homecooking – ¡Comemos!

Meat Me Halfway: Week 5

26th Jan 2020Leave a comment

Controversial documentaries, tofu breakthroughs and gross pasta have all featured in part 5 of my vegan week diary, but overall I have to say, it’s been a tasty one. There’s been a lot more of the home cooking than eating out, and most have been deliciously successful.

Before I go into the food itself, let’s stop for a minute to talk about Netflix’s The Game Changers, which has got a lot of people talking recently. The documentary focuses on a UFC fighter addressing the prospect of going completely vegan, and looking at other athletes who have done so, and the consequences on their bodies, from the ‘world’s strongest man’, to college footballers in the US.

The research done is entirely in favour of 100% plant-based eating, and so you want to know what my thoughts are? It’s a load of preachy bullshit 🙂 🙂

I’m all for science and research, but as someone who is happy to embrace plant-based eating, I just couldn’t deal with the pushy ‘evidence’ insisting that it’s as straight forward as converting to a plant-based diet, and you’re suddenly bursting with energy and performing athletically at the top of your game. These one-sided diet A is better than diet B arguments are just such nonsense. The reality is that our bodies, as individuals, react differently to different diets, and so it is impossible to say that we would all be more ‘physically successful’ by only eating plants. Of course they’re only going to show the studies that prove their points (including a ridiculous one about how men’s sexual performance was enhanced after having eaten literally just one plant-based meal…). The whole programme was just masculinity-targeted propaganda, and whilst I understand that there are gender-stereotyping issues linking masculinity and the reluctance to cut down on meat, I just found the documentary very unconvincing. There was even a point where they made a group of people undergo a plant-based diet for a week, and at the end of it they all came back saying how they felt amazing and had so much more energy than usual…

Well maybe they did. But guess who else eats plant-based for an entire week every single month and feels absolutely no difference whatsoever??? ME.

This is almost starting to sound like I’m against plant-based diets. I’m not at all. I’m all for reducing our meat and dairy intake for a range of reasons and I actually really look forward to these meat-free weeks and the exciting meals they bring, but I’m more for balance, and feeding myself things that I enjoy. What I’m not a fan of is this overrated documentary.

If you want to read any more on it, Paul Kita’s piece in Men’s Health basically covers all the issues I have with it in a more articulate and scientific way.

But feel free to have a watch yourself, and who knows, maybe it’ll convert you.

I did always want this ‘diary’ to incorporate plant-based related issues, as well as the actual mealtime side of things, but that’s enough for this week, time to get to the good stuff. What did I actually eat??

Monday

I’m really excited by this first one, the reason being, it’s yet another successfully satisfying tofu-based meal. Rachel Ama makes a spread out of tofu, cashews and chives, and I had this on seeded bread, topped with griddled aubergines. The combination actually worked so well, and the recipe gave enough of the spread to have on my toast for multiple breakfasts in the morning. On the side of that I made Nadiya’s Hasselback Butternut Squash with Burnt Garlic Rice. The squash was delicious and had slightly caramelised in places whilst in the oven.

Surprise, surprise I was also back on Mrs Hollingsworths’ energy balls. Like I’ve mentioned before, these are the perfect snack to take to work and are so quick to make, basically just blending everything together in the food processor. The first lot are cocoa raisin oat balls. Weirdly, I love the stodginess of these types of snack, and even tastier than the cocoa ones were the lemon meringue balls. Honestly, these tasted insane, I can’t believe how much flavour there was in there, and these ones were cashew-based rather than oat-based. When you start cooking plant-based, it’s crazy how much you can do with cashew nuts. They will become your best friends, for both sweet and savoury meals.

Tuesday

Next up is actually one of my own recipes. I’ve been trying out developing recipes recently, rather than always stealing other people’s and this one was pretty good. Along with cashews, another ingredient that works a treat is oyster mushrooms. They have a fantastic texture that makes them perfect meat substitutes, without having an overwhelming flavour. Here I fried them in a jerk sauce and then baked them after to get rid of excess moisture. I used them to top coconut quinoa and black eyed beans (I’d defo use rice next time as the quinoa texturally wasn’t as strong), and then added a row of delicious fried plantain. Roll it all up in a tortilla and you have a delicious vegan burrito.

