Cooking on a Sunday Night

Before I write about what I made this weekend, I want to ask all of you reading this to PLEASE send me your favorite cupcake recipe with a great fluffy frosting. I am dying to make cupcakes!!! (and eat them) But please no crazy ingredients, I live in South Korea and not everything is as easy to find.

XOXOXO

Man you must think, she makes a lot of bread. Every Sunday we are out of Bread. Adam eats a lot of it

Today I decided to make this Cheesy, Olive, Herb and Buttermilk Bread from Sugar and Everything Nice. It sounded amazing, and we had an excess amount of cheese in the house, so I gave it a whirl. It came out pretty darn delish. However, next time I would have thrown in a bit more herbs and wasabi.

Wasabi you ask?! Well, I had no dry mustard so I substituted.I also didn’t have grated parmesan so I used the cheap totally powdery kind for pasta. I also didn’t have sundried tomatoes (nor have I seen them here in South Korea yet, so I used regular tomatoes. I think the suntried tomatoes would have given in a better flavor. Everything else I did pretty much to the recipe. I have never used an egg wash and I can totally tell a difference on the top crust. Its really yummy. This bread kind of reminds me of a homey bread like cornbread.

Cheese, Olive and Buttermilk Herb Bread
Recipe Adapted from “Mix & Bake” by Belinda Jeffrey

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustart powder
60g freshly grated parmesan
60g grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup green olives, sliced
8 pieces sundried tomatoes, sliced thinly
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup mixture of spring onion and Italian parsley
2 tsp thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thye
2 eggs
2 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cup buttermilk (or use 1 1/4 cup less 1 Tbsp fresh milk + 1 Tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice. Set aside for 10 minutes before using)
Egg wash (optional) made from 1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tsp water
Extra thyme springs and sea salt, for topping

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C or 350F. Generously butter a large loaf tin (23 x 13 x 6cm) and either line it with butter parchment paper or dust with flour. Set tin aside.

2) Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt, pepper and mustard powder into a large bowl. Whisk with a whisk to incorporate the dry ingredients. Add both cheeses, olives, sundried tomatoes, spring onion, parsley and thyme and stir them thoroughly together.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the oil and buttermilk until they are well combined.

4) Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir together to form a thick, sticky batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and spread it out evenly.

5) Brush the top of the batter with the egg wash and then srpinkly some thyme leaves and sea salt onto the loaf.

6) Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. If the top starts to burn, place a piece of foil to cover the top of the loaf and continue baking. Leave in tin for 5 minutes before turning ot onto a wire rack.

7) This loaf is best served on the same day. Wrap left overs tighly and store in fridge. Gently reheat in oven if serving left overs.

Although there aren’t any pictures, I did make homemade applesauce yesterday with green apples. They were on sale at the market yesterday and I have been dying for some…so this is the recipe I used from Food in Jars.

Homecanned Spiced Applesauce

4 pounds apples
½ cup apple cider or water

Optional spices:
2 pieces star anise
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
sugar

Quarter apples. Put them in a large, non-reactive pot. Add liquid and star anise (if using), put on lid and bring to a simmer. Let fruit cook for approximately 15-20 minutes, until the fruit has broken down. Use tongs to fish out apple skins.

Remove star anise. Using a potato masher or immersion blender, break down the fruit until it has reached your desired consistency. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Taste and add sugar if you feel it is necessary.

Pour applesauce into your prepared jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and screw on rings. Process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes for half pints and pints, 20 minutes for quarts.

OMG! Best applesauce ever. I have no idea what anise is so I didn’t use it. I did use a blender and I did add all the spices. I did heat my jar in the toaster oven which I have no idea what that does, but if it helped get to that flavor of the applesauce, then it was totally worth it.

For dinner last night I made Dairy-Free Basil Cream Sauce. Although I did use milk…s it wasn’t really dairy free. I also used our fresh basil which I didn’t have enough for the recipe. I also put more flour in then I should have due to the fact that it wasn’t appearing thick enough. The sauce dried up really fast when we ate it and it wasn’t as flavorful as I’d have liked. I bet though if you made it according to the actual recipe instead of altering it, it would have been much better. Oh, and I had no cashews.

Makes about 2 cups

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 T. olive oil, divided

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1 T. flour

2 cups dairy-free unsweetened soy or almond milk, plus more to taste

1/2 cup raw cashews

1 T. nutritional yeast

1/2 t. sea salt, plus more to taste

Preparation:

1.In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, heat 1 T. of the olive oil, adding the onion and garlic once hot. Stirring often, cook until the onion is soft and fragrant, about 5-6 minutes. Add the fresh basil and cook until it is wilted and bright green, about 2 minutes more. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

2. In the same saucepan, heat the remaining 1 T. of olive oil. Whisk in the flour using a wire whisk and cook for a little less than 1 minute, or until the flour smells slightly toasted but is not burned. Gradually add the dairy-free soy or almond milk, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened. Add the basil mixture to the pan, stirring until well combined. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. In a blender, process the raw cashews until the mixture resembles very fine, powdery crumbs. Add the basil mixture, nutritional yeast, and sea salt, and process until creamy. Return to the saucepan and heat until desired temperature and consistency, adding more soy milk or sea salt to taste. Serve warm.