Easter chocolate biscuit cake.....

This is Easter. No not August, Easter. Sunny wonderful spring time. I'm off to Scilly for 2 weeks to enjoy Bryher hot cross buns and my mum's Easter nests. See you in May xxxx

Easter Chocolate Biscuit Cake....(Makes about 8 slices)

6oz butter
8oz galaxy chocolate
4 tbsp syrup
1 mars bar
1 caramel bar
1 bag of mini eggs
1lb digestive biscuits

On a very low heat melt the galaxy, syrup and butter together. You might need to give it a good mix with a spatula to make sure the butter and chocolate melt together.

Crumble the biscuits into rough chunks. Take the chocolate mix off the heat and add the biscuits. Give it a good stir to make sure the biscuits are covered in the chocolate mix. When it's covered add the other chocolate bits. I left the caramel chunks whole and the mars bar in big chunks so it didn't melt away but actually I should have chopped the lumps in half because they didn't melt at all!

Press into a foiled of cling filmed tin. Push the mini eggs into the mix. Press down and pop in the fridge.

Stalker....

I got a shock last week. I was told that my rhubarb was ready. My poor forgotten rhubarb left to its own devices over the winter months. It knew spring was coming and was bursting with pink shoots when I finally caught on. It made the most delicious pudding.

Rhubarb and vanilla sponges (serves 2)..........

4 rhubarb stalks

2 tbsp light brown sugar

1 large egg

50g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

50g caster sugar

50 soft butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

Chop the rhubarb into 2cm chunks and put in a pan with the brown sugar and a couple of tbsp of water. Put on a low heat and leave to soften.

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Mix all the sponge ingredients together in a small bowl. Butter a ramekin with melted butter and pop in the fridge for a couple of minutes. Butter again. Spoon the rhubarb mixture into the ramekin. Then add the sponge.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Carefully turn out and serve with custard or clotted cream.

Called to the bars....

Last night we had the first barbecue of the year. After a hard days digging it was just what I needed. Drinking chilled wine while huddled around a fire....



Last year we barbecued so much that I got a bit sausage and burgered out and this year I'm going to try and vary what I put on the bars.

Barbecued Chinese Fish.....(serves 4)

4 fish steaks of your choice

2 tsp chinese five spice paste

1 tbsp chinese rice wine

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp oil

Pop all the ingredients in a bowl and leave to marinate. (I left it for about an hour). Get your barbecued out and cook the fish for a couple of minutes on each side (depending on the type and thickness of the fish).

For pudding I made a jam sponge. This took 35 minutes in total to make and went down a storm once the sun had gone down and the fire had run out of wood.

Jam Sponge.....(Serves 10)

1 large jar strawberry jam

3 eggs

7oz plain flour

7oz caster sugar

7oz soya spread (only because of my dairy allergy...butter is better!)

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp baking powder

Put all the ingredients except the jam in a bowl and mix until light and fluffy. Spread the jam in the bottom of a baking tray. Spread the sponge mix over the top and cook for 30 mins in a 180'c oven.

Birthday beach day....

It's the other half's birthday....this is what we've been doing....

Samphire and rain....

I'm back on Scilly and rain is falling hard from the west. The air smells of wet grass and everywhere I walk mud splatters on to the back of my jeans. The camellias in the garden have turned a muddy brown, burnt by the wet spring. The first visitors are wrapped in oilskins braving the downpour. I'm sitting at the kitchen table leafing through a book which I've borrowed off a work colleague. John Wright's "Edible Seashore" is packed full of exciting recipes for plants I can find right at the bottom of the garden.




I've always loved the smell of rock samphire. When we were little our favourite game was playing "shops" by the rocks by the quay. The tops of the rocks were covered with tiny bushes of rock samphire which smell like a combination of liquorice and peas. We used to pick it and "sell" it to each other as banana or beans. It only grows at the top of rocks. In the book John Wright tells the story of some shipwrecked sailors who swam to rocks and tried to decide whether to swim to shore or to stay on the rocks until morning when they would be rescued. One spotted rock samphire and realised the sea would never cover that part of the rock so they clung to the rocks knowing the rocks wouldn't be submerged. Anyway I digress....I love the smell of rock samphire...I often grab a handful when I get home just to breath in its smell and it reminds me of being seven again with tangley hair and bare feet.