Wednesday

So Wednesday was my indulgent eating out day, and I finally got round to trying ByChloe. ByChloe is entirely plant-based, and they have restaurants in the US as well. It has a very informal fast-food style to it, and I got all my food to takeaway. I’d heard lots of good things about the Pesto Meatball Sub, which obviously isn’t actually meat, but uses mushrooms to create the meatballs. They are massively convincing and taste great along with the pesto. The roasted red peppers on top finish the whole thing off beautifully.

They also do two different pastas – a Cashew Mac ‘n’ Cheese, and an Avocado Pesto Pasta, so of course I had to try both. The Mac ‘n’ Cheese I was really impressed with. It was creamy and slightly spicy and the mushroom and crumb topping added extra flavour and texture. But… then we come to the avocado pasta. I gotta be honest, I hated it. I’m sure this is probably partly because I’m not the biggest avocado fan, but I do eat it. It just was way too bland as a pasta sauce though, and there were random heavily-salted patches. It’s very rare that I don’t finish something because I don’t like it, but it does happen from time to time…

Finally I had one of their London menu specials, which was the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Coconut Cream. This dessert was really good. I was sceptical about how the dessert would travel, as it didn’t seem like the kind of thing that would be good to take away, but I did it, and it tasted delicious. It was syrupy and sweet, with a super-moist spongy texture and a lovely coconutty cream, which added an extra dimension of flavour.

There’s plenty more I could’ve tried, but my stomach ain’t gonna stretch that far, so overall it’s definitely somewhere that I’d recommend, whether you’re eating in or ordering to takeaway, or via UberEats.

Thursday

Another one of my own again now! Trying my best to use up all the food in my fridge and freezer before I buy more, and so that led me to whipping up this Parsnip, Walnut and Honey Risotto. If anything, I’d go heavier on the walnuts and honey next time as it was really good with a nice creamy texture, and delicious parsnip flavour, but extra sweetness would make it even better.

Along with my energy balls, for work lunches I ran with the burrito theme and cooked up some Mexican-spiced rice to pad the tortillas out with. Using my food processor, I made a paste from various chillies, chipotles en adobo, tomatillos, onion and a load of spices, and then stirred this into the cooked brown rice. I often find that I’m not taking big enough lunches with me to work and so I end up wanting to snack, but this burrito was a big improvement on that because they’re actually really filling (I guess that’s double carbs for you…).

Getting off the tube at King’s Cross before work, I found myself directly opposite the Crosstown Doughnuts stall in the square. I didn’t need one and I definitely couldn’t justify the money, but yes, I did accidentally still do it. I bought two but only one was vegan so that’s the only one I’ve actually tried yet. To be fair, it was something that had been on my radar for a long time, ever since I’d seen that one of their seasonal specials was the Winter Crumble doughnut. Thoughts? Delicious crunchy crumble topping – I loved that. The actual apple crumble filling I initially thought was way too spiced; a very adult, sophisticated flavour, but this grew on me as I worked my way through it. I’m still not a big fan of their signature sourdough dough though, as it’s just too bready for me.

Right next to their stall was Amala Chai, serving up their incredible smelling hot drinks. The cardamom smell was so intense, I couldn’t not get an oat milk Masala Chai – the first I’d had since I got back from India last summer. To be honest it’s so difficult to live up to the dessert-like Chai you get in shot size paper cups in the street there. I like a properly milky, creamy, super sweet cinnamony chai, and whilst this one for most experienced tea drinkers was probably delicious, for me, someone who has never made a cup of tea at home or work, it just wasn’t the same.

Friday

A fantastic meal next up, and one to add to my ever-growing list of successful soup recipes that I’ve followed. Ainsley’s Caribbean Kitchen is probably my favourite cookbook as I’ve said before, and this was another winner. Spinach, Chickpea and Sweet Potato soup, with a side of Rachel Ama’s Caribbean Dumplings. The dumplings were crispy on the outside, and soft and doughy in the middle – perfect for dunking into the soup.

