Spicy baked chicken and potatoes

When you can feel the carnivore inside of you bubbling with primal instincts to tear into something meaty, something delicious and spicy, this chicken recipe with potatoes is just the thing. Savagely inoculated with flavours on a loudspeaker, there is nothing remotely subtle about this dish. It’s deliciously loud with mouthwatering piquancy, tender, juicy of flesh and drool inducing. The balance of tastes rendered stupefyingly lush with succulent aromas is so heady that it’ll send your entire house warming with tempting incense of tantalizing proportions.

Cooking it with potatoes just makes it a more complete meal, and there’s nothing more you’d wish for a better lunch.

It doesn’t involve much in the way of fanfare, and most ingredients are easily available. Chicken drumsticks, olive oil, honey, crushed garlic, oregano, cumin powder, paprika, salt, black pepper, lemon juice and potatoes. I’ve used two different kinds of potatoes, but feel free to use whatever potatoes you like or have on hand.

for tender, juicier results we want to marinade the chicken for which you begin by slashing said chicken down to the bone. This helps with even cooking, and lets the spices penetrate in deep.

The marination is easy. Mix all the spices in a bowl

along with lemon juice

honey

and olive oil

mix it all together to form a sort of paste.

Coat the drumsticks in the the marinade, making sure it’s seriously coated.

cover with a cling wrap and let it marinade in the fridge for a couple hours. You can do this bit of activity sometime during breakfast if you want to make it for lunch.

Prep your potatoes by cutting into bite sized cubes

drizzle a bit of olive oil

and a bit of salt. Nothing else needs be done to the potatoes.

Be sure to take the chicken out of the fridge at least 15 minutes before baking, so as to allow them to come to room temperature.

give it a final quick mix in the marinade before baking

place drumsticks on a bed of potatoes and bake at 200° for 30-35 minutes

about half way between baking time pull out the chicken and slather all the remaining marinade on top and under using tongs to rotate these pieces to get an even marination.

You won’t believe how good it smells.

This is it! they’re done. Let them rest for a few minutes before chomping in. Tender, moist, juicy, succulent. They’re so delicious you’d have to find another word for delicious, and don’t even get me started on the potatoes that have soaked in the flavours from the marinade and turned into crispy pieces of delectable spuds. YUM!

Ingredients

Chicken drumsticks: 3-4 in nos.

Potatoes: 2 in nos (1 sweet and 1 regular baking potato)

olive oil: 1 tsp

salt: 1/4 tsp

For the marinade

Crushed garlic: 1 Tbsp (2-3 garlic cloves)

Dried oregano: 1 Tbsp

Cumin powder: 1 Tbsp

Paprika: 1 Tbsp

Crushed black pepper: 1/2 Tbsp

Salt: 1 tsp

Lemon juice: 2 Tbsps

Honey: 1 tsp

Olive oil: 4 Tbsps (60 mls)

Recipe instructions

Make slashes on the chicken drumsticks to the bone, especially on its thickest parts, and make sure the meat has no water sticking to it or dry it with a paper towel. This helps the marinade cling better.

For the marinade, mix all the spices, salt and crushed garlic in a bowl along with lemon juice, honey and olive oil. (the addition of honey doesn’t sweeten anything except balance the tartness and spiciness of the marinade). Give it a good mix until everything is well incorporated and toss in the chicken. Use tongs for even coverage of the mixture on the meat.

Cover and let rest in the fridge for a few hours before baking.

Pull it out of the refrigerator at least 10-15 minutes before baking time to let it come to room temperature, thus ensuring even baking.

Chop potatoes into bite sized cubes and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt. Cover baking tray with aluminium foil and place the potatoes and chicken drumsticks. Bake in a preheated oven at 200° for 30-35 minutes.

Halfway between baking time pull the chicken out of the oven and drizzle all the remaining marinade to coat or rather smother it, using tongs to flip the chicken on all sides to soak up the marinade.

Bake it for remaining time and let rest for a few minutes before serving.

NOTE: To know whether the chicken is done, insert a knife in the thickest part of the drumstick, and if the juices run clear then it’s cooked. If the juices are still red then you need to put it back into the oven.

