Steamed syrup sponge pudding

This is from Nigella’s ‘how to be a domestic goddess’ which I’ve always found to be reliable and it didn’t disappoint. I had an appreciative audience tonight but it would be hard not to appreciate this as it for me it is the essence of comfort and joy.  A complete winner.   I had it with salted caramel ice cream - the stuff of dreams!

Chocolate Orange Steamed Pud

This one is from Jamie’s Great Britain, a book that I’ve made so many great things from and keeps on giving so gave it a go for my fortnightly Sunday dinner making for my family.  This looked so impressive when it came out of the pudding basin that I forgot to take a photo! It went down a storm and the flavour was fantastic, with the orange really coming through.  Like most of Jamie’s recipes the flavours were great and it was really easy to make so definitely one for the repertoire and would be great for a dinner party.

Farmhouse walnut cake

This is from Paul Hollywood’s British Baking and is the first recipe I’ve made from it. I don’t think the timing for this was correct in the book, as my oven usually take less than the recommended time to cook anything but I needed to add on about 15 minutes so that this wasn’t raw in the middle.  I did think that 20-25 minutes at 180c didn’t sound right and so it was proved.  I then had further issues when I tried to turn the cake over and it fell apart.  But, I iced over it and you couldn’t tell.  That’s all my moaning out of the way - now onto the taste.  I loved the flavour of this cake, particularly the buttercream topping  and it looks really appealing too despite the earlier calamity, so yes, one to make again.

Chicken legs in red wine

Using only what I have in (and particularly making an effort to use food from and therefore  empty the freezer) has become my new way of deciding what to cook and so here we are.  This from my trusty Silver Spoon where everything is so simple to make yet full of flavour - those clever Italians!  The smell was amazing whilst this was cooking, the porcini mushrooms really adding a deep flavour to this simple dish.

Pork with apricots

More correctly this should be called ‘pork roulades with apricots’ and it is from Silver Spoon, a book that will forever be in my top 5 cookbooks as the recipes are classic and simple to make. The roulade in the book is made from pork loin slices whereas I had pork loin steaks, so I skipped the roulade and concentrated on the flavour.  I love this kind of thing, the sweetness of the fruit set against the saltiness of the pancetta (or in this case streaky bacon) which really adds interest to something that without it could be quite bland.  A winner.