Friday night saw me devour an impulse giant bowl of porridge, after my plans kept changing and I needed something quick and comforting. To be honest it wasn’t actually that good, and I think this is in part down to my reluctance to add sugar to my porridge or extra syrup because god knows I eat way too much sugar anyway. Pecans, maple syrup and peanut butter sounds beautiful, and it was satisfying, but yeah, sweeter would’ve been better.

Saturday

Rachel Ama’s making another appearance here with her Roast Veg on Giant Cous Cous. The aubergines, tomatoes and courgettes smelt delicious as they were cooking, and the meal was surprisingly filling. This is a really healthy one for when you want to counteract a slightly less healthy evening.

Sunday

Aaaand the final one of this week. Ainsley and his soups. Or chowders. What actually is the definition of a chowder because I really don’t know? This is a spicy lentil, sweetcorn and butternut squash ‘chowder’ and it was so good. So I know creamy refers to a texture, and this chowder wasn’t that creamy, but the coconut milk gave it a creamy taste, if that’s even possible. I’m sure some of you will understand. I toasted some tortilla strips as well to dip in and ended up being very full by the time I’d finished it, so never fall into that old trap of thinking soup isn’t filling. It really ain’t just water.

Madness to think that my next post in the series will be halfway through (6 of 12!) – half a year of vegan weeks. That has gone scarily quickly, but yet again I have more treats in store for you (and by that I actually mean myself) as I will be heading to The Vurger Co, praying that I can still get my hands on their vegan Philly Cheezesteak sandwich, but only time will tell.

Also have plans to check out Yard Sale’s amazing-looking new vegan pizza menu, however that one will depend on how my body and purse are feeling. Gotta always be changing up my food plans based on if I feel too heavy or in the mood for a treat, and that’s the best way to work it. Listen to your body and adjust your meals accordingly. Not easy for someone who loves a solid plan, but there you go.

Breaking my meat fast with a bacon naan from Dishoom tomorrow morning. You will undoubtedly find images of it within 24 hours on my in-need-of-love Instagram account @foodtravelsldn.

Ciao for now.

¡Comemos!

Moroccan-Inspired Lamb and Chickpea Stew with Chilli Cheese Paratha

14th Jan 202014th Jan 2020Leave a comment

When I visited Morocco about 7 years ago now, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that taken by the food. I entirely put this down to the fact that I was still in my fussy phase at 18, rather than the food actually not being good.

Tagine and Cous Cous were frequently on the menu, and apparently neither of these satisfied me back then. Added to that was the fact that I was on a school ‘expedition’, so most of the meals that I was eating had been cooked for me by our hosts, whether that was Rashid’s wife in Taroudant or the amazing team who looked after us during our camping trek in the Atlas Mountains. Looking back now, this gives me even more reason to be in awe of the food. No choice, just delicious home-cooked (or mountain-cooked) meals dished up for us every breakfast, lunch and dinner. It really was a treat I should’ve appreciated more.

I’ve not really eaten much Moroccan food here either. I once had a tagine from Giraffe at Birmingham aiport, and despite having had some lovely meals from there before, it really wasn’t good.

Other than that, my inspiration for this probably has to come from my Dad’s leftover lamb stew, that we’d have the day after a Sunday Roast. For years I refused to eat it if it had apricots/dates in, as the idea of mixing sweet with savoury really didn’t work for me, but now that’s my favourite part.

I’ve finally come up with my own recipe for it, along with a side dish for mopping up all the sauces, inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s ‘Cheat’s Paratha’.

Of course it would be more ‘authentic’ to serve with cous cous, but ultimately you can choose whichever side dish you wish. This one’s satisfyingly indulgent, but I guess cous cous would be the slightly more health-conscious option.

A few disclaimers before I get to the point.

I don’t do recipe writing. It’s not my forte, but I do want to be able to share my successes. Because of that, my way of instruction won’t be the most precise – you’ll have to trust yourself to go with instinct sometimes, but the basic guidelines will be there.

