miss b loves .......Florentines

I mentioned here that during my recent trip to London I enjoyed a perfect flat white coffee and a florentine at Nude Espresso....

....and I was determined to recreate this very indulgent biscuit.......Well, here is my version.....based on Delia's recipe.

miss b loves..........comfort food ......spicy carrot and coriander soup.

It's so cold and wet here that we need all the help we can get to keep warm and this spicy carrot soup is the perfect comfort food. It's from another recipe leaflet I picked up last year while shopping at Sainsbury's.

Ingredients

1tbsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
pinch ground cumin
pinch crushed chillies
1.25 litres vegetable or chicken stock (I used just less than 1 litre for a thicker consistency) 
500g carrots peeled and roughly chopped
1tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves plus a few sprigs to garnish
20g vegetable crisps, to garnish

1. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and cook for 3-5 mins, until softened.

2. Add the cumin and crushed chillies and cook, stirring for a further 1 min. 

3. Add the stock and carrots, bring to the boil, then simmer for about 15 mins, or until the carrots are tender.

4. Transfer the soup to a blender and whizz until smooth. Stir through the chopped coriander, then ladle the soup into serving bowls. Sprinkle on some freshly ground black pepper and garnish with the extra coriander leaves and the vegetable crisps. 

I served it with chunky slices of walnut bread (not home-made but still delicious!)  

PS Above is the traditional method but I made it the easy way with our soup maker. I love my kitchen gadgets but this one is definitely one of the most useful. It sautés, cooks, simmers, blends and the best part ...... there's no pan to watch over ...... and it stays hot until needed.  

I'm definitely ready to experiment this winter making more warming soups using different flavour combinations .......let me know if you have any suggestions! 

miss b loves ...........making the most of autumn fruits

I'm always sad to see the end of summer especially when it's been such a good one this year with plenty of sunshine (not always the case in the UK!) Autumn does have much to offer though ... not just an excuse to buy new season clothes but an opportunity to try new recipes using all the delicious fruit and vegetables.

Time to swap salads for soups and peaches for pears! The gorgeous colours on the front cover of the Waitrose Autumn Harvest recipe booklet caught my eye ....inside, the Baked Pears with Butterscotch Sauce combine some of my favourite seasonal ingredients ....pears, pecans and blackberries......

Irresistible drizzled with the butterscotch sauce which is so rich and indulgent yet surprisingly easy to make. It's sure to become one of our favourites. 

Click here for the recipe

The next dish I came across is another simple one....Baked Greengages with Cinnamon. It was being demonstrated in Sainsbury's and as soon as I had finished my scrumptious sample, I wandered off down the aisle to buy the ingredients ........

miss b loves.......cranberry and apple mince pies with a glass of mulled wine

Christmas wouldn't be the same without delicious mince pies but I find some of the shop-bought ones too sweet (even for my sweet tooth!) The addition of fresh cranberries and apple to a jar of mincemeat gives these pies a really fresh taste.

The recipe is from the free Waitrose supermarket newspaper, Waitrose Weekend..........

miss b loves.......mushroom and walnut tarts

These little tarts are full of autumnal flavours and are ideal as a quick lunch or a simple starter. I picked up the recipe leaflet while shopping in Sainsbury's (I always find their recipes to be quick and reliable without long lists of ingredients!) 

miss b loves......chocolate chip cookies

I have tried a few different cookie recipes but when I spotted this one in my new Green and Black's cookery book I just had a feeling that this was going to be a favourite and I wasn't disappointed! 

miss b loves.......French madeleines

Madeleines have been on my must-bake list for some time but I have only recently bought a mould! These buttery shell-shaped little sponge cakes traditionally flavoured with vanilla, lemon or almonds instantly remind me of France and they are so easy to make! In France they are often dipped into tea to eat. 

miss b loves..........frittata

I'm a huge fan of frittata and Spanish tortilla - it's perfect for a quick, tasty lunch or midweek meal. I picked up a recipe leaflet in Sainsbury's for this new potato, watercress and bacon version which is packed with fresh seasonal produce........ 

miss b loves........St Clement's drizzle cake

My Mum makes the best lemon drizzle cake (she makes three or four at a time for friends) so when I spotted St Clement's drizzle cake  in the Marks and Spencer magazine I knew I had to have a go at this variation. The recipe was actually taken from Jo Pratt's  book 'In the Mood for Entertaining.'.........

miss b loves..........Eton Mess (with raspberries)

I had quite a lot of raspberries left over after making my Raspberry Prosecco Cocktail so I decided to make my very easy and quick version of Eton Mess. 

This is an English dessert usually consisting of strawberries, pieces of meringue and cream traditionally served at Eton College's annual cricket game against Winchester College. The dish was served in the 1930s in the school tuck shop and was originally made with strawberries or bananas and cream or ice-cream with meringue apparently being a later addition.

miss b's Eton Mess

Serves 4

4-6 meringue nests shop-bought or home-made

300ml pot of double cream

1 tbsp icing sugar (optional)

225g raspberries 

1. Whip 250ml cream lightly in a large bowl and stir in the icing sugar, if used.  

2.Roughly crush the meringues into the bowl and stir gently.

3.Halve the raspberries (reserving four for decoration). Add to the bowl and stir to combine.

4.Spoon into four glass dishes or large wine glasses, pour over the remaining cream and decorate with the reserved whole raspberries.

I'm not usually a fan of shop-bought meringues as they are often too powdery or brittle but I was very impressed with the texture and taste of the Sainsbury's Taste the Difference meringue nests which I used here.

Recipe based on this one at netmums 

miss b recommends these variations:

• Adding a tablespoon of raspberry liqueur or kirsch to the halved raspberries before mixing with the cream and meringue
• Using mixed berries, strawberries, bananas or any other soft fruit instead of raspberries.  
• Replace the icing sugar with vanilla sugar
• Replace half the double cream with crème fraiche or marscapone
• Replace the cream with ice cream.

miss b loves..........The Alchemist's Chocolate Cake

                         

I'm a true chocoholic and I can't resist a new chocolate cake recipe. When I saw that one of the ingredients in The Alchemist's Chocolate Cake was pears, I knew I had to try it(Pears and chocolate are a perfect match - Poire Belle Hélène is one of my favourite French desserts.)