Serve on a warm plate.

Enjoy!!

Hot chocolate mix

When this world feels like a rotting dump of methane filled sewage, there are few comforts you turn to. A loving voice, a soothing touch, a reassuring moan.. and all these things are impossibly hard to come by; why else would this world have turned into a venomous pit of hate infected flies? You need something restorative, with the potential to remedy some aches and provide warm succour.

You need a cup of hot chocolate and not just any ol’ hot chocolate but a homemade version. One that’s a pre mix, which needs nothing save pouring in hot water or milk if you think you need it. But it’s a mix, which means there’s milk present already, so really just hot water is all you need.

There’s a sort of whimsical poetry, like a fluttering tune about ‘hot chocolate’. The fact that it’s chocolate in pourable form that can be drunk warm. Wisps of chocolatey fog hitting your face and thick sweetness with all the richness of terra cotta cocoa pouring into your system provides instant calmness and an upbeat feeling of general wellness.

Unlike store brought hot chocolate mixes that are doused to the teeth with chemicals that you couldn’t pronounce, this is one is fairly docile. Just sugar, vanilla pods, milk powder, cocoa powder, corn starch and salt.

Split the belly of vanilla pods to extract all the wonderful flavour of the seeds. Sometimes it’s also called vanilla caviar. hmm.

add it to the sugar. Don’t throw away these emptied out vanilla pods. Stick them in a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar. ah, the wonderful fragrance.

also- if you do not have vanilla pods or you’d rather not bother with vanilla in this recipe, simply omit this step.

add in the corn starch to this mix

whisk it about. Though it’s not needed because the next step will take care of the mixing.

whizz it in a blender or a processor, whatever you have on hand to make this coarse sugar vanilla corn starch mixture into a powdery mix.

something like this. See how it’s flecked with vanilla beans.

add milk powder to the now powdered sugar+vanilla+corn starch

in with the cocoa powder.

and sea salt

use a whisk to mix it well. Get rid of any lumps. And it’s done.

there you have it. Your very own homemade hot chocolate mix. Store it in a jar and have fun with it.

this is how you make it. Scoop out 3 heaped spoonfuls into a mug.

add hot not boiling water.

there you have it. Hot chocolate in the comforts of your own home. Made in lesser time than it would take for you to go out and have some. This mix is not only easy but so convenient. Anytime you need a fix just scoop out and pour.

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Ingredients

Sugar: 180g (2 cups)

Vanilla pods: 2

Corn starch: 30g (1/4cup)

Powdered milk: 200g (2 cups)

Cocoa powder: 70g (1 cup)

Salt: 1/2 tsp

Recipe instructions

Split the vanilla beans and scrape out their seeds and mix with sugar. add in corn starch and blend in processor or blender to make it into a fine powdered form.

Note: if you’re using fine powdered sugar then simply whisk in these ingredients until there are no lumps present.

Into the powdered sugar mixture add in milk powder, cocoa powder and salt. Whisk well and ensure there are no lumps. Once well mixed store in a jar.

To make hot chocolate scoop 3 tablespoons into 3/4 cup of hot water. Alternatively you can even using milk and also use the mix to create many shakes or desserts of choice.

Awesome breakfast sandwich

There’s no reason to call this an ‘awesome breakfast sandwich’ when this can be as easily called an ‘awesome brunch sandwich’, and does in fact serve as a fantastic brunch idea. It’s fast, filling and satisfying. Monstrously heaped with all things good, it’s indulgent, comforting and a fantastic fuel for moments when your body craves a morning laden with carbs and greasy crisp bacon.

No excuse ever needed for gorging thyself with bread, or sandwich, and this gorgeous tower of kindly extravagance can help sort of fill the voids in your sad mundane life, or pep up an already exciting one. It’s very versatile this sandwich; it doesn’t discriminate.

if you were to edit bacon out of this picture, you’d have the ingredients for a a very veggie sandwich. There’s also mustard and mayonnaise but they’re working behind the scenes.