Serves 2

For the stew

Ingredients:

1 onion

1 large clove of garlic

1 tin of chickpeas

1tsp tamarind paste

1tsp ginger paste

2 tsp rose harissa pasta

1tsp ras el hanout

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

handful of dried apricots

small handful of dates

leftover lamb

water

salt/pepper

Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion and garlic.
When fragrant tip in drained chickpeas.
Add the pastes and spices, give it a good mix and cook for a few minutes.
Chop dried apricots and dates into smaller pieces (generally I’d chop apricots in halves or quarters and dates into thirds), and add these along with the chopped tomatoes and seasoning.
Chuck in the leftover lamb and add enough water so that everything is almost completely submerged.
Leave to cook on a low heat for preferably a couple of hours (if you’re massively impatient like I often am, a shorter cooking time just to reduce the liquid slightly will do)

This stew-style sauce should still be liquidy when ready – don’t expect it to reduce down completely. You are aiming for the perfect balance between a thick pasty sauce and watery broth.

For the ‘Paratha’

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry

1 chilli

½ ball of mozzarella

1 tsp chilli powder

As I mentioned before, this is inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s Cheat’s Paratha. Certainly not a paratha (type of flatbread) in the typical sense, instead of having to make the dough from scratch, here you are just using puff pastry. It ends up having the most amazing soft, spongy texture, and I’ve just added a couple of extra ingredients to make it even more delicious.

Cut your ready-rolled puff pastry into 2 rectangles (you probably want enough that when you roll it into a ball, it’s a fist size).
Roll each rectangle into a ball.
Finely slice your chilli, and tear the mozzarella lump into smaller pieces.
There is no precise technique to this next bit – basically divide the chilli/mozzarella mix into two piles – one for each paratha, and press the puff pastry ball into that pile, constantly pushing the dough around so that the chilli and mozzarella becomes incorporated into the dough. At this point you can also sprinkle over as much chilli powder as you can handle. You want to knead the dough/push it around for a couple of minutes so that the mozzarella and chilli are evenly distributed throughout the dough rather than just being concentrated in one area.
With a rolling pin, roll them flat into circles – I like mine quite thick, so I’d probably go for the thickness of two pound coins. If you’ve used rubbish, cheap mozzarella like me, don’t worry if the dough is incredibly sticky and wet, it might seem like a disaster but it will still work fine.
Heat a frying pan on high, and once rolled out, add your paratha to the dry pan. There’s no specific cooking time, but you want to leave it until it’s crisped up and is no longer sticky at all on one side, and then you can flip it to crisp the other side. A couple of minutes should be enough, but just monitor it and use your common sense.
When fully cooked, you should find that they are browned up on both sides but that the centre is soft and slightly gooey and when you pull it apart, the cheese should stretch between both sides.

Serve the stew with your paratha on the side for a cheesy, spicy dipping experience!

Would love to know if anyone ends up trying this, so please leave a comment or connect with me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn.

Hope you enjoy…

¡Comemos!

Meat Me Halfway: Week 2

2nd Nov 2019Leave a comment

One month has flown by, and so we’re already at week 2 of my mission to reduce my meat and dairy intake.

I’m gonna go straight in there and say that I enjoyed this week a lot more. I think the meals I ate were more varied, and I focused slightly less on beans and pulses; my body ultimately thanking me for this as I felt less heavy and bloated.

I’ll kick things off with one of my absolute favourite things that I snacked on at work nearly every day.

I saw this recipe on @mrshollingsworths Instagram account and they looked amazing – peanut butter energy balls filled with raspberry chia jam. You never know if these kinds of things are going to work for you in the same way that they miraculously do on Instagram and recipe books etc, but I can confirm that these came out perfectly. Basically just a combination of oats, peanut butter and dates blended together. For the chia jam you can either buy it or make it yourself but you need to freeze it in an ice cube tray so that the little blobs are easier to work with. Once they’re frozen, you take them out and press the dough around the frozen jam in a little ball. The jam will then defrost so that when you bite into them, this happens…

Just delicious. And with the same Rachel Ama raspberry chia jam recipe that I used for her pancakes last vegan week. I’m looking forward to trying other variations of these little energy balls next time round.

Along with these snacks, I needed a more substantial main meal for my week of packed lunches and decided to take a risk, following a salad recipe. Just to emphasise, I am really not a salad person and just the word alone makes me shudder. But, being open-minded and all, I went straight to Jamie’s Veg book (which seems to be absolutely everywhere recently) and tried his Bhel Puri Salad recipe.

