Beer Braised Onion and Goats Cheese Tart

I don't like beer in real life, I'm not one of those girls who can hang out with the 'lads' and down a pint. I remember my Granddad giving me my first sip of beer, it was honestly the worst thing I had ever tasted and to be honest not much has changed since then. However, it changes into something magical in food, especially in beer batter (mmmmmmm). So when I went to the pub the other day and saw a beer braised onion and goats cheese tart I went straight for it, not even reading the rest of the menu. It was deeelicious and since that day I've been wanting to recreate it at home. So today, armed with my new found internet knowledge of which beers go with goats cheese I brought the ingredients and whipped up my own version. I served mine up with fresh green salad and buttery new potatoes, it was the perfect I'm hiding from the rain in my house all day comfort dinner.



For 2 you'll need:

2 tsp butter
1 large white onion sliced
200ml vegetarian wheat beer
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
250g puff pastry
50g goats cheese

1. Melt the butter in a large heavy based pan, then add the onion and cook on a low heat until translucent.  
2. Add the beer, salt and sugar and simmer on a medium heat for 10 minutes or until all the beer has been absorbed.
3. Roll out the pastry, then top with your onions and goats cheese. 
4. Pop it in to a preheated oven for 20 minutes, serve up and enjoy!

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Giant Chili Sweet Potato Skins

We have a new Morrisons in Milton Keynes. You may not think this is exciting, but it really is. There's loads of weird fruits, one of which I was sold by a random man I mistook for my boyfriend. A rambutan, I don't know how I feel about them. Loads of exciting vegetables (with some kind of mist floating over them... magic!) but the thing that makes me most happy about new Morrisons? Gigantic sweet potatoes. I brought two with no idea what to do with them, but then I remembered my dad going on about chili beans in a can so I thought I'd try mixing them together and make giant potato skins. It's a very simple recipe, chili beans, sweet potato, soured cream and cheese but it is really, really delicious. I served mine up with Hugh's polenta chips from River Cottage Veg Every Day and some homemade guacamole.

Serves 2:

1 really large sweet potato
1 small can of mixed beans in chili tomato sauce
100g grated cheddar cheese
2 tbsp soured cream

1. Pop your sweet potato in the microwave for 6-10 minutes (depending on size) then cook it in a pre heated oven for 30 mins to make it nice and crisp on the outside. 
2. Remove your potato from the oven and let it cool slightly then slice it down the middle, remove the insides and transfer them to a bowl, leaving the skins intact. 
3. Mix the beans and sauce in well and then put the potato/chili bean mixture back in to the skins. 
4. In a separate bowl mix the grated cheese and soured cream together and cover the potato skin. 
5. Pop back in to the oven for 20 minutes, until the cheese is browned and bubbling then serve up with chips/salad/what ever you want and enjoy! 

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Lemon and Blueberry Pancakes

I have something to admit... On Mother's Day I was a bad vegetarian and I brought bacon for my Mum. I made sure I brought 'Happy Pig' (it probably wasn't called that) RSPCA standard bacon to ease the guilt, but then I researched the bacon and discovered it wasn't all that happy and it made me feel sad. Anyway I'm getting off point, I made my mum some big fat American pancakes with bacon inside for her special Mothers Day breakfast and everyone got some, but I obviously couldn't/didn't want to eat any and it's left me with TERRIBLE pancake cravings ever since. These have also been made immensely worse by my discovery of Pinterest, seriously, it's going to make me fat! So after looking at pictures of pancakes for too long I decided on lemon and blueberry, because I <3 fruit. 

So today, both Mumsey and I were off work and as she was going to the hospital in the morning I thought I would make her a delicious breakfast for when she returned. Unfortunately I'm a terrible daughter and was still in bed when she returned, so we ended up having them for brunch :D

Makes 6-8 Pancakes

250g flour
2 tbsp baking powder
5 tbsp sugar
A pinch of salt
250ml milk
2 eggs
50g melted butter
200g blueberries
The zest and half the juice of 1 lemon
More butter for frying

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in to a bowl. 
2. Whisk the milk and eggs together in a separate bowl, then add it to the flour and whisk up well!
3. Then add the melted butter and whisk it up again making sure that there's no lumps (electric mixers are your best friend here). The batter should be nice and thick!
4. Fold the lemon zest, lemon juice and blueberries in to the mixture.
5. Melt some proper butter in a small frying pan and pour a ladle of the mixture in, fry the pancake on a mediumish heat until the top starts to cook, then flip it over and cook until browned on the other side. 
6. You can eat the straight away or place them on heated plates in a 50 degree oven to stack them up as high as you wish.
7. Cover with maple syrup and enjoy! 

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