I used the same skillet that had the bacon cooking, and wiped out most its grease.

added an additional tablespoon of regular vegetable oil

and tipped in my colorful medley of vegetables.

a bit of salt to get them going

sweat them on medium heat, cook for about ten minutes, until there’s a visibly pleasant shrinkage of the caramelized and cooked kinds.

like so. The vegetables will be a bit watery at first, but as you keep cooking them low and slow, they will soften and become more flavourful.

Take this slow vegetable cooking time to lather bread with mayonnaise and mustard

and spread it about

now for the lovely assembly. I have lined a baking sheet with parchment paper, because these sandwiches will get a short burst of heat in the oven and also because there is scant cleanup in case of any drips and melts. So, top the now lathered bread with lettuce leaves

with the green leafage as a receptacle for our sandwich fillings, pile high the cooked vegetables.

followed by crispy bacon. As many pieces as your conscience would allow. I do not have a conscience at the moment.

you can grate some cheese, or tear and Jackson Pollock them about. This is sharp cheddar and I didn’t even do a good avant garde bit..let’s call it modern art , and top off with a smattering of pepper.

blitz in the hot oven at 200°c for 10 minutes, and Voila! indecently luxurious and voluptuous with a big V sandwich. Life’s answer to an overwhelming need to feed your greed.

Ingredients

sliced bread or bread loaves

Bacon crisped: 4-5 rashers

Lettuce leaves : 4

mushrooms: 5-6 chopped

bell pepper:1/2 chopped

onion: 1 small chopped

salt: 1/2 tsp

mayonnaise: 1 tablespoon

mustard: 1 tsp

cheese: 3 tbsp

pepper: 1/2 tsp

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Recipe:

Cook the chopped vegetables over medium heat. Add salt and saute for ten minutes until caramelized and well cooked.

Spread mayonnaise and mustard over bread and top with lettuce, cooked vegetables, crisped bacon and cheese.

Bake in oven at 200°c for 10 minutes, until the cheese had melted, the lettuce has slightly wilted and the bottom of the bread has crisped.

Enjoy!

Mint & tea sorbet

Since the gods are being all sorts of unkind with the sun, what with the blazing rays and scorching heat, it’s only natural to pour in copious amounts of coolants into your body, without skimping on the sugar.

This is where sorbets come into existence. Like feathery ice, kissing the insides of your mouth ever so daintily, melting softly on your tongue; sending shivers of exquisite chill to your temples. The flavours are so delicate that you’re forced to down a few dozen scoopfuls, before you realize you’re a being surreptitiously iced. Lighter than air, frozen sweets, they are like the elegant cousins to boisterous ice creams and much too easy to make.

Easier still if you have an ice cream/sorbet machine/maker, because making these sans modern contraptions takes away the chill factor from the sorbets, and you’re left churning semi frozen liquid every hour of the day, and we are not here for that. NO!

It’s about making life comfortable sometimes, and summers aren’t for survival of the self righteous. Summers are to chill, and that’s exactly what this sorbet is about. Accentuated with cool vibes of mint and earthy tones of tea, this is easier than going out to buy a frozen ice treat.

I didn’t lay out ingredients this time, because this is much too easy. This is the beginning of a simple syrup. Sugar + water that you bring to a boil till all sugar is dissolved.

like so. It’s hot, really hot so don’t go around poking your fingers in.

throw in a pinch of salt.

and fistfuls of mint, and a tea bag.

cover and let it steep for half an hour

fish out the tea bag and add in some lemon juice. Let it cool completely and transfer to a fridge for a few hours or overnight. The flavours mingle and intensify in the syrup.

I let mine stay in the fridge overnight and the next day the mint leaves were weepy and the liquid was a fabulous murky brown.

sieve into a clean bowl

bring out the heavy machinery and we are en route to making joy

turn on the machine, pour in the minty tea syrup (as per your machine instructions)

a few seconds in and you can see the early beginnings of snow

churning into polar beginnings of your personal sorbet

twelve minutes in, and the syrup was a sweet scrunched ice berg

the glacial quality of this bowl was an indication enough to stop. Took about fifteen minutes.

This sorbet right here, in its most sherbet form is good enough to eat, but not quite frozen to the point you could scoop.

transfer to a freezer safe container for a firmer consistency and freeze for a few hours. I let mine gestate for about four hours.

scoop and serve.

