Beetroot Brownies

Now, I'm not a huge fan of beetroot so why I decided to grow it in the garden I'm not quite sure. However, here we are at harvest time and I've got more beetroot than I need and I want my land back to begin planting new crops. Instead of pickling it all I decided to go on a bit of a hunt for something else to do with it all...I ended up finding this Beetroot Brownie recipe on BBC Good Food.

Given that it had mixed reviews I decided to half the mixture - I didn't want to use my entire patch of beetroot in one go! I have to say although they are slightly different I find them pretty tasty, especially considering they contain much less fat than your average brownie.

Ingredients:

• 200g of uncooked beetroot (after being peeled)
• 50g unsalted butter, cubed
• 100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 small eggs
• 50g flour
• 15g cocoa powder

Method:

1. If required, peel your beetroot. Preheat your oven to 180c.

   

   Fresh from the garden!
2. Chop the beetroot into smallish chunks and place into a microwaveable bowl. Add a small amount of water, about a teaspoon, cover it in cling film and zap it in the microwave for about 10 minutes. It should be tender, drain it in a sieve.
   
3. Add the chocolate and butter to the bowl of a food processor. Add the beetroot to the ingredients and whizz away. The heat from the beetroot should melt the butter and chocolate. Keep on whizzing until it's as smooth as possible.

   

   Looks yummy (?!)

4. In another bowl use an electric whisk to combine the sugar and eggs, you want it nice and foamy so do it for a few minutes. 
5. Add the beetroot mix to the egg mixture and gently fold it in using a figure of eight motion.
   
6. Finally sieve in the flour and cocoa powder and fold in before pouring into your greased tin.
   
7. Cook for around 20 minutes, check on it after 15, until it has a thin crust but still has a hint of a wobble in it.
   
8. Leave to cool in the tray before cutting and serving.

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Murgh Makhani/Butter Chicken

At the end of May this year we went in India, we spent a few days in Mumbai before heading south, by train, to Ratnigiri for a couple of days and then finally headed further south to Goa. It was a great experience filled with even greater food, in particular some seriously good butter chicken.

Even made the naan myself too!

On returning home, armed with a butter chicken blend of spices from Mumbai and Rick Stein's India cookbook I had to give this a go. The recipe is taken from his book. Where he has put spices I used the spice blend I picked up in Mumbai then tweaked it at the end by adding a little bit of the spices I thought it needed.

Ingredients:

• 4 large chicken breasts, chopped into large chunks

First Marinade

• Juice of 2 limes
• 1tsp Chilli powder (as hot or as mild as you like)
• 1 tsp Salt

Second Marinade

• 50g natural yogurt
• 50g double cream
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 5cm ginger, roughly chopped
• 1tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin

The sauce

• 50g ghee (I used butter)
• 5 crushed garlic cloves
• 5cm ginger, grated
• 400g carton of passata
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp desiccated coconut
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 200ml water
• 25g cashew nuts
• 25g pumpkin seeds
• 2 tbsp boiling water
• 1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
• 45ml double cream

Method:

1. Put the lime juice, chili powder and salt into a bowl. Add the chicken and toss until coated. Cover with cling film and leave to marinade for an hour in the fridge.
   
2. Add all the ingredients for the second marinade into a food processor and whizz up until it is smooth. Add this to the chicken and ensure every piece is thoroughly coated. Cover with cling film again and leave to marinade for another 4 hours.
   
3. Preheat the oven to 240c (this is hotter than some ovens allow, in that case just crank it up as high as it will go). Get a wire rack, I used a cooling rack, and suspend it over a baking sheet. Lay your chicken pieces on top of this and cook in the over for 15 - 20 minutes. You want the chicken to be lightly charred but not completely cooked as it's still got to be cooked in the sauce.
   
4. Melt the ghee/butter in a large, heavy-based, saucepan and fry the garlic and ginger for a minute, add the passata and simmer for 5 minutes.
   
5. Add the spices, coconut, salt and 100ml of water and simmer for another 10 minutes. After this your chicken should be ready to remove from the oven.
6. Whilst the sauce is cooking blend the cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds and 2 tablespoons of boiling water in a food processor until it's as smooth as you can get it - place to one side as you'll need it in a moment!
7. Add the chicken, 100ml of water and your cashew and pumpkin paste and simmer for a final 10 minutes. Finish with the fenugreek leaves, sugar and cream.
   
8. Serve with a handful of coriander leave and some shredded ginger, if you fancy it.

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Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Us Brits aren't so good at cookies, we're just not used to them. Biscuits are more of our thing, which I guess are just harder, crunchier cookies. Cookies are quite new to us, they are chewy, soft and tend to need to be purchased from Millie's, Subway or more recently supermarket bakery sections to get a decent one. Not anymore though...

After several experiments, most ending in near-biscuits rather than chewy cookies, I'm happy that I've finally mastered the art of cooking proper cookies. The experiments have revealed several learning points:

1. Use a mix of brown sugar and white sugar to get the right chewy:crispy ratio
2. Don't overcook them - it's tempting too, especially when you prod them and they are super soft, just leave them to cool on the baking tray for a little while before transferring to a wire rack
3. Try and use the same measurement to dollop the mix onto the baking tray to ensure evenly sized, round, cookies.

Ingredients (makes 12):

• 100g Dark Brown Sugar
• 50g Caster Sugar
• 85g Melted Butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 125g Plain Flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 150g chopped chocolate (50g each of milk, dark, white)

1. Preheat the oven to 180c and line two baking sheets
2. In a large bowl mix together the sugars and melted butter until well combined.
   
3. Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix well.
   
4. Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl and stir in, once combined pour in the chopped chocolate and stir until coated.
   
5. Using a tablespoon and a teaspoon scoop the mixture onto the baking trays, six to a sheet.
   
6. Pop into the oven for 10-15 minutes, checking regularly, you want them just to be slightly crisp on the edges.
   
7. Leave to cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray and then transfer onto a wire rack to cool/gobble up!
   
   
   
   
   

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