The Infamous Slutty Brownie

Loads of people have sent me these brownies telling me to make them. The genius creator The Londoner claimed that they are the best brownies ever (my friend Laura backed up this claim after making them) and to be honest the look delicious so of course I had to see what all the fuss was about. The original recipe calls for box mixes (the lovely Betty Crocker of course!), but I thought I'd be bold and try to make it all from scratch using my favourite cookie and brownie recipes. Luckily I had my baking assistant Mike on hand who pretty much did all the work, while I fannied about with my camera and got told off for not keeping an eye on the melting chocolate. I can honestly say they are the best I've tried so far! 

Recipe adapted from The Londoner:


For the cookie base:

110g butter

110g caster sugar

65g light brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

275g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

100g milk chocolate chips

2 packs veggie oreos 

For the brownie:

115g Dark chocolate 

225g butter

350g caster sugar 

4 eggs 

50g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

A few drops of vanilla extract.

1. First make the cookie base by creaming together the butter and sugars until soft, then add the egg and mix well.
2. Add the flour, baking powder and chocolate chips and fold in well.
3. Spread the cookie dough along the bottom of a grease proof paper covered brownie tin and top with oreos.
4. Then to make the brownie mixture, melt the chocolate and butter in a bain marie.
5. Whisk the sugar and eggs together in a large bowl until they have trebled in volume.
6. Sieve the flour and cocoa powder in to the mixture, then pour in the melted chocolate and butter mixture and mix together.
7. Pour the brownie mixture over the cookies, pop in the oven for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.
8. Enjoy!

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Beer Battered Halloumi

I don't know about other veggies, but sometimes I miss having something deep fried with chips on the side (this may be where the fatty heffa nickname comes from). And after trying the butter milk soaked halloumi at Terre a Terre I wanted to see if I could try it myself with beer batter (mmmm). Of course this is no where near as good as their butter milk soaked recipe, If you've never been you need to try it! But it is super delicious, fairly simple and makes a good replacement for a Friday night take away! 

Serves 2:

65g plain white flour
15g corn flour
100ml vegetarian ale at room temperature
100 ml soda waster
225g halloumi cut in to 4 triangles

1. Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer, or a heavy based pan (enough for deep frying) to 180 degrees, or until a bread crumb crisps and turns brown straight away.
2. Make the batter by putting the flours, soda water and ale in a bowl and whisking until smooth, let rest for 15 minutes, then whisk again for around 30 seconds.
3. Dust the halloumi with flour then dip in the batter and make sure it's coated really well. 
4. Pop into the deep fryer or pan and fry until it's a light golden colour. 
5. Remove from the oil and place on to some kitchen roll to remove the excess oil.
6. Serve up with some homemade chips and peas (I would have mushy if my boyfriend liked them) and enjoy! 

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Thai Coconut Soup

A combination of things made me want to make this soup. 1. I got caught in horrible torrential rain and wanted something really warming. 2. I found something similar in the shops but it had fish in it (lame). 3. I love soup. I based the vegetables on one of my favourite dishes from Wagamama, the Yasai Itame (minus the mushrooms, bleugh) and used lemongrass and chili for a spicy, fragrant flavour. 

1 stalk lemon grass (outer leaves peeled off)
1 small green chilli
1 clove garlic
A thumb of galangal
2 handfuls of fresh coriander
300 ml coconut milk
400ml vegetable stock
Juice of 1 lime
1 pak choi sliced and leaves removed
1 small red pepper sliced
1 small red onion sliced
200g dry fried tofu
Lime wedge and fresh coriander to serve

1. Put the lemon grass, chili, garlic and coriander in a blender and blend until it’s in very, very small pieces.
2. Heat a little oil in a heavy based pan, add the blended herbs and spices and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Add the coconut milk, vegetable stock and lime to the pan and stir well.
4. Bring to the boil and then let it simmer for 15 minutes.
5. While it’s cooking, stir fry the onion, pepper and pak choi (not including the leaves, they can be popped in at the end). Fry them until starting to soften, then pop them in to the bowls your using.
6. Add the pak choi leaves to the soup within the last 5 minutes of cooking.
7. Pour the soup over the vegetables and top with the tofu, coriander and a lime wedge.
8. Enjoy!

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Grove Farm Take 2

Grove farm has become my new favourite place, I don't know why I get so much joy out of digging up vegetables with masses of oldies, but I do! So my PIC Mike and I went back last week and picked, dug and pulled some more goodies. This time we didn't really know what we wanted, but ended up with red onions, french beans, rhubarb, raspberries, leeks and parsnips. This is what we made:

Rhubard

Mike with a massive parsnip 

garlic

In the end we decided to make a caramelsied onion and goats cheese tart with parmesan (veggie of course) and parsnip mash and garlicy beans. For desert we made rhubard crumble, although we didn't have custard which was a MASSIVE disappointment!

You can find the caramelised onion tart recipe here, and to make the mash and beans is super simple. All you need to do is boil the parsnips, then drain and mash with parmesan, butter and lots of black pepper. Then boil the beans, drain and fry with crushed garlic and butter. Serve together and enjoy!

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