Ingredients

Water: 800 mls (3 cups)

Sugar: 350 g (1.1/5 cup)

Mint leaves : 1 cup

lemon juice: 90mls (5 tbsp)

1 tea bag

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Recipe

Prepare a simple syrup with water and sugar by dissolving them in a sauce pan over medium heat until sugar has dissolved into the water.

To the syrup add in mint leaves and tea bag. Cover and let steep for half an hour.

Discard the tea bag and add lemon juice into the mixture. Once its completely cooled, transfer to a fridge for a few hours or overnight.

Strain the now chilled mixture and pour into ice cream maker according to machine to instructions.

Transfer sorbet into a freezer safe container for firmer consistency.

enjoy!

Breakfast doughnut French toast

That’s right my darlings..doughnuts for breakfast, except these are actually French toasts masquerading as doughnuts..but do you care? They’re hot, coated thickly with cinnamon sugar and doused with your favourite toppings to make one heck of a breakfast meal.

They may not look much like doughnuts, but looks aren’t everything, and so you’ll understand as this recipe and your life progress. The best part about these toasts is that they take no time to conjure up and are so pleasantly imbued with the seraphic aroma of vanilla and cinnamon that you wouldn’t care about Mondays anymore. You do need to coat these in vulgar amounts of sugar and really that’s the charm of this breakfast. It’s breakfast after all and you can get away with a good lot of calories every morning..and honestly these pack a fraction of calories than doughnuts do. Once you’ve wolfed down these golden chunks of doughnut toasts you’ll look for excuses to make them all week.

Eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, sugar and bread. That’s it. High rewards for such few ingredients.

This step doesn’t apply to those who live in a world of pre sliced breads. I used a stale baguette, and it does help a lot if you’ve a stale bread lying about the house dying to be used up.

Crack in the eggs and add milk

vanilla

and salt

mix, smear, whisk, besmirch the calm

and proceed to making the sugary coating with sugar

and cinnamon

and lo! cinnamon sugar. Alchemy I tell you.

melt a fat knob of butter in your pan over medium heat

and dunk the bread in eggy pool of golden promises.Let it stay in there for at least half a minute. It’ll start drinking in the eggs.

Turn them over to let the other side soak up the sun.

and whoa! all the egg’s been absorbed by these little babies

the butter should be nicely frothing

transfer the eggy toast to the pan to cook to a nice golden tan.

just a couple minutes

Mmm..golden and gorgeous.

once these are cooked on both sides, let them cool for a few seconds before transferring them or rather slathering them with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Coat all sides, roll them into the sugar if you have to. Be barbaric about it.

et voilà..we have doughnut french toast. These are fantastic to eat just as they are, but if you want to add a bit of luxury to the richness then please do not restrain yourself as you go totally berserk.

bathe it with chocolate syrup

cloak it with your favourite fruit jam/marmalade or preserve

or how about chunks of banana drowned in maple syrup?

These are just a few things you can do to make these remarkable doughnut french toast into a morning treat.

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Ingredients

Eggs: 2

Milk: 30 mls (2 tbsps)

salt: 1/4 tsp

Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

Sugar: 50g (1/4cup)

Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

Bread: 2-4 slices

Butter: 1 tbsp

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Recipe instructions: Whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla extract and salt.

In a separate plate mix together the cinnamon and sugar.

Begin melting butter in a frying pan to cook the toasts.

Dunk the bread slices in the eggy mixture on both sides until they’re well coated.

Transfer to hot frying pan and cook until both sides are golden.

Wait a few seconds before transferring into cinnamon sugar mixture and coat the toasts well on both sides.

Eat as they are or top with your favourite fruits, syrups or jams.

Enjoy!

No woe brownies

Brownies as a rule work as devilish little mood elevator charms, and although there never can be one perfect recipe, these chocolate sodden, nuts bejeweled diabolical squares are indeed moan inducing. The reason these are called no woe brownies is because they’re the perfect antidote to many a life’s sads. They will diminish most of your life worries, though these do tend to have a rather crack life after effect, and you might be swayed to do something absolutely indecorous..but that shouldn’t stop you from either committing to that act or making these exquisite squares of forbidden pleasures. Not only do these little babies lusciously gratify your most carnal cravings, they also do double duty as your sinning needs..so if you’re one of those straight-laced, down on your luck decent ones out there, baking and ingesting one of these is guaranteed to write you off as one dirty sinner, because these brownies are in fact the miscreant adulterers of all food groups.