Biggest shock of my life. It was amazing.

First off, it was so vibrant in colour – I think perhaps the fact that it wasn’t such a green salad helped me to find it less off-putting. It’s certainly not a traditional leaf-based salad.

You’ve got red onion, radish, peanuts, pomegranate, and a whole load of crunch from the Bombay Mix and crushed poppadoms. Add all the spices and this really does form a solid meal that tastes as exciting as it looks.

A couple more Rachel Ama recipes followed, one a bit meh, one an absolute winner. I had a brunch of her Nut Butter Toast which was okay but quite basic I guess, but at least it’s something you can customise yourself in terms of toppings and flavours.

What did really impress me though was her French Toast. I’d never really thought of french toast as something that could be vegan, as I’d thought that the egg was a key component. The substitute for the beaten egg mix worked perfectly though and visually created the same yellow-brown hued appearance on the bread. The recipe also used sourdough which I was sceptical about as I thought (bare with me on this one), it might be too ‘bread-like’. As in perhaps a bit crusty etc but it turned out super soft and spongy.

Ngl I would gladly eat this in a restaurant. Credit where credit’s due.

So after this masterpiece and the PBJ balls, I felt like I was on a bit of a roll, but I did take a few steps back again with my attempted Mango Cococnut Chia Pudding breakfast topped with granola and coconut shavings. I made this the night before as Rachel suggests, thinking it would be ready to go, perfect for the following morning and giving me an extra 15 mins in bed as I didn’t have to make anything from scratch. However, this ‘pudding’ just didn’t do it for me. A question of taste I reckon. I’ve never enjoyed mango that much but I’m always determined not just to write off recipes containing it. But that, along with the coconut milk that had soaked into the chia seeds forming an almost gelatinous slime really didn’t go down well. I don’t think the recipe is bad by any means but it just didn’t work for me.

From one coconut recipe to another, her simple, straightforward recipe for Coconut Rice was a winner, and pairing this creamy, delicious side with Jamie’s Stuffed Curried Aubergine worked a treat.

Doesn’t look massively appealing here, but it was absolutely packed with flavour – I highly recommend trying this recipe.

Back to Instagram, and the vegetable I have a love-hate (like-hate is probably more accurate) relationship with, it’s @elavegan ‘s recipe for Kung Pao Cauliflower.

This didn’t end up being bad, but I think I would’ve enjoyed it more had I boiled the cauliflower beforehand to soften before pan-frying and roasting.

Then came the evening when for once I didn’t have a plan. It was my opportunity to wing something. I had some filo pastry that needed using up so decided to try a filo pastry pie. Instead of egg wash I used coconut oil which I read was a half-decent substitute, and so after lining the dish with a couple of layers of the pastry, I filled it with chopped walnuts, mushrooms, vegan pistachio pesto (featured in my last Meat Me Halfway post), and @iamnutokay ‘s vegan black truffle cheese. The end result actually turned out pretty well, and it was really tasty, despite the photo looking like an absolute mess.

I bought a couple of things from @iamnutokay at Victoria Park Market in Bethnal Green a few weeks ago. All their ‘cheeses’ are plant-based, and although the texture doesn’t particularly resemble actual cheese, it’s a great substitute that comes in a range of really tasty flavours. Along with the black truffle, I also bought a chipotle cheese, and both of them are delicious. Vegan ‘parmesan’ also seemed like an important staple so I grabbed a jar of that to keep me going for a while, to add to vegan pastas and risottos.

***

Some of you may know that yesterday was actually World Vegan Day, and the evening before, on Halloween, I got last minute tickets to the Vegan Nights Festival at the Trewman Brewery in Shoreditch, London. I am going to do a separate post about that shortly, but I tried quite a few different vegan street food style meals with mixed results! A couple of amazing finds and some to be avoided, but more to come on that soon!

Restaurant-wise, I’ll take it back to Itsu, which is really great for vegan lunches. I also find their food so refreshing and energising, and they make rice box salads that are super filling. I don’t have any photos this time, but I still adore the vegetable gyozas which I had for a second time, and also was massively surprised by the mini avocado maki rolls. Not a huge fan of avocado, but for some reason, encased in sticky rice and nori sheets it tasted great.

***

I still love the fact that two of the best biscuits out there (Oreos and Lotus biscuits) are both vegan, and so these make a great base for vegan shakes. From Ed’s Easy Diner, I got an oreo milkshake which was creamy and indulgent, and kept me going through a long night shift.

Again, not the most appetising-looking but I promise it tasted great!

Last but not least, I finally got round to trying Arancini Brothers, whose burgers I had first noticed on Instagram a while back, being astounded that they were vegan. I ordered a ‘nudie’ arancini pot along with a chorizo burger. Other than the arancini arriving cold which was disappointing, I loved everything about the food.

I didn’t get any chorizo flavour or texture from the burger to be honest, but the flavour was still beautiful. It was pretty spicy, and the whole concept of an arancini patty is amazing, especially if you’re not a fan of typical plant-based patties made from soya/beetroot/mushroom/lentils etc. The ‘cheese’ was just oozing everywhere, and so for me, this is the perfect example of how vegan food can be utterly indulgent. We’ve come a long way from immediately associating a vegan diet with greenness and health-obsessions.

So that’s pretty much everything. Like I said I found this second week a lot more exciting food-wise than the first week and there are a few meals here that I would actively choose over meat/dairy-based meals which is a good sign. It’s given me a new burst of enthusiasm for all the recipes that I’m going to try next time around at the end of November when week 3 comes calling.

Stay tuned for the Vegan Nights post coming as soon as I have the time. In the meantime why not research vegan eateries near you and set yourself the challenge of eating out at one of these plant-based spots this month. Go in with an open-mind, and…

¡Comemos!

Kitchen Therapy

31st Jul 201931st Jul 2019Leave a comment

Everyone has shit days. Some of us combat that with a nice, long bath. Some go for walks, inhaling the fresh air. Others just curl up in bed.

All I want to do is bake. It’s what makes me happiest and is the perfect distraction.

Yesterday afternoon I went a bit mad and decided to complete 9 bakes one after the other. I don’t think I initially realised that this was going to take me a solid 7 hours from 4.30pm to 11.30pm, and had I known, I might’ve stopped myself, but sometimes not knowing what you’re getting yourself into is a blessing in disguise. After all that hard work, you reap the rewards – in my case, staring at 9 delicious sweet and savoury treats, ready to feed to everyone around me.

My supermarket run was slightly OTT and this isn’t including the ingredients that I already had at home. Does 5 packets of ready rolled puff pastry seem slightly excessive?

Bake number 1 was a BBC Good Food recipe for naan bread – something that I can easily freeze ready to defrost as a tasty side dish later down the line. The dough seemed to go to plan, and seeing it grow in size was incredibly satisfying.

I still can’t really believe how easy the naan was to make. Simple ingredients mixed together into a dough and kneaded and then dry fried and rubbed with butter. They smelt amazing, and looked exactly as they would from a restaurant or supermarket.

The nigella seeds give a really subtle yet tasty flavour, and these were softer than any naan I’ve ever had before ( and that was the day after they were baked). I highly recommend trying this recipe out yourself so you, too, can marvel at how surprisingly straightforward it is!

Next up we have a semi-failure. I tried a recipe from Nadiya Hussein’s new cookbook ‘Time To Eat’ and was aiming for a Banana Tarte Tatin with Malai Ice Cream. Let’s have a look at how it went down…

So not a complete disaster! The caramel was the main issue. It didn’t quite come out right (to be fair I’ve never tried to make it before…), and it saturated the puff pastry base with its seeping syrup. In terms of flavour I loved it, the bananas were tasty, the caramel was delicious and the chopped hazelnuts were a worthwhile addition.

The ice cream fuck-up, however, was most definitely my fault. I’d forgotten that the point was to whip the cream so when I ran out of cream I added some greek yoghurt as a substitute. This then meant that it wouldn’t actually whip to the point of forming soft peaks, but I decided to freeze it anyway and see what happened. It has set to an extent, and actually tastes lovely with its hint of cardamom, but it’s not quite what I’d call ice cream.

