cookbook addict

Les anniversaires des filles sont espacés de trois semaines. Mais la semaine d'anniversaire de la grande a vu trois occasions différentes de faire des gâteaux au chocolat : le jour même, le lendemain à l'école et enfin le dimanche pour la petite fête avec les copines.  L'occasion de revisiter des classiques et de tester de nouvelles recettes. Combinaison gagnante, le gâteau au chocolat "léger" de Trish D. (in I <3 Cake) surmonté du glaçage fudge de Nigella (in Nigella Bites ou en v.f. Péché de Gourmandise). Superbe cupcake chocolat à fond, très bon et très gavant. Classique des anniversaires d'école car il se suffit à lui-même et les maîtresses n'aiment pas trop les glaçages et autres fourrages ou les miettes partout, mon gâteau couronne sans fioritures (in C'est du gâteau , mon livre, un must absolu  dans toutes les cuisines;-), en 1 fois et demi pour rassasier une vingtaine de petits enfants et leur maîtresse. Nouvelle combinaison ch...

Il est temps de parler de Kitchen, le nouveau livre de Nigella! Il contient plein de recettes rapides qui changent, donc facile d'en essayer beaucoup. Nigella fait un effort pour recycler les restes, bien en temps de crise / eco-citoyenneté. Time for a Kitchen post! The book has many quick recipes, so it is easy to try a lot of them. Nigella also makes an effort to help us recycle leftovers, good in these crisis/sustainable times . Korean Keema, super rapide / quick : Teriyaki Chicken turkey /de dinde Ici servi avec du riz brun thaï équitable et des poireaux vapeurs. Here served with fair trade Thai brown rice and steamed leeks. Mussels in cider / moules au cidre D'habitude je mets du vin blanc, mais là suis charmée par le cidre, qu'on ne sent pas vraiment mais qui donne un jus subtilement doux. Usually I use white wine but I was pleased with the cider, you can't really taste it it's just subtly sweet and makes a great broth. Japanese prawns...

Today, I woke up super early and made myself proper chai -real spices, milk, teabags, brown sugar. Then I enjoyed the quiet to do a little yoga while the sun was rising. Bliss.  The recipe makes 6 regular muffins and 8 silicon moulded ones. I then went on to make some apple and cinnamon muffins from Nigella's new book, Kitchen. I don't know what happened but they took me ages to prepare, then I let them get too brown. I blame Nigella who told me to set the oven on 200°C. Obviously she doesn't know my oven, so it's not technically her fault. W likes over-baked stuff (his mum raised him well) so he actually said thank you Nigella. Ha ha. (We, of course, do not communicate directly with her, we're not that type of insane ;) The muffins are delicious, but a bit too sweet -there's a half cup of honey plus 125g brown sugar in there. The honey gives a great taste, and they were easy to gobble up. More for an afternoon snack too. I don't know about you,...

Having a break from my breathtaking adventures in New York City to share a couple of pics from my day. Today has been really nice and warm, Indian summer like, not chilly and rainy and a day to turn on the heating like last week. Today, I received my long awaited new Nigella book, Kitchen, so I made a little teapot of Mariage (Black Orchid) and sat down with it, then later on read it in the garden as it was so nice and mellow outside. I thought of my blog and took some pictures both in and out and of the new book. Let me show you my squah scultpure Kürbis , haha!   No, seriously, pumpkins rock and make excellent seasonal decoration before being turned into food. Oh, yeah, we had some birthday celebrations with Elmo, more on that later...perhaps. Autumn brings out fabulous colours from otherwise boring shrubbery inherited from past tenants. I can't help but think of Monty Python when I hear shrubbery. My dad planted these a couple of weeks ago before going h...