My Kind of Aromatherapy

This is what I have been waiting for all day. The weather has been cold, wet and wild. I knew that once the kids were in bed that I would have the house to myself and I can't think of any better way of enjoying a cold evening alone than this

From Food

With mince pies, goes mulled wine. Don't fight it.

MULLED WINE

Ingredients:

1 bottle red wine

60m l (4 tablespoons) dark rum

125m l Earl Grey tea

1 tablespoon dark muscovado sugar

1 orange, quartered, each quarter stuck with 1 clove

1 star anise

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon honey

Directions:

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring almost to the boil, but before the aromatic wine actually boils, turn down to the lowest possible heat and keep it warm as you ladle it into any nearby glass.

If you need to make mulled wine that isn't really mulled wine because you have to provide drink that's non-alcoholic (as I had to do for the Christmas fair at my daughter's school last year) then you can substitute a bottle of red grape juice for the wine, half a bottle of rum flavouring (I'm sorry) for the rum.

Nigella Lawson

Today, no rum in the cupboard so I substituted Brandy. And I tell you what if this recipe can make a cheapy red taste this good, just imagine how superb with a good one.

I am an Aussie through and through, and have never had anything but a summer Christmas but can I just say that the aromatics are so heady and my house smells incredibly festive.

Fa la la la laaaah la la la laaah

Martha . . . Meet Nigella

From Food

What do you do on a stormy Friday morning when you are entertaining two little girls? Why bake of course.

So here is what we made today. Martha Stewart's White Cupcake recipe, with Nigella's Royal Icing:

VANILLA CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 ¼ cups sugar

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup milk

8 large egg whites

Directions:

Preheat oven to 170℃. Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners; set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until just combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.

In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Do not overbeat. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining egg-white mixture.

Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each with a heaping 1/4 cup batter. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the cupcakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack. Invert cupcakes onto rack; then reinvert and let cool completely, top sides up.

I know these seem complicated and fiddly compared to other cupcake recipes, but they are oh so worth it! You have never tasted a more moist cupcake that is buttery, light and sweet all at the same time!

From Food

ROYAL ICING

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites

3 cups pure icing sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

Combine the egg whites and confectioners' sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl and whip with an electric mixer on medium speed until opaque and shiny, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the lemon juice, this will thin out the icing. Beat for another couple of minutes until you reach the right spreading consistency for the cupcakes.

But of course it wouldn't have been the same without my little helper

From Life

From Life

From Life

Now - the dishes, Yuck!

Anyone for Leftovers?

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found." [Calvin Trillin]

Do you ever have that inner struggle? You know the one "I've made too much of this or that . . . I know I shouldn't throw it out . . . but what on earth can I do with it?"

In this day and age it's certainly in every Domestic Goddess' interest to be as thrifty as possible. So here are two ideas I have stumbled across that are super delicious and with a couple of key ingredients hiding in the pantry you can pull them off at a moment's notice.

From Food

SALMON FISH CAKES (Made with Leftover Mashed Potato)
Ingredients:

• 500 g cold mashed potato


• 418 g tinned salmon, preferably organic


• pinch cayenne pepper


• grated zest of 1/2 lemon


• salt and pepper


• 1 egg


• for coating and frying:


• 2 eggs


• 100 g fresh bread crumbs


• 50 g unsalted butter


• 2 tablespoons Welly Boot Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:
1.In a large bowl, and preferably with your hands, mix together all the fishcake ingredients.
2.Cover a baking sheet with clingfilm, plunge your hands back into the mixture and form fat, palm-sized patties. Place these on the baking sheet and stand in the fridge to firm up for about 20 minutes to an hour – or considerably longer if that helps.
3.Beat the eggs in a shallow soup bowl and sprinkle the bread crumbs onto a dinner plate. One by one, dip the fishcakes into the beaten egg and then into the bread crumbs, sprinkling and dredging over as you go to help coat them. When you’re all done, put the butter and oil in a large frying pan, heat till it begins to fizzle and then fry the fishcakes on each side until the crusts are golden, and speckled brown in parts, and the soothing centres are warmed through.

(Serves 3)

I use tinned salmon here because I think, strangely enough, that’s how they taste best (if it’s good enough for Marguerite Costa, it’s good enough for me) and it means you can have the wherewithal for these about the place at all times. I do have to warn, though, that, the unfried mixture smells absolutely vile. Just hold on to the thought that, once cooked, it tastes wonderful.

Download recipe.

Source: Nigella Lawson