[Food] What I've Been Cooking #2

This round of What I've Been Cooking includes a few new recipes, plus some experimental and safe baking. You'll see from this that my savoury cooking generally tries to go down a much more healthy route, unlike the sweet stuff! I live with two 27 year old men, and their idea of a hearty meal generally means meat and carbs, so I treat myself to better-for-me meals when they're not around and try to make the meals we do share as full of veggies as possible! I've recently given up a lot of carbs (which I'll be writing about soon) and I'm on a bit of a health kick so I'll be updating you all on that soon. Until then, let's have a little looksy at some proper food!

Strawberry and Mascarpone Swiss Roll

I've never made a swiss roll before as it's a pretty daunting task. I assumed it would basically just fall apart on my first go because that's what happens to amateurs who get ideas above their station. BUT somehow, miraculously, it stayed together! The sponge was probably a bit too spongy as it tore a little as it came off the baking paper, and I definitely played it too safe with the filling (a Swiss Roll demands the filling to spill over, really). Ultimately though, it held together, there's a decent roll within it and it tasted good, so all is well!!

I followed Lorraine Pascale's Strawberry and Mascarpone Swiss Roll recipe here.

Banoffee Pie

When I lived with AJ this was a staple favourite of ours, but I have to admit that she was always the one that made it and I just happily stuffed my face. It really is the simplest of desserts so if you're planning a dinner party and you want something quick and easy to whip up for afters, this can't fail. You can of course go the long way around and make the caramel, but I just buy the Carnation tinned variety which in my opinion tastes just as good as takes a tiny portion of the time to prepare. 

I followed the Quick Banoffee Pie recipe on the side of the Carnation Caramel tin here.

Shakshouka

Shakshouka is a Turkish dish made up of a thick tomato sauce and topped with eggs. I had it for breakfast at a little cafe in Hackney a few months ago and have been searching for a good recipe for it every since (not knowing the correct name for it made this a bit of a challenge!). The recipe I found said to poach the eggs within the sauce, but I didn't pay attention and started cooking it in a saucepan instead of a frying pan, meaning I didn't have the surface area for this. Instead I poached my egg separately, plonked it on the top and ate it with some toasted carrot and coriander bread from Cranks. A perfect brunch recipe!

I followed this Shakshouka recipe from the blog White On Rice Couple.

Moroccan Meatball Tagine

This was a bloody good find. Tucked within a little recipe book I have called 100 Healthy Meals, it was super simple to make and really delicious. There was a nice mix of veggies in there including courgettes and peas, plus meatballs made by own fair hands - basically it's shop bought mince mixed with onions, garlic and a little flour, then fried off and added to the tagine. Once the lid was on the dish it bubbled away nicely for a while and I then served it up on a some cous cous I'd made with vegetable stock and a shaking of turmeric and cumin to flavour it up a bit. This is fast becoming a flat favourite.

A similar recipe for Moroccan Meatball Tagine can be found here, and the book I used can be bought here.

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What I've Been Cooking #1

If you follow me on Instagram you'll see that I'm always taking photos of my food (I mean, that's what it was invented for, right?). I've wanted to share my trials and tribulations of cooking and baking with you for a while, but I've never considered myself as a food blogger. Then I looked over my recent posts and realised that all I ever talk about is food, and that's probably because all I ever think about is food too! I like to experiment with recipes, and although I'm not at the stage where I can just whip up an amazing meal off the top of my head, I have been practicing with different skills and scouring Pinterest for new things to make. So instead of just leaving my cooking pics to wither away unloved on my Camera Roll, I've decided to share them occasionally here so that you can try them too if the mood should take you!

Pasta pie

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and it looked so delicious I figured why shouldn't I give it a go?! It is essentially pasta bolognase served vertically, but when I revealed it to my little sister she did a brilliantly extravagant gasp which confirmed I'd done a good job! Just remember to use a spring bottom cake tin to cook it in so you can have the pleasure of showing the gravity defying structure to your friends. 

Original recipe for pasta pie was found here.

Grilled chicken and veggies

This recipe doesn't sound like much, but the marinade for the chicken is the perfect blend of spices that it's rapidly become a favourite of mine. In fact, I think I've made it at least five times by now because it is so simple and so tasty. It's good for you as it's grilled and the veggies are done in a very small amount of oil too. The fact that it uses chicken legs as well makes it really cheap as well, especially as I have the majority of the spices in my cupboard at most points. Definitely check it out if you are looking for something to make for dinner tonight.
Original recipe for grilled chicken and veggies can be found here.

Sesame chicken

Another recipe that's becoming a firm favourite in my household. I love Chinese food (as you may have seen from my recent trip to Beijing!), but I find England lacking in a really good takeaway. If I want to eat something from that area, I don't really want to fork out a whole heap of money on the one place I feel does it really well: Hakkasan. Once again, I found this recipe on Pinterest and had a lot of the ingredients in my cupboard already; slightly out of the norm things like toasted sesame oil and oyster sauce - all products well worth buying as you're bound to need them at some point! One thing I would say with this recipe is you need a decent frying pan or the egg-based batter just sticks to the pan instead of the chicken. But it's great with brown rice and some thinly sliced spring onions.

Original recipe for sesame chicken can be found here.

I'd love to know what you've been cooking, and if you try any of these recipes please do tell me what you think!