Now these are called no woe brownies and they are but for the little side effect that these will make you fat, and what could be more woeful than that? on the other hand if you eat another one of these, you might not feel so bad after all, and they are the perfect remedy for an aching heart.

Let’s be absolutely clear that these are not the cakey brownie kinds, I mean what’s even the point of a cakey brownie when you might as well just eat a cake. No sir..these are dense, fudgey, and every bite is packed with chunks of sweet divinity, because these have three different kinds of chocolate components.

bring on all the good stuff..chocolate chunks or chips separated into two heaps, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, cocoa powder, butter, chopped salted pistachios, sugar and coffee granules.

This is an easy easy recipe..all can me made into one bowl, and an oval bowl doesn’t really help much. So butter diced into chunks

and chunks of chocolate part-1. This one is meant for melting purposes with the butter. You can either melt the butter and chocolate over heating water in a heat proof bowl or melt in a microwave, in 30 second bursts.

add in the coffee granules. These make the chocolate more chocolatey.

this is what you get. satan’s swimming pool. Take a dip and salvation..or you can make brownies.

add in the sugar

mix well. You’ll see that the sugar doesn’t really dissolve and that’s alright, because everything will come together just fine.

crack in the eggs, one at a time and mix well before adding another.

make sure to incorporate the eggs well into the batter and you’ll end up with something like this.

add in the vanilla

and the cocoa powder and mix

add in the flour

chocolate chunks that are supposed to stay as chunks in here

and finally in with the salted nuts. It’s the salted nuts that add another dimension and elevate these brownies from fantastic to ecstatic.

mix it all in well. Ah, this marvelous mound of magnificence.

scrape the batter into a buttered baking tray

smooth well and bake at 180°C for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean

ah…sigh!!! cut into squares if you care to share, or just dive in with a fork.

here it is..in a rueful light..

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Ingredient amounts

Flour: 70g (1/2 cup)

Butter: 120g (1/2 cup)

Chocolate dark (for melting): 170g (1 heaped cup)

Chocolate chunks (milk or dark): 90g (1/2 cup)

Cocoa powder: 30g (1/4 cup)

Eggs: 3

Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

Coffee granules: 1 tablespoon

Salted pistachio: 70g (heaped 3/4cup)- you can use any salted nuts of your preference. salted peanuts would be great here too.

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Recipe instructions: melt the butter, coffee granules and dark chocolate over a heat proof bowl or into a microwave. Add in sugar and mix briefly. Crack in the eggs, one at a time and mix thoroughly. (Let the mixture cool before adding in the eggs)

Add in the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, flour, chocolate chunks and salted nuts. Mix until well incorporated.

Scrape into a buttered baking tray and bake at 180°C for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean

if this doesn’t push you into the kitchen with a slab of chocolate in hand..you don’t deserve to sin.

Venetian carrot cake

In case anyone was wondering about my exile and the painfully invisible void I’d left in the world of food blogs, then let me tell you, it was only temporary..and though I might not be back with a bang, I am back with a gluten free (gasp) venetian carrot cake, the credit for which as much as I’d like to take isn’t mine to take at all but Nigella Lawson’s, and it’s her recipe I’ve adapted to make this unbelievable sphere (albeit sort of flat) of damp richness.

This is a carrot cake and it’s unapologetically..umm carroty? and absolutely gluten free, which is to say it does not require any flour, and as hipster as it sounds, we can take some solace in that it’s not vegan..though I promise nothing. On days of rage, I’ve been known to torture myself with vegan food stuff. But that’s another story for another torture chamber, because right now let’s marvel in the blistering warmth of this buff coloured cake, which sings to your soul and pleases your senses with such luxurious notes, that you’re left wondering whether you should eat this cake or marry it.