Moving on to one of my favourite images of the 7 hour bake. Another BBC Good Food recipe and this one’s for mozzarella stuffed crust pizza, to which I chose to add chorizo and basil. Like the naan, the dough was really easy to make, although it didn’t puff up like the naan. It was quite tricky to try and seal the edges of the crust to hold the mozzarella in but these seemed to stick down once they were baked.

Not quite as photogenic once baked, but it is all about the taste really. More mozzarella and less tomato would’ve been good but the dough was so fluffy and delicious. The mozzarella in the crust seemed to disappear slightly so I’d pack that in a bit more if I were to bake it again.

Switching right back to sweet, and returning to Nadiya, we have the choc bar puffs. Simply put, a square of chocolate encased in puff pastry and sprinkled with cocoa powder. There really isn’t anything more to it than that. Super quick to make and couldn’t be any easier.

They were really tasty, but nothing mind-blowing.

Now on to one of my absolute favourite bakes. We’re sticking with Nadiya (because she is wonderful) and it’s her meatloaf roll. Inside we have beef/pork mince with hard boiled eggs lined up throughout and all that wrapped up in puff pastry.

Cutting through the crisp pastry to see the eggs perfectly lining the centre was so unbelievably satisfying. Not only that but the flavour was beautiful. Before wrapping the whole thing up, the pastry is painted with slightly diluted marmite – I only tried marmite for the first time last week and found it very odd-tasting, but the watered-down flavour brushed onto the pastry tastes amazing, and you’d never know what it was.

We now come to one of the ugliest bakes of the evening but by no means the worst-tasting. This BBC Good Food recipe was slightly dodgy in terms of making the pastry from scratch (or it’s just me…) but the filling was beautiful. Ignoring the burnt, mismatched crust, the centre of the pie stayed wobbly and gooey. It is ridiculously indulgent but such a delicious treat – so delicious (I hope) that a lovely user from the Olio App (anti-food waste app) came to collect half of it to take home for himself.

Can you believe I’m still going at this point? No? Me neither, but we’ve only got 3 left. And this one was cute. I love Le Creuset kitchenware, and I also love anything miniature so this tiny individual dish has always been a favourite of mine. I used it to create a BBC Good Food Pork, Apricot and Pistachio Pie. I have to admit, this is the only thing I haven’t yet tried, and it’ll be my dinner this evening, but it did smell wonderful. I love the combination or pork, apricot and pistachio, with the sweet dried fruit and crunchy nut combo. I have confidence that it’s going to be a very enjoyable meal…

Penultimate dish! We’re going all out now with triple chocolate cookies, dark, milk and white all in one. Now these were supposed to be gooey, but they struggled to set at all with the quantities of ingredients the recipe suggested, so whilst they are delicious, they’re pretty messy and fall apart quite easily.

……………………………………………..

Picture this. It’s half 11, I’ve been on my feet rushing around for 7 hours, the kitchen looks like a bombsite, and 7 hours of cooking has produced sweltering heat. Then finally, I take my last bake from the oven, I wait patiently for it to cool, before topping it with buttercream and the honeycomb I’d made 6 hours earlier.

The absolute relief. The satisfaction. The pride. I felt everything. I was excited and couldn’t really believe what I’d just done. And the last one was pretty good to be fair…

We’re finishing back with Nadiya, but this is from her earlier cookbook, ‘Nadiya’s Family Favourites’. It’s a banana sponge with peanut buttercream and honeycomb. The honeycomb struggled to set properly so it’s sort of improvised but still tastes good.

This is one of the lightest, most moist sponges I’ve ever managed to make and that’s impressive considering by this point my scales had had enough and would no longer even turn on. I therefore had to guesstimate all the quantities but looks like I got it pretty spot on.

I did then, suddenly find myself looking round the room thinking ‘What on earth have I just done?’. But I felt good, I felt productive, and I had well and truly taken my mind off of the less pleasant things that I had to think about.

Whatever works for you, find it and run with it. When you have a bad day, throw yourself into whatever makes you happy, whatever calms you, whether it’s active, indulgent or just plain lazy.

The kitchen is my therapy. What’s yours?

¡Comemos!