Simple Poppy Seed Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 3/4  cups  flour
• 1 tsp  baking powder
• 1 tsp  salt
• 110 g  butter (a little less than half a cup)
• 1 cup  sugar
• 2 medium  eggs
• 1/2 cup  skimmed milk
• 100 g  poppy seeds (or however many you have on hand)
• 2 tsp  almond extract  (or less, or none if you’re not keen on almond flavouring)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degreed Fahrenheit.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl.
3. Soften the butter and add it to the dry mixture. Add in the poppy seeds, milk, eggs and almond extract.
4. Whisk until mixture is a consistent texture.
5. Pour batter into greased muffin tin or muffin cups, or into a greased cake tin. I prefer a spring-form pan.
6. Bake until the top turns golden and feels solid and springy to the touch. This takes me about 25-30 minutes for muffins and 35-45 minutes for a cake.
7. Hint: If making a cake, check the cake occasionally during baking. The top might turn golden before the cake is thoroughly cooked. If this happens, cover the pan with baking foil for the remainder of the baking time.

Nutrition Information

Assuming 12 muffins or 12 slices of cake, each portion contains:

 

• Calories    257
• Calories from Fat    109
• Total Fat    12.1g
• Saturated Fat 5.4g
• Trans Fat 0.0g
• Cholesterol 51mg
• Sodium 259mg
• Total Carbohydrates 33.4g
• Dietary Fiber 1.3g
• Sugars 18.0g
• Protein 4.7g
• Vitamin A 5%*
• Vitamin C 1%*
• Calcium 15%*
• Iron 10%*

* Percentages are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

Summer sorbet

Recently, we were discussing desserts that are hyper-quick to make and easy to transport to a friend’s house. This is excruciatingly simple to construct, but it looks a little nicer than a simple bowl of ice cream. I highly recommend it on hot, sunny days.

You’ll need:

• Brandy-snap baskets (found at a nice supermarket, often found near ice cream cones, pie fillings and jello)
• Sorbet
• Fresh berries

I particularly like lemon sorbet with blueberries.  If I’m feeling exceedingly fancy, I’ll blend lemon sorbet with fresh strawberries, raspberries and red currents.

First, plunk a brandy-snap basket on a plate.

Fill the basket with a scoop of sorbet.

Top with the fresh fruit.

That’s it!  It’s too simple for words, but you feel special eating it all the same, somehow.

Hop’n’johns

I don’t know where this name comes from, but Tish taught me how to make these, once upon a time in Nashville. She would make them for New Years.

The original recipe uses black-eyed peas, but when I can’t find these, I use kidney beans.

Right, here goes.

So this is the hard part: soak the beans or black-eyed peas overnight.

One day later, get rid of the bean water and rinse the beans. Boil the beans until they’re soft and yummy. Make some rice.

While the beans and rice are cooking, chop an onion and some green, red and/or yellow pepper into small pieces.

Grate some cheese and open a can of chopped tomatoes.

Once the rice and beans are ready, put the rice on a plate. Spoon chopped tomatoes (and juice) onto the rice.

Add the kidney beans (or black-eyed peas).

Add lots of grated cheese. (Do this quickly so it gets nice and melty.)

Sprinkle the onion and chopped pepper on top.

Yay, it’s done! I tend to like to keep the veg in the fridge, the chopped tomato and cheese at room temperature and the rice and beans warm from the stove. It makes for a nice mix of temperatures (and helps the rice and beans cool down to eating temperature more quickly).

Angel’s omelets

This is how Angel taught me to make omelets when we were living in Nashville….

2 eggs per omelet
salt, pepper
butter or olive oil for the pan
any filling you like.

I like things like:

• onion or spring onion
• garlic
• bell peppers
• tomato
• mushroom
• cheese (cheddar is nice)

Crack the eggs into a bowl and mix with a fork. 

If you like, add a little salt and pepper.  Garlic granuals are also tasty.  (Add a dash of milk if you want slightly ‘cakier’ omelets.  I generally don’t.)

Chop the fillings into small bits. (This is about the right amount for two omelets.)

Heat the pan.  (Add a little butter or olive oil if the omelet is likely to stick to the pan.)

Pour the egg mixture onto the pan.

Immediately add the filling on one side of the omelet.

When the egg is mostly cooked through, fold the ’empty’ half of the omelet over onto the filled half.

Let it finish finish cooking through, then enjoy your happy omelet!

Root vegetable & chili soup

This is the soup I made at your flat in Wroclaw in July.

I started with:

2 onions
2 big parsnips
3 carrots
1 courgette/zucchini
1 red chili
3 big cloves garlic
big hunk of butter
salt, pepper

I then chopped it all into little bits.

Prepare the pan by melting a big hunk of butter.

Then, add the onions, garlic and chili. Stir for a bit (until you get bored).

Then add the carrot, parsnip and zucchini. Stir until it starts to brown. (This is about half of the vegetables – I cooked the soup in two batches until the vegetables cooked down a bit, such that they would fit in one pot.)

Add water a little bit at a time and allow the soup to simmer for awhile.

When the vegetables are soft and to your taste, the soup is done!

The vegetables themselves should flavour the water, but salt, pepper, butter and more chili can be added if it seems too dull.