So without further ado, we’ve the ingredients. Sugar, olive oil, vanilla extract, beaten eggs, almond meal, shredded carrots, pine nuts, lemon, lemon zest, raisins and rum (not pictured)

Just because a cake’s got almond meal which sometimes you don’t readily get at your grocery store, does not mean you put off baking this amber coloured love disc. You’ve only to blitz almonds to get almond meal you know. It’s rocket science, but you can get around to it.

before we get started, put the raisins in with the rum and bring to a boil and let simmer gently for 3 minutes, after which turn off your heat and let the raisins plump up and cool.

into a bowl of choice, add olive oil and sugar

and beat it for at least a couple of minutes. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable activity, I assure you.

beat until you’ve incorporated the sugar with the oil

mix in the eggs

followed closely by vanilla extract

and the zest

and lemon juice

mix well, until you’ve a summery ripple of golden ooze that speaks radiance in shiny ribbons.

tip in the now cooled swollen raisins along with any rum that’s it’s been standing in.

finally the almond meal

and the grated carrots

mix well, until everything’s incorporated and there’re no dry pockets.

scrape the mixture into a prepared cake tin. This is a springform pan

prepared simply means you’ve oiled the sides and the bottom and stuck a wax/butter/parchment paper on the base and oiled it as well.

now, with the careless abandon of abundance, strew the top with pine nuts

liberally or not..entirely up to you and bake at 180°C for 40 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean. As long as it’s sticky and not runny, you’re good.

once done, let it cool before you devour..always a good practice.

and behold! the answer to dreary winter months, the saviour of one too many dinnerless nights..or just a sponge to wipe your tears, while you wallow in the dull ache of loneliness in your bed. A cake of such splendour and sumptuous depths that you’d kick yourself for sharing it. It’ll light you up on the inside, and how can it not?

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Ingredients

carrots-2 medium (about 200g)
pine nuts -3 tbsp
raisins-75g (1/2 cup)
rum- 60ml
sugar- 150g (3/4cup)
olive oil (regular)- 125ml (1/2 cup)
eggs-3
vanilla extract- 1 tsp
almond meal- 250g (2.5 cup)
lemon- 1/2 (zest and juice)

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Preparation

In a saucepan bring to a boil the rum and raisins and let simmer gently. Turn off the heat and let them stand and cool. Grate the carrots and absorb any excess liquid with a kitchen towel.

Into a bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar until well mixed. add in the eggs, vanilla, lemon zest and juice and the now cooled rum and raisins, and mix well. Finally fold in the almond meal and grated carrots.

Scrape into a prepared cake tin, and cover the top with pine nuts. Bake 180°C for 40 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean. As long as it’s sticky and not runny, you’re good. Let it rest for at lest ten minutes before removing it from its cake pan. Let it cool completely and enjoy

Eggs in a basket

This my lovelies, is an egg, enshrined in a bread and lovingly called egg in a basket. No gourmet affair mind you, but an affair still, of the wondrous bread and egg..meant to be eaten as a morning staple, after a night of excesses in bar or bed.

This is just the kind of breakfast you make, while groggy from last nights decadence. You want something simple but not too sloppy, and it does not get simpler than this, while still maintaining a bit of rustic chic. I mean what could be better than a buttery golden crisp toast, with a cavity filled with golden ooze of sunlit eggs? This is a miracle cure and a smashing breakfast, especially if you’re in a critical need to nurse your hangover or sore aching parts.

don’t you love it already? it has only three ingredients. Bread, eggs and butter.

to make the basket to fit in the eggs, grab a cookie cutter or even a random glass and press into your bread

to get a basket

I used two different sized glasses to get two different sized baskets, because sometimes in food and in life you gotta live on the edge.

check them baskets out..or holes, or voids that is your life if you make these and eat alone.

over medium heat, melt as much butter in a skillet/pan. This is supposed to be comforting, so if you’re looking at skimping on the fat then you might as well feast on air and call it a day.

swirl the butter around to coat the pan, and put your basket bread on the melted butter

gently, lower in the cracked egg. It makes life a lot easier if you crack the egg in a separate bowl.

see, make sure you slide it gently, and it’ll sit pretty.

season lightly with salt

and pepper

and gently nudge the sides after 30-40 seconds to see if you can flip it.

flip and let it cook on the other side as well.

ok, so let’s revise again! this time with the other bread with a smaller basket…so bread atop melting butter on medium low flame

slide in the egg

admire your handiwork

season with salt and pepper

flip after few seconds and we don’t want the basket covers going waste, so we toast those too.

oh my my, what do we have here? a perfect breakfast?

totally optional, but I do it..because life is short and it’s always a good idea to make it shorter..add a slice of ham

bask in glory

but just this is absolutely perfect too.

