Meringue Girls

I got this fantastic cook book, Meringue Girls Cookbook - Incredible Meringues everybody can make, from my sister's boyfriend for my birthday.  I had never heard of the Meringue Girls, but now I'm pretty much obsessed!

I love the fact that the book is dedicated to 'everyone who dreams of leaving their 9 to 5', and not only are the recipes super tasty looking, the girls are pretty cool themselves!

Over the last few months my aim has been to get back to the roots of cooking and find some classic recipes that I can master and this book has given me the nudge to try my hand at a mastering a good meringue.

I tried this weekend to master the simple chocolate meringue kiss, and was definitely pleased with the result.

I was so pleased that I made another batch on Sunday to take to the bake sale at work on Monday.

What's the time Mr Wolfe?

When Bean and I took a lovely trip into Brighton last weekend on Sunday we treated outselves to a coffee and biscuit in Mr Wolfe.

Before we left on Sunday morning we had a skim through The Simple Things and read through the article all about Brighton.  Mr Wolfe was featured in the article so we decided to give it a go.

It's just up the back, off Western Road, so nice and handy to get to.  It's very s but so nicely turned out.  The walls are all black chalk board and the menus are all written up on the wall, which is a nice touch.

The coffee was tasty and the gold teapots are fabulous! Wish I'd had tea rather than coffee. The tasty little cloud shortbread biscuit was not only extremely cute, but also very yummy.

Will definitely be visiting Mr Wolfe again!

Homemade Thai Feast

What a feast!!!  I was all ready for making a beef stew last Sunday night.  I headed off on Sunday afternoon, in a very hungover state, to do by 2 weekly grocery shop.  I bought everything that I had on the list, and definitely still when I left I had in my head that I was making stew for dinner.

But when I got home and unpacked the shopping I couldn't get the idea of making a thai out of my head.  I bought all of the ingredients to make a chicken and cashew nut thai red curry, but I then realised that really, a feast was all that was going to cure the hangover!

We ended up with;

• Thai red chicken curry with cashews and mange tout
• Satay rice noddles
• Egg Fried rice (Uncle Ben's Mircowave!)
• Soy and Honey glazed purple sprouting

Lemon Curd

The recipe is from The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book which I have to say is going to be one of the most important cooking books I own.  It has everything you would need it in from cut of meet, to preserves, to how to make different kinds of pastry.  I love it but have been a bit daunted by its size and haven't delved into the pages before today.

This really couldn't have been much more simple to make and I am so excited about having homemade lemon curd in the fridge.  It's just as simple as jam and really scrummy and fresh.

Sunday Brunch - Sausage and Egg Hash

{11th August 2013}

Sausage and Egg Hash could not be any more perfect for a tasty Sunday brunch, whilst nursing just a little hang over.  I originally saw this on a cooking show on TV but it was a while ago and I can't remember which one.  When we first saw it I had all the ingredients and jumped at the chance to make it straight away.

I haven't made it for a while as I had forgotten all about it but a segment on Sunday brunch this morning made me remember this and it definitely went down well as a Brunch with a hang over.  It is very simple and can really include just about anything you have in the fridge and that takes your fancy.

The basis of it is onion, grated potato, sausage and egg and then really you just chuck in anything else.  We had ours today with a knob of french loaf left over from the BBQ yesterday, which was lovely to soak up the yolk of the still runny egg.

Make up your own Sunday Brunch Hash or follow the below for a tasty treat.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1/2 Onion - Sliced

Fresh Chilli - I used about 1/4 of a fairly mild red chilli

1 Large Potato - Grated

2 Beef tomatoes - Chopped

4 Chorizo Style Sausages - out of the skin pulled into 4 each

2 Large Eggs

1 tbsp Cooking Oil

Handfull Fresh Coriander - Chopped

Sea Salt

Freshly Ground Pepper

Recipe

• Put on a frying pan with the oil to heat.
• When hot throw in the onions, potatoes and chilli.  Fry until browned. 
• Throw in the tomatoes.  Stir this all up.
• Take the sausages out of their skins and pull apart into small chunks.  Add to the frying pan.
• Put in the coriander and season. 
• Once this is all cooked through give a final stir, make two small indents in the mixture and then crack the eggs onto these indents.  Cook until the whites are opaque.  If you want your eggs a little harder pop the whole frying pan under the grill until yolks have started to harden.
• Divide into 2 and very carefully lift the mixture onto the plate.  It is really nice if the yolks stay intact but this isn't that important.
• Serve with a chunk of bread, garlic bread, or whatever takes your fancy really!

Top Tip:  Get experimental and add - more chilli, garlic, paprika or different types of sausages.  Why not mix the egg into the mixture just as its setting for a more scrambled texture.

Sunday Brunch

{5th August}

We like to spend a Sunday morning watching Sunday Brunch on Channel 4.  This is quite often accompanied by pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and maple syrup - true American style. 

However this Sunday I was completely inspired by one of the cooking sections on Sunday Brunch with Omar Allibhoy.  Very sexy spanish accent on a Sunday morning! Lovely!

I popped over to Sainsbury's to buy all the fresh ingredients to cook our own Tapas for lunch.  On the menu we had: Crusty bread, spanish black and green olives, manchego cheese and palma ham, grilled langoustine cooked in garlic and parsley oil, chorizo in cider, meatballs in tomato and paprika sauce, and patatas bravas.

To be honest I have never cooked any of these before and I don't tend to cook to recipes.  My mum used to get cross with me for never reading a recipe properly, and now I just don't really bother.  I like to make it up as I go along.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  For the langoustine and chorizo I listened to the ingredients that Omar put into his dishes and elaborated, and for the meatballs and patatas bravas I just sort of made it up!

I'm pleased to say that all worked very well and I will definitely be cooking them again.

Recipes to follow.

Langoustine in parsley and garlic oil

Chorizo in Cider

Patatas Bravas