Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Tagliatelle

This has to be one of my proudest dishes - it is perhaps the quickest and simplest dish I have ever come up with! So quick, it even rivals a stir fry, and can be from packet to plate in around 10mins! That's just as good as a microwave meal! But I bet you this is a lot nicer, and better on those purse strings!

At just £1.21 that's much cheaper than a ready meal which you can guarantee will be no where near as tasty as this!

2012 Food Trends

Last year I did a series of posts on the years biggest food trends.

First I looked at cakepops, secondly whoopie pies, then macaroons, and finally miniature pies.

This year food bloggers and journalists all seem divided on what they think will be the biggest food trends of 2012 and the predictions are flying!

4Food (over at Channel 4) think we should be looking out for a proper cup of tea, pigs cheeks, microgastronomy (and if Heston's new programme is anything to go by they are probably right!), as well as Malaysian food and sharing.

The Telegraph think we should look out for Salt Beef and all things pickled!

My fellow food bloggers have predicted trends such as posh sandwiches, and all things ice-cream!

To be honest none of these suggestions have really jumped out at me! A proper cup of tea? Tea has always been a popular drink in Britain - it's part of what makes us British! And there are so many varieties of tea around now that I don't really see what can be done to revolutionise this popular drink so much so to make it qualify as a food trend in 2012!

Pigs cheeks? Perhaps this may form a trend on restaurant menus but I struggle to see normal families tucking into these over Sunday dinner.

I think the problem I see with all of these suggestions, is that they are not that accessible. The key to the success of trends such as cupcakes, cakepops and whoopie pies etc are that they can easily be recreated in the home. Everyone can have a go at attempting their own!

Therefore I'd like to suggest what I think may develop into a Food Trend this year:

Review: Afternoon Tea at The Ruben Hotel London

Mum enjoying her Afternoon Tea

I must confess, I have not been on the Internet properly in days, so I apologise for not keeping up with all of your blog posts, or keeping up with my own! I'm sure I will be spending an evening on Google Reader getting up to date with all the delicious recipes and funny posts I have missed over the last couple of days.

I have however, had an excuse. Tomorrow (9th Jan) is my Mum's 50th birthday! So, we have been celebrating! Yesterday, my Dad, sister and I arranged to take her to The Ruben Hotel in London (next to Buckingham Palace over looking the Mews) for a spot of afternoon tea!

When we did our research, we discovered almost every single hotel in London does its own afternoon tea. If you want to go somewhere like The Ritz or The Savoy, you will have to book at least up to a month or so in advance. After spending a very long evening staring at our laptop screens on the phone to each other (I was in Nottingham at the time), my Dad and I finally settled on The Ruben.

From our point of view they had the biggest range of cakes and sandwiches by far, the pictures showed a beautiful tea room and they also had a pianist to provide light entertainment. Exactly what we were looking for!

Now, for anyone who knows my mum she doesn't do two things; the first is fuss, and the second is surprises! So, taking her to London for the day, having NO idea where she was going or what she was doing (simply being told to 'dress nice') was starting to freak her out. She kept guessing in the days running up to it, and at one point jokingly guessed "Afternoon tea with the Queen!" When we took her to Buckingham Palace first thing in the morning, she was starting to get a bit worried! Once we took her to a Hotel just next door she was in fits of giggles - after all, you can't get much closer to having Afternoon Tea with the Queen when you are paupers like us!

Anyway, all of us here are foodies, so I am guessing what you're most interested in is what we had to eat and drink?!

2011 Blogging Highlights

It’s New Years Eve and in true New Years fashion I’m going to do a little reflecting on my blogging adventure to date including the trials and tribulations, and of course, the best recipes so far!

I started the blog in April of this year. I had been following other people’s blogs for about 6 months prior and needed somewhere to document my own creations and experiments. Since then, I have connected with fellow bloggers on a whole new level and I’ve been even more creative than before!