Ingredients

bread- 2 slices

eggs- 2

butter- 2-4 tablespoons

Recipe instructions

cut out cavities from the middle of your bread by sinking in a cookie cutter or proportionately sized glass rim, make sure its diameter isn’t bigger than the surface of the bread.

melt butter in a skillet on medium heat and place the bread on the melting butter, and slide in the cracked egg in the bread cavity. Season with salt and pepper and flip after a 30-40 seconds once the lower side is golden and egg is cooked. Cook the other side until golden and cooked.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Blueberry muffin crumble cake

Are you seeing this? are you feeling it? Behold the rocket science behind making a muffin batter, only to make a cake instead, and top it all off with a crumble. gasp!

Before I begin with the alchemy of innovation and the complicated discoveries of pouring a muffin batter into a cake pan, let me just tell you about the divinity of this blueberry muffin crumble cake.

The rustic golden top, splattered with the ooze of violent violet of tart sweet blueberries, has known to make grown men weep. It’s guaranteed to make a painter out of the most banal harsh hearts, and turn your cold cemented soul into a benevolent rasp of tenderness. It doesn’t masquerade as a sinful dessert, but rather bleeds of such hearty compassion, that you’d want nothing better than to cry your woes to this plate of cake, and promise to turn over a new leaf. It’s seriously that good!…Also it takes no more than mere moments to conjure up this holiness.

totally basic ingredients involving sugar, oil, lemon zest, baking soda, baking powder, salt, blueberries (obviously), yogurt, egg, vanilla extract, flour and crumble toppings that include flour, sugar & butter.

so let’s just begin with the crumble topping and that’s one less thing to bother about. So, flour in a bowl

and sugar

and butter

and mix with a fork

until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Now refrigerate this and forget about it for a bit.

now because this is a muffin cake, we go the basic dry ingredient+wet ingredients way. So this is our wet ingredients bit..lol wet! in a separate clean bowl, crack and egg.

beat it with some vanilla

add in the yogurt

and the oil.

and mix/beat/whip until it forms a real nice smooth batter..real smooth.

now for the dry ingredients. In a separate larger bowl, add in the flour.

and the sugar

and the baking soda, baking powder and salt. and phew!

in with the lemon zest

and the blueberries that hardly ever look blue, but whatever!

and mix! yes sir.

mix until everything is..umm..mixed. That is to say the blueberries are coated with the flour mixture and all ingredients are evenly dispersed.

dump in the wet ingredients..you remember..that egg, oil and yogurt batter

and now you get a mixing..but remember DO NOT OVERMIX!

mix only until it has just come together..just barely come together..

scrape the muffin batter into a cake tin/pan/dish. make sure you’ve oiled it first. Even out the top as best as you can

and sprinkle on the crumble topping that has been resting in the fridge

like so..bake in a preheated oven at 190ºC for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Can you see the gorgeously golden cracked crumble top?

see???

see..sigh! flecked dangerously vivid with blueberries, this muffin cake is a joy to bake and a wonder to eat. Serve just as is, or with ice cream or cream or custard or tears.

Ingredients

egg: 1 large

yogurt: 240 mls (1 cup)

vegetable oil: 80 mls (1/3 cup)

flour: 250g (2 cups)

sugar: 100g (1/2 cup)

baking powder: 1 1/2 tsp

baking soda: 1/4tsp

salt: 1/4 tsp

lemon zest: 1 tsp

blueberries: 320g (about 1 1/4 cup)

for the crumble topping

sugar: 50g (1/4 cup)

butter: 30g (2 heaped tablespoons)

flour: 70g (1/2 cup)

Blueberry muffin crumble cake: make the crumble topping by mixing in the flour and sugar and using a fork cut in the cold butter, until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. you can do this using just your finger tips as well.

wet ingredients: In a large bowl mix together egg, vanilla extract, yogurt and oil.

dry ingredients: In a separate bowl mix in the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest and blueberries. Mix until the blueberries are well coated with flour and all the ingredients are evenly mixed.

