

* Salt, pepper, and add dried or fresh herbs if you feel like it. I like mine to be just tomato-ey, and then I can go wild on the salad I serve it with.

I prefer to eat mine cold, but that really depends on you.

winter food

First of all, my "witch brew" - (really, the start of a minestrone soup for tonight)

And now, a couple of snapshots of the leek quiche I made this week-end. Make no mistake, we ARE deep in **winter** ! How about everyone else, what are you cooking these days to keep warm?

-during-

-after-

perfect muffins

There's nothing like a nice batch of steaming hot muffins to lift someon's mood. Mine are plain chocolate chip ones, but they always work and do the trick! For those of you who are feeling a bit down with January blues, here's the how-to:

* Mix 100g of soft butter with 225g of sugar.

* Add around 150ml of plain yogurt.

* Sift 275g. of flour and a small spoon of bicarbonate soda into the mix.

* Add your chocolate chips - for a really positive effect on your endorphines, I recommend 100g +, and I always use dark, but that's just my preference!

* Put the mixture in your baking cases and into the preheated oven at around 180. These babies are quick to cook, so keep chacking on them (mine usually take 20 to 25 minutes).

Now, if that's not an easy recipe, I don't know what is!! trust me, it is the perfect pick-me-up this time of year.