Pickled Samphire.....(Makes one small jar)

300ml cider vinegar
25g sugar
sliced zest of 1 lemon
1 bay leaf
70g rock samphire
1 tbsp olive oil





Wash the samphire. In a pan put the lemon, vinegar, bay leaf and sugar. Bring to the boil and reduce on a low heat for 10 minutes.

Pour some boiling water over the samphire and leave to blanch for 10 minutes.

Drain and stuff into a small sterilised jar. Pour the vinegar mix over the top.

Drive the olive oil over the top and seal.

Serve with cheese, cold meats or fish.

Ho-nest-ly good cakes....

The best type of eggs to be cooking with at Easter.....




Tonight I start as a Jamie at Home consultant. It's basically like tupperware parties but with awesome home stuff. I can't wait to get buying...let alone selling. And it means I'll have some nice plates and board to display on my blog....

I am making some goodies for the party tonight including these yummy chocolate nest cakes.... "Hang on a second", I hear you cry, "aren't they just those Away in a Manger cakes you made at Christmas but with mini eggs in instead of jelly babies?" Answer: yes but more chocolate means more yummy.

Chocolate Easter Nest Cakes....(12 cakes)

2oz butter

4oz granulated sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

2tbsp golden syrup

5 shredded wheats (crumbled)

About 40 mini eggs

Melt the butter, sugar, cocoa and syrup until the sugar is dissolved. Crumble in the shredded wheat.

Put a tsp of the mix in a cupcake holder and top with three mini eggs. (I like the yellow ones best...they definitely taste COMPLETELY different to the other colours).

Sometimes I put them in the freezer because I like it when they go all crispy.

Saturday Kitchen....

I've never liked the name "scrambled eggs". They sound chaotic. Who wants to eat something that is scrambled? You wouldn't call minced steak "mushed up beef" or meringues "egg whites with the hell beaten out of them." So why scrambled. It should be called "pillows of egg". A bite into them should feel like resting your head on a cool pillow after a tiring day.

Saturday Scrambled Eggs......(serves 1)




2 eggs
1 dstp extra thick double cream
1 knob butter
Cornish sea salt and black pepper




In a bowl lightly mix the eggs and the cream. Pop a knob of butter into a pan (once again who decided to call it a knob of butter?)

Let it melt but not so it is angrily bubbling and starting to turn brown. It needs to be just about to bubble.

Pour in the egg mix. Leave for 30 seconds or so.

Gently pull the side of the egg into the middle.

When it is just about cooked (but still slightly runny) pull of the heat. (It will continue cooking) Scoop it onto some freshly made toast and sprinkle over the salt and pepper.

Now watch Saturday Kitchen and enjoy....

Baking biscotti....

I have always carried around in my head the idea of not having to work. To wake up in the morning. Pancakes, bacon and maple syrup for breakfast. A gentle work out with my personal trainer Steve (did I tell you in my head I've won the Euromillions as well?) I swim in my pool. Go out for lunch. Watch Murder She Wrote. Drink tea and eat biscuits...etc etc.

The nearest I get is the Murder She Wrote part and the biscuits. I know it's a bit 1950's housewife but one of my favourite parts of the day is when my other half gets home (I work earlies) and I have something he can eat. We sit and drink tea and talk about our day. Today I've got cashew nut biscotti in the oven. Except I know he won't like them. They're too....nutty. If it's not covered in chocolate, he's not interested.

Cashew Nut Biscotti (Makes about 14)




5oz cashew nuts
1oz chopped hazelnuts
3 egg whites
6oz caster sugar
4oz plain flour
spray oil

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Spread the nuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven. Set aside and leave to cool. In a bowl whisk up the egg white until they make stiff peaks.... Add the sugar a little bit at a time while continuing to whisk.

Sieve the flour and add one tbsp at a time. Fold it in carefully. Then add the nuts.

Spray a swiss roll tin. Spread the mixture across it.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

Slice into fingers.

Place back in the oven for 15 minutes until crispy.

These can be stored in an air tight tin for up to a week.

Serve with a frothy hot chocolate and a conversation about what you've done today.