Now gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and do not over mix. The batter will be a bit thick, but desirably so. Scrape into a well greased baking dish and even out the top as best as you can.

Sprinkle the crumble topping thickly and bake at 190ºC for about 25-30 minutes in a pre heated oven or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Tomato & chorizo spaghetti

That time of life when you question the meaninglessness of gyms, stare at your sad plate of wilting salad and hear the lovelorn cries of bread ignored into the icy depths of your freezer.

You stare out at the bleak weather outside, wonder why March is freezing cold and why you can’t break free of your grossly regimented dull routine for just once. You stare at your thighs and get back to pushing salad in your mouth; suddenly it hits you like a brick that you have but one life, and possible reincarnations won’t necessarily bring you back as human because you’ve kind of ignored Karma all your life.

No time to waste, you have a lot of catching up to do. Make peace with yourself and earnestly promise an extra hour of aerobics, that is if you ever shake yourself out of this fabulous food induced slumber.

No laughing matter this, you need to gratify your insides with something comforting, something meaty and something carbs..and this is exactly where this chorizo and tomato spaghetti comes into existence.

Very recently I’d chanced upon some seductive chorizo, beckoning me with their naked meaty plumpness and I had no choice but to give in to their pleas and buy them without a second thought. These were raw and not those paprika coloured cured red ones, but did I care?

This recipe happens to be just one of those miracle cures when even the thought of salad makes you want to hurl, and making a bowl of this is easier than chopping vegetables for your salad.

the ingredients for this are oh so simple.Just spaghetti or any pasta you love, chorizo sausages, chopped onions and garlic, tomato pulp (or use chopped tomatoes), paprika, garlic powder, salt, sugar and oregano.

note:- this tomato pulp is really just fresh tomatoes cooked for a few minutes and skinned and mashed.

Take the chorizo out of their casings .

like so

heat some butter and oil

add in the skinned bits of chorizo

break them into smaller bits using a wooden spoon

cook for a couple of minutes until they very lightly brown, you don’t have to bother about cooking them completely at this stage.

add in the chopped onions and garlic and stir them well, cooking for just about a minute or so

add in the tomatoes

followed by paprika, oregano, garlic powder and sugar

and salt

cover and let it cook for about 20-25 minutes on medium low heat, keep stirring occasionally and add a tasblespoon of water if it sticks to the bottom.

look at this fabulous transformation after 20 minutes.

add in your cooked spaghetti.

and a bit of this pasta cooking water.

to not only thin the sauce, but also to ensure that each spaghetti strand is coated with the sauce and the starches in the water helps bind and make a slicker coating for better taste.

mix well

and serve!

Ingredients

Chorizo sausages uncooked: 450 g

Tomato pulp/ chopped tomatoes – 350 g (3 medium sized tomatoes)

Onion- 1 medium size

garlic- 3 cloves

paprika- 1 tsp

oregano- 1tsp

garlic powder- 1/2 tsp

sugar- 1 tsp

salt-1 tsp

black pepper- 1/4 tsp

spaghetti

Butter- 1 tsp

olive oil- 2 tsp

Cooking instructions

Remove the chorizo from their casings and cook in a pan with olive oil and butter. Break the chorizo into smaller pieces using your wooden spoon and after a minute of cooking add in the chopped onion and garlic.

cook for another minute and add in the tomatoes, paprika, salt, garlic powder, oregano, pepper and sugar and stir to combine. Lower the heat and cover and cook for another 20-25 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally and if it gets too dry, add in some water but don’t thin the sauce.

After 25 minutes add the cooked pasta to the chorizo sauce and 200 mls (3/4th cup) of pasta cooking water. Mix well and serve hot.

Note*- if you’re using cured chorizo then you can reduce the cooking time.

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