Here are my 10 favourite recipes of 2011:

After Dinner Cupcakes

At Christmas we get through a mountain of After Eights and Matchmakers. Everyone loves a dark chocolate filled with mint after their dinner. So when we ran out, I though why not make an after dinner cupcake! A chocolate bun with peppermint icing and sprinkled candy cane on top!

By tweaking a standard cupcake recipe I was able to make these delicious after dinner cupcakes!

Turkey Supreme Leftovers!

I my house, it is not the turkey curry that reigns supreme the week after Christmas, but...Turkey Supreme!

The rest of the year this is my Mums go to dish when there's chicken in the fridge and she's been forced to cook, but it never tastes as good as it does when it is made with leftover turkey!

It is also a good dish to kick-start those healthy eating habits! Minus the butter in the roux, the rest of the dish is relatively low fat! Especially if you use skimmed milk to make the white sauce.

So if you're still looking for ways to finish off the last of that turkey, this is the recipe for you!

Ps. Don't be afraid to put the dark meat in, that just makes it taste EVEN better!!!

Christmas Cake

Christmas would not be complete without a Christmas Cake. Fact.

Everyone's Granny has their own recipe, yet more often than not people buy a shop bought cake. Even those members of my family who decorate their own cakes buy the fruitcake from a Supermarket first. Considering my Mum and Dad were famous for their Christmas Cakes before they had children, I couldn't understand why everyone avoided making their own. If my parents could make one every year without fail...why couldn't everyone else?

So, armed with a near-illegible copy of my parents old recipe, this year I decided to make my own cake.

I was pleasantly surprised with just how easy it is. Though...the proof is in the pudding as they say, and when you've never made a cake before, don't know what its consistency, colour, texture etc should be it's a scary thought offering it up to guests!

Fortunately for me it seems my first attempt was a success! (Though it was some what larger than anticipated and is now nicknamed the monster Christmas Cake.)

So, if I can do it, so can you! I urge all of you to make your own Christmas Cake this year! I have started my own tradition, so why not start your own too!!!

Here is my recipe, I am sure it will not fail you.

WARNING: This is highly boozy! (Though Delia assures me you can replace the brandy for orange juice for a more family friendly cake).

Mince Pies

Happy Christmas Eve fellow food lovers! Tis the season to be jolly...and eat lots of mince pies!

Every Christmas Eve I take part in two of my favourite food traditions! With my Dad, I get up super-early and go to the Butchers to get our Turkey and other meaty-trimmings, then in the afternoon/evening we make mince pies!

If you haven't made any yet, there is still time to make them before Santa comes! I know, normally I work 'til 5pm on Christmas Eve and still manage to get a batch in before we head off out to our annual Christmas party at a family friends. So if you've got an hour to spare follow the recipe below and you will have beautiful mince pies, better than any shop bought variety!

Here's the recipe...

Red and Green Velvet Rudolf Cupcakes!

A week ago I shared with you the long list of Christmas cooking that I would be embarking on in the run up to Christmas, somehow I’ve actually managed to start it!!!

It’s been so busy since I returned home for the holiday’s but on Sunday I made my red and green velvet Rudolf cupcakes! They were so popular at my Grandad’s birthday/post-Carol Service Party that I’ve had requests to make more!

Fortunately for me they are quick and easy, and unlike many recipes (The Humming Bird Bakery included) they don’t require any fancy ingredients – just store cupboard staples!

Here’s the recipe! Enjoy!

Harissa spiced Lamb Steak with cous cous and moroccan veg.

I am absolutely terrible at going to the reduced section in supermarkets - when I see a bargain I simply can't resist it, so somehow (despite my normal tendency to shy away from meat, in particular lamb and beef) I found myself taking home two huge lamb steaks!

What on earth was I going to do with these?!

I do a delicious veggie tagine (even if I do say so myself) which you can find here, so I wanted to do something a little different, but still with a Moroccan edge, and I came up with this recipe!

The basic idea is that you have slow cooked veg and chickpeas inspired by a traditional tagine, lemon and coriander cous cous, with a big fat juicy harrisa spice lamb steak on top!

Sound good?

Well here's the recipe: