You might think this would be a strange combination, but it works. Using up the leftovers before we make our pre christmas visit to family, I found a bag of parsnips looking rather sorry for themselves. I fried 2 finely chopped onions, a clove of garlic and a small piece of fresh ginger until golden. Then I added chopped parsnips, a teaspoon of garam masala and poured on cold water to cover. The soup was left to simmer until the parsnips were soft. To finish, I added the remains of a pot of fresh coriander leaves and blended until smooth. Finally the soup was returned to the pan and I added half a can of coconut milk left over from last night’s thai chicken. Season to taste and serve warm with crusty bread. Now I need to find a use for some rather wrinkly carrots….

Until Easter this year I’d never cooked a rice pudding.  We were staying with friends and the lady of the house asked me to make a rice pud to serve up with Sunday lunch. No presure! Luckily she has a well stocked shelf of cookery books and together with the instructions on the back of the packet, I put this together and it  has now become  Mr T’s favourite Sunday teatime treat. The original was from Delia’s How to Cook but I failed to copy it down, so I had to cobble this together on our return. I think Delia had it from an old Eliza Acton recipe.

Using the quantities on the back of the rice pudding packet, simply warm the milk in a pan, add the rice and allow to come to simmer for 10 mins, add sugar to taste and a knob of butter. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.  Add 2 beaten eggs and pour into a shallow oven proof dish. Top with grated nutmeg (or for a different flavour, stir in 1 tablespoon  vanilla paste with the milk and skip the nutmeg). Bake as directed on the packet, but it will need a few mins less than the packet says. Start checking after 40 mins and  if needed turn the heat down low. We like ours with home made jam and there are never leftovers!

I love spicy food, as a child we used to enjoy army curries loaded with sultanas, desiccated coconut and apples in the Officer’s Mess for special Sunday lunches (followed by much pestering for coins to play the fruit machines while the grown ups drank lager and gossiped). As a grown up, I explored the delights of Rusholme’s “Curry Mile”  and later discovered the family of a child I taught owned  the local Indian Take Away – most of the Friday night curry treats I whip up for Mr T are based on this family’s recipes which both husband and wife were happy to pass on. I’ll never forget the day Mrs K showed a class of 8 year olds how to make and cook chappatis – they loved it – and so did I!

Last week I cooked this delicious Lamb Saagwala, a recipe from The Curry Guy. If you haven’t discovered his website yet, please stop reading now and go take a look. It’s stuffed with amazing recipes and written with great style. It’s become my “go to” place for spicy inspiration.

On the subject of blogs, please also pop over to Urvashi’s new blog Gujerati Girl, and say hello. I’m really excited about this new blog which I’m sure will soon be stuffed with fabulous recipes and hints from Urvashi’s kitchen. Most readers will know I had a real soft spot for Urvashi when she appeared on The Great British Bake Off, and we’ve since discovered a shared love of crochet as well as cake!

Back to the lamb … I used my own basic curry sauce instead of Dan’s (and I will post the recipe for that soon – it’s currently scribbled in the back of an old school exercise book – maybe I’ll just post a photo of it, curry stains and all!) We ate it with home made naans courtesy of the bread maker (although I read a great stove top recipe on Dan’s site which I’ll try out next week). It was delicious and filled the kitchen with a rich smell of ginger. The whole family loved it and heated up for lunch the next day, the leftovers tasted even better!

These Brownies take hardly any time at all to make. I usually have the ingredients in the store cupboard, so I can whip up a  batch whenever  we need a sugar / chocolate hit.

These are busy times here at “Todhunter Towers”, lots of exciting changes and news to share … not just yet …. but soon….

Meanwhile, enjoy these Brownies as much as the recipients did.

Chocolate Brownies:

Preheat oven to gas mark 4 (or equivalent)

Melt 100g unsalted butter in a pan Once melted pour into a mixing bowl containing 50g Fairtrade cocoa powder, 50g self raising flour,  250g caster sugar, 10ml of pure vanilla extract  and 2 beaten eggs. Mix until all combined. Pour into a lined, 6 inch square baking tin and bake for approx 30 mins. Leave to cool for 5 mins before turning out onto a cooling rack. They should be soft but not runny in the centre. Cut into squares and store in an airtight tin. For extra “oomph” try adding chocolate chips or chopped nuts just before baking.

PS: This recipe originally came from the Radio Time. About 25 years ago I tore out the recipe, back then it called for 2 oz margarine and 8 oz of sugar – we’ve weaned ourselves off the sugar a bit and only eat “real” butter, but if you don’t find my recipe sweet enough try adding more!

As promised, here is the recipe for the simple tarts I made last week for my “Girls’ Night In”:

Ingredients:

To make 24 you will need

250g plain flour

125g salted butter

Ice cold water to bind

2 logs of soft goats cheese (I use Delamere Dairy, because it’s local and we like it!)

Chopped walnuts

Method:

Make the shortcrust pastry. I must admit for things like these quick tarts I use the food processor. Simply pop the flour and butter in the processor, pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add the ice cold water through the feed tube a few drops at a time until the pastry is combined but not soggy. It’s impossible to give an exact quantity, it depends on the flour you use, the temperature of your kitchen and so many other factors that it’s really down to experience. Knead the pastry quickly on a floured board then put in the fridge to cool and relax.*

Roll out the pastry on a floured board, use a large cutter or glass to cut circles into pastry and use these to line the bun trays. I like to put a paper cake case in each tart and weigh down with lentils or beans, then after 20 minutes resting in the fridge I bake them blind in a hot oven for about 10 minutes (or until the pastry looks dry but not browned).

Remove the paper cases and lentils. Pop slices of cheese in each tart, top with chopped walnuts and bake in a hot oven for about 15 – 20 minutes or until the cheese has just begun to brown.

These will last for a few days in the fridge and freeze well too. Though in our house they rarely make it to a storage tin as Mr T and the Teen will happily gobble them up straight from the oven if I let them!
* There some great baking and pastry tips on BBC’s Get Baking