26.7.11

All You Need Is Muff-ins




I was planning on making some blueberry muffins from the recipe in the Hummingbird Bakery book. However, the recipe uses buttermilk and I was having no luck finding it anywhere...Waitrose, Sainsburys, M&S, Asda! So I decided to experiment and replace said buttermilk with low fat Greek yoghurt. Gimme some muffin.

As it turns out they were gorgeous and fluffy and held lots of flavour. They were easy muffers to make, so have a go yourself...


Ingredients:

360g plain flour
370g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 large free range egg
4 heaped tablespoons of low fat Greek yoghurt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50g unsalted butter
250g blueberries
A sprinkle of oats


How To Make:
Makes 12 muffins. Line the muffin tray(s) with muffin cases.

Get the oven preheated to 170°C (or 160°C for a fan assisted oven).

Mix together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda in an electric mixer on a slow speed.

In a separate bowl combine the yoghurt, egg and vanilla extract and then add to the flour mixture. Melt the butter in a pan on the hob and once melted, add it to the rest of the ingredients in the electric mixer. Blend on a medium/high speed until smooth, gooey and even.

Fold in the blueberries and then dispense the mixture into the big muffin cases. Sprinkle porridge oats over the top before popping in the oven.

Now, you can't hurry muffins when they are baking, so it's best to bake them for about 20-25 minutes. Check with a skewer to make sure it comes out mixture-free. The top should bounce back when touched. Leave for 5 minutes then take out the cases and leave them to fully cool on a wire cooking rack.

And there you have it. Blueberry yoghurt muffins all around.



Yeah, it's juvenile! But if you noticed the muffin puns for song titles with the word 'love' in, do a fist pump. Or feel free to add your own puns!

16.7.11

Lunchtime Roasting



The other week my good friend Puja (also known to the Twitter world as @Mopicide) invited me out for lunch at Roast.


It was a much deserved treat for the both of us, and the perfect setting to enjoy the views and food while having a catch up. As I've mentioned before, (when I came to Roast for their Full Borough breakfast), the restaurant is stunning, with floor to ceiling French windows looking over Borough market. (Despite sticking out among the shirts of the City on their lunch meetings, we managed to have a relaxing 2 hour lunch with no rush to be moved along for preparation for evening service.) *Air punch*

In the lead up to my visit I kept on looking over the menu in anticipation to help decide on what to order. But that all went out of the window when I walked past another table where someone had just been served the grilled Wester Ross salmon. That was it. Sold. In my tummy please! Yes, I flirted with the idea of looking over the menu (again) and considered the slow roast Wicks Manor pork belly...the crispy Goosnargh chicken breast...the daily special of roast rib of Welsh black beef. But I had already made up my mind. Salmon was the one. The one I planned to devour.


So, before I drivel (or dribble) on too much, I shall leave it to the photos to tell you how incredible the food was...


Grilled Wester Ross salmon with cucumber, fennel, chilli and yoghurt


Heritage tomato salad with red onions and rapeseed oil


Runner beans with mint


Chocolate banoffee pudding with Devonshire clotted cream,
with Jolly Roger (rum, Roast falernum and orange zest)


Buttermilk baked custard and strawberry mess with honeycomb using pasteurised cows milk and vegetable rennet,
with Cherish (bourbon, fresh cherries, cherry bitter, coffee liqueur)