Recipe: Rosemary and new potato foccacia

I had planned a special Italian date night with D a few weeks back, and I was determined I was going to try to make my own focaccia bread to go with it. I love baking, like really love baking. Our kitchen is quite small, and I don't really do it often. I have a bread maker, and a few years ago I went through a phase of making all our own bread. But then I got a job two hours away and it put paid to that!

I have never, though, made my own bread by hand. So I thought this would be a good chance to give this a go. And what's better than an Italian bread? I don't want to know.

I found the recipe on BBC Good Food and you can access the recipe here. I really liked this recipe, and it makes a large loaf. (Do you call a focaccia a loaf?) Anyway, point is this makes loads for just two people! You can freeze it, I'm sure though. We kept it wrapped up in our bread bin, and D ate it over the next few days, though it's definitely at it's best fresh.

Ingredients:

250g new potatoes (I used a tin of new potatoes, already peeled for this)
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
8 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for kneading and dusting
small pack rosemary

Method:

1. Pour 175ml boiling water and 100ml cold water into a large bowl. Sprinkle over the yeast, 1 tsp salt and 2 tbsp olive oil. Mix well, then stir in the flour, adding a splash more water if the mixture feels too dry.

2. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface and knead for 15 mins until smooth and elastic (dust the surface with a little flour if the dough is sticky), then shape into a ball. Grease the inside of a large bowl with olive oil, then add the dough to the bowl and turn a few times to coat in the oil. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for 1 hr or until doubled in size.

Ready to prove

Rising dough

3. Grease a large roasting tin (about 26cm x 35cm) with olive oil and dust with a little flour. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Carefully stretch out the dough to fit the tin, pressing it into the corners. Cut the cooked potatoes into wedges and tuck them into the dough at regular intervals, along with sprigs of rosemary, and scatter a few sprigs over the top. Cover the tin with cling film and leave to prove for another 45 mins. Remove the cling film, pour over 3 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle over a little salt. Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins or until the bread is golden and the potatoes are browning lightly.

Spreading on tray ready for second prove

Adding ingredients and more oil

4. When the bread is cooked, remove it from the oven and quickly drizzle over another 3 tbsp olive oil while it’s still hot. Leave to cool for 10 mins, then turn out onto a board, slice and serve.

Finished product :)

I served this bread as a side to this which was the perfect accompaniment. It was oozy and saucy and perfectly luxe. Also, serve with a nice bottle of red, and a tiramisu to finish. 

Louisiana red rice with prawns

Prepping veg

So for dinner the other evening I made a brand new recipe I had never tried before. Sometimes I am a little scared of cooking shellfish, with the chances of causing serious illness and/or death a much larger threat. But it was Monday and I was feeling adventurous so I gave it a go. And boy, am I glad I did. With only two of us, this recipe made enough for us to enjoy for two nights in a row. It gives a filling, tasty and fairly quick meal. I made it on a Monday, only getting in the door at 7.30pm and we we're eating just after 8pm. So even on days when time is slipping away, it's a nutritious,tasty and quick option. This recipe was in the most recent edition of Slimming World magazine. If you aren't a fan of prawns or seafood, you could easily substitute for chicken or more veg (maybe squash and asparagus would work nicely?) if you wanted to avoid meat altogether and I don't think you would do so at the detriment of any flavour.

Starting to cook

Ingredients:
Low calorie cooking spray
6 bacon rashers (smoked is best)
1 large red onion, chopped
4 celery sticks, chopped
2 orange peppers (I used 1 red and 1 yellow), chopped
1/2 tsp celery seeds or 1tsp creole mix (I used jerk seasoning)
4 bay leaves
400g can chopped tomatoes
325g basmati rice
600ml chicken stock
400g large peeled raw prawns
Lemon wedges to serve
2 spring onions, sliced to garnish

Add rice

Method:

1. Spray a frying pan with spray and place over medium heat. Cook the bacon until crisp, then remove from heat and set aside.

2. Spray the pan with a little more spray, add the onion, celery and peppers and season. Cook for 10 minutes, or until soft and golden, then add the celery seeds or Creole spice mix, bay leaves, cooked bacon, tomatoes, rice and stock. Cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the prawns, re-cover and cook for a further 5 minutes.

3. Garnish the rice with spring onions and serve with the lemon wedges. Enjoy.

As mentioned this is a Slimming World recipe, and is completely free on the plan. I will definitely be making it again! Great for a work night, dress it up for date night with a 4.5 syn glass of wine or go all out for a dinner party. A really simple recipe, but the flavours will really impress your guests and will have them coming back for more....

Louisiana red rice with prawns

Pesto chicken bake

Hey everyone,

So I figured a good place to begin blogging would be to cover one of my favourite pass-times, cooking. I love nothing more than trying a new recipe, and there's nothing I won't give a good go. At the minute, I am following the Slimming World plan in an effort to shed some extra pounds. I want to lose about 40lbs, or roughly 3 stone. I am like the vast majority of those who embark on such missions - facing an uphill struggle. But I've had a really good week and I am really determined - even attending a party at the weekend I managed to stay on plan. *Pat on back.* So this recipe is sourced from Slimming World, in case anyone thought I was genius enough to make it up.

Ingredients:
4 x 115g skinless chicken breasts
Low calorie cooking spray

For the marinade:
3 garlic cloves
6 tbsp freshly chopped basil, plus a few leaves to garnish
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
6 tbsp chicken stock

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blending the marinade

Method:

1. Make the marinade: peel and grate the garlic, place in a food processor along with the basil, parsley, vinegar and stock and blend until the mixture is fairly smooth. Season to taste.

2. Make 3 slashes on each chicken breast, place in a bowl and pour the marinade over, rubbing into the slashes. Cover, place in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours.

3. Place the chicken breasts in a roasting tin sprayed with low calorie cooking spray and roast in the oven for 20 minutes at 190°C/170°C Fan/Gas 5, or until the chicken is cooked through and tender.

4. Serve the chicken pesto roast sliced and garnished with a few basil leaves.

Marinading

Now, that's the official recipe. But I decided to put a little twist on it, of the cheesy variety. I am using my healthy extra A (see Slimming World for details on the plan) as Parmesan, which I will sprinkle over the chicken for the final 5/6 minutes of step 3. I would use approximately 30g per chicken breast for really good coverage, 30g being a Healthy Extra A portion. A portion (one breast) is free on Slimming World (or 6 syns if you are not using your cheese for HEA). Alternatively, you could leave off the cheese and the whole thing would be free.

Finished meal

Alongside this, I served roasted new potatoes tossed in crushed garlic and rosemary, and spinach salad with balsamic vinegar dressing.

End of a long day - Bake Off :)

All in all this was a really simple recipe, especially for a week night. It would be great to rustle up the night before and have in the fridge just waiting to pop into the oven for 20 mins when you walk through the door. Just enough time to pop in the shower, wash the day away and get into some comfy fresh PJs. Which is definitely how I played it.

And for dessert... 11 syns of French Fancies and the Great British Bake Off with lovely sofa cuddles from my man. A glorious end to any day.      


Take care

C