(Lactosefree) Blueberry Crumble Muffins

Sunday night means the perfect bake night, particularly at this time a year with X-factor and Downton Abbey back on TV (yes... still... I know). With the winter darkness settling earlier with each passing week, and a noticeable chill in the air, one of my favourite weekend evening activities is curling up on the sofa with a cuppa and something scrumptious to nibble on.

This weekend I decided to tackle a batch of Blueberry Crumble Muffins, all with a lactose-free twist. 

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Chocolate Salame (yes, it's a thing) - Lactose free

Time for another Nigella-inspired lactofree dessert endavour. I kept skimming past this one but after much hinting from the man the idea of a Chocolate Salami hit home. How great a concept is that! 

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Foodporn - Fish'n'chips at The Boathouse

As January tends to be a fairly quiet month, post the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we got in the car and traded city-life for a week on the channel island of Guernsey. 

Not only is it a beautiful place, with stunning coast lines and actual fresh-air (says the Londoner excitedly), but there are also some great options for getting your food-porn on and I may have just found what could be the best fish'n'chips around. 

The setting was The Boathouse, a charming restaurant by the harbour with a yummy brunch menu, creative seaside decor and a view of the docks. 

The plate was beautifully presented. Being lactose-intolerant I tend to be the one scraping batter and trying to get my hands on what little fish is left, but this one was a thick chunk of real and tasty fish with a thin layer of crusty batter. Absolutely scrumptious!

The boy had a heavenly looking fish pie with a slightly crust top. Yum!

xo

Foodporn: Lactosefree Apple Pie Nigella-style

One of my new years to-do's was to get more adventurous with my cooking, which considering the amount of foodporn on my Instagram seemed like a good idea. 

Luckily Christmas brought with it this little gem :). 

Watching Nigella romance food on TV, with her passion, her real-ness and her epic desserts (!), has definitely inspired me to get into trying more new things and find confidence in my cooking attempts.

Her recent book 'Nigelissima' certainly doesn't disappoint as it's packed with creative ideas, classic Italian goodies, quirky mains and scrumptious dessert, all with simple and easy-to-follow instructions (if I can do it anyone can! No... Seriously.). 

First up, home made Apple Pie!

I've loved this gem for as long as I can remember. It's up there on the top-list with the blueberry pie, cupcakes and strawberries with cream (it's a dessert. It just is, simple or not). 

Nigella's Italian Lactose-free Apple Pie (recipe serves 8)

100g Butter (Lactofree, either from Arla or the Dairy-Free range)

250g Plain Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

150g Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

Zest of 1 Lemon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

75ml Lactofree Milk (room temperature)

3 Apples (Nigella suggests Pink Lady but any crisp ones work well)

1 Teaspoon soft brown or Demerara Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1x Springform Cake Tin

Start by setting the oven to 200C, and butter up that springform tin. 

Mix up the butter and sugar until it's pale and creamy.  

Mix in the egg, and then add the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla, lemon zest and milk. Mash it up to a batter with a soft consistency. 

Halve one of the apples, peel it and chop half into small cubes. (Be strong at this stage, don't eat the batter!! You can lick the spoon at the end!)

Mix this into the batter, and then pour your mixture into your springform. Then add the remaining apples (skin on) arranging them as you please. 

Mix up your cinnamon and demerara sugar together and sprinkle this evenly over the art piece. 

Once you're happy in the oven it goes for 45 minutes. Then leave it to cool down in the springform for about 1 hour before popping it onto a nice serving platter. Voila!. 

Yum! Enjoy the fruits of your labours, preferably with some (lactofree) cream or vanilla sauce. 

 xo

Mac'N'Cheese Londoner Style

Obviously, as anyone who's ever glanced at my Instagram can tell, I'm a big foodporn supporter. And if you're ever stuck for inspiration for a (often naughty, but ever so yummy) new recipe adventure, 'The Londoner' is where it's at. 

So on Sunday, when the man suggested we explore some new Mac'n'Cheese options, I of course had to try my hand at Rosie's recent One Pan Fondu M'n'C. 

Granted, the idea (as I repeatedly pointed out) is to minimise the washing up and general messyness, but as we're a house hold of one avid cheese eater and one lactose intolerant lady (sorry) we ended up doing doubles with pans galore. 

The original recipe can be found here, and to sum it up basically involves: 

Dry Pasta of your choice (400g feeds 4 people)

1x fist full of Cheddar

1x fist full of Gruyere Cheese

1x chunk of Parmesan (1/3 size of the others)

Bacon (and Chicken if you fancy it)

Two cloves of thinly sliced garlic

Two mugs of hot vegetable stock

One mug of milk

(For my lactose free variant I swapped the Cheddar and Gruyere to Two fists of Arla's Lactofree goodness - As parmesan is aged you can go right ahead without too much tummy trouble as any cheese going on 12 mnths/hard will have rid itself of most of the lactose)

We also added chicken with the bacon (fry up with the garlic while your pasta boils up). 

Boil up your pasta with the stock and milk (10-12 mins). 

We didn't quite feel it was thick enough so sprinkled in some flour as well. 

Add in your cheese and mix it up baby!

Add the bacon (and chicken) and your pasta. 

Stir. 

At this point you can go ahead and serve it up, but we popped it in a big tub, sprinkled some breadcrumbs on top and let it crust in the oven for an extra couple of minutes. 

Yum!

xo

'P'

Svensk Midsommar i London

Midsommar. 

I've spent the past five midsummers abroad, but it's one of those ocassions Swedes still take quite seriously and the home-sickness really kicks in. So I decided to get a little gang of Londoners together, whip up a truly Swedish feast, and enjoy the eve with flowers in our hairs while playing cheesy tunes on Spotify. 

(Even Stylist was getting in the mood!)

Traditions vary as with everything, but for me a Midsommar feast requires at least a few key bits of food porn

Gravadlax
Sill (pickled and often multi-flavoured Herring)
Nypotatis
Rödbetssallad (Beetroot sallad mush)
Skagenröra (google this one)
Gräddfilsdipp med gräslök (or try creme fraiche with chives)
Something BBQd (in this case hot dogs and various forms of marinated chicken)

ScandiKitchen is the holiday saviour with their fresh imports of Swedish groceries, so after a trip there to stock up the fridge the above concoction had a slightly more authentic feel to it. 

Obviously for me dessert is key at any decent dinner party or holiday and this was no different. 

Traditionally home made kanelbullar (cinnamon buns) are standard but as my time was limited I went for gifflar from ScandiKitchen instead. 

Of course this left time to put together the true classic, the strawberry cake. 

YUM! And completely Lactose free so my tummy was doing the happy dance. 

It's a truly delicious bake and a piece of cake (see what I did there :) to whisk up!

You'll need

4 Eggs (Medium)

5dl Sugar

6 dl Flour

2 tea spoons baking powder

2 dl water

6 dl whip cream (I used Arla's Lactose free variant and 1 1/2 proved more than enough)

Whip up the egg + sugar first. Then start adding the flour and baking powder, and start slowly adding the water. It'll feel quite soggy and light at the end. 

Pour it all into an oven-safe baking tray and shove it into the middle of the oven at 175C for about 1 hour (or until browned and you can pull out a knife with no residue of cake). Then go lick the spoons as you wait. 

Voila! Leave to cool for a while (or go enjoy the dinner). When you're ready, cut the cake into two levels. 

Add half a cup of mushed up strawberries evenly over the first layer. You can even pour a little extra fruit juice in so it soaks up the flavour and adds some moisture. Then pop the lