Carrot pineapple muffins for a sunny sunday

It all started two weeks ago at our office's xmas dinner.  My workmate Rich, an intrepid baker, received a muffin tin and festive muffin cases from his secret santa.

 I told him about my muffin bible and how i worked my way through the book cover to cover and back again, making my daily batch of 'muffin of the day' at the cafe where i worked in Aberdeen.  I've never had a bad batch from the recipes in this book. Ever.

 So anyways, i took the book out last weekend and made a batch of the apple spice muffins.   This weekend it's 18 and sunny and in a more tropical spirit i decided to do the Carrot Pineapple variation.

Carrot Pineapple Muffins
Makes 12 normal sized muffins

200g (about 2 medium sized) finely grated carrots
120g well-drained crushed pineapple, or 4 slices chopped
255g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
110g white or soft brown sugar
120ml milk or water
85g melted butter
Optional add-ins: raisins, sultanas, walnuts, desicated coconut

1. Grease muffin tin cups.  Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Prepare the carrot and pineapple and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
4. In a medium bowl, beat the egg with a fork.  Stir in the carrot and pineapple, sugar, milk and melted butter.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Stir only enough to combine the ingredients.  If using add-ins add before the final few stirs.  The mixture will be lumpy.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let rest in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack.
7. Best enjoyed sitting on a sunny patio on a sunday morning.

Blog-Event LXIII - Gute Vorsätze für das Neue Jahr

This is my first foray into German food blog events and in a slightly recursive way is all about resolutions.

The blog event theme is about cooking or food related resolutions and participating in it fulfills some other resolutions of mine:

Resolution 1: to re-energise Travels With My Fork (our blogging dropped off in 2010)
Resolution 2: to make more of an effort to network with German food bloggers, because, well, we live here now.

This post is also about Resolution 3 which is to eat healthier breakfasts in 2011. I go through phases with breakfasting. For a month or so I was fixated on vollkorn bread with a smear of leberwurst. Then I switched to cereal. And more recently I've been having a brötchen with sliced meat and cheese. I wait until I get to work to eat my breakfast so something transportable is a prerequisite.

Last year, when i was working down by London bridge, I went through a stint of breakfasting on simple miso soups that Kelsie would prepare in advance. Those were by far the most satisfying for me. I could stave off any elevenses cravings for a biscuit or sweet thing, if I had my bowl of miso soup in the morning. And the additional perk was that this soup is not heavy or carb-laden. Pluses all around!



The recipe I've used comes from Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking. It takes no more than 20 minutes to make and is flavourful and restorative at the same time.

Carrot and Miso Soup
100g carrots, peeled and cut into thick circles
200 ml water
1 chicken stock cube or 2 tsp chicken stock powder
1 rasher streaky bacon
1 celery stick finely chopped (i used celeriac)
1/2 tsp miso
salt and pepper
coriander to garnish (i used chopped spring onion)

1. Bring the water with chicken stock to a boil.


2. Add the carrots and cover with a cartouche. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the carrots are tender.


3. Take the carrots off the heat and mash in the stock until broken up into small bits.


4. Fry the bacon until crispy. Take off the heat and stir in the chopped celery.


5. Add the bacon and celery to the carrots and bring to the boil again.


6. Turn off the heat and stir in the miso until dissolved.


7. Season with salt and pepper.


8. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

California sunshine in Crouchend?

We're all moved in, and the first week of the new job is history now. What better way to celebrate than an exploratory venture into the as yet undiscovered delights that our new hood offers.

Yesterday was sleety, gray, cold cold cold but still we made the three block trek to Pick more daisies. From the outside, and from the website it sounded like it could be a ray of sunshine on an otherwise bleak autumn day. What else does 'california cafe' make you think of?

When we got there at half eleven the place was packed and we resigned ourselves to an estimated 20 minute wait. Never mind, the seats were facing the open plan kitchen and I got to see the nimble chefs in action. I don't really know why, but the thing that always catches my eye is the various food containers that are used for mise in kitchens. I love to see what they prep beforehand and how it's stored. I don't know why?

Less than 20 minutes later we were seated in the front area and had a good look thru the menu. In addition to the breakfast offers there's a variety of other things on offer throughout the day. But breakfast was on the brain so we ordered.

Kelsie had freshly squeezed orange juice, and banana hotcakes. I had a cappuccino and huevos rancheros. Kelsie found the pancakes good, but (of course) not as good as mine. They were a bit dense, and she had to add lots of maple syrup to counteract the density. Remind me to post my banana pancake recipe. I swear it turns out the lightest, fluffiest pancakes i've ever had!

The huevos rancheros were a nice alternative to your traditional fry up, but, compared to other huevos rancheros i was a bit disappointed. Mostly i was disappointed by the slightly stale tortilla, which could have easily been revived by either a splash of water and zap in a microwave, or, a super quick toss in a lightly oiled frying pan. The salsa was a bit bland but that was easily counteracted with several dashes of habenero sauce.

All in all, we think we'd probably go back but not any time soon, as there's still so much to explore!

Here's our final ratings:
Atmosphere: 6/10 -- from the front room things seemed less lively than the back room and there was a mean draft from the front door which our host apologised for.
Food: 6.5/10 -- different offerings than your average caff but a bit mediocre in execution.
Service: 10/10 -- our host was really attentive and friendly and our server didn't leave us waiting.

Total score: 22.5/30

Pick More Daisies / 12 crouch end hill london n8 8aa / 020 8340 2288

Bank holiday pancakes

This past weekend was the Easter bank holiday, which means you get the Friday and the following Monday off if you live in the UK. I decided to cook up a batch of these pancakes to mark the occasion. They evoke lots of memories for me -- of Sunday breakfasts with my family, of indulgent Saturday mornings with Kelsie at the Red Hook Diner, and of holiday weekends of course!
I like to serve these the same exact way every time -- with a nice knob of butter, warmed maple syrup drizzled on top, and a few rashers of smoked bacon.

Bank Holiday Pancakes
Note: i've included USA measures as well
1 banana
80g plain flour (1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
40g cornmeal (1/3 cup)
170ml milk (3/4 cup)
1 egg

1. Whizz together all the ingredients with a hand blender


2. Heat a non-stick frying pan and melt a knob of butter. Pour a ladleful (about 1/3 cup) of batter in the centre and leave for a few minutes until bubbles start to appear on the surface. Flip the pancake and cook the other side for another minute or so.


3. Tips: I usually keep the oven on low (about 140C) and put the finished pancakes in a dish in there while i'm cooking off the rest. I also fry the bacon and heat the maple syrup in a bowl of hot water during all of this. When there are only about 2 pancakes left to cook i put the plates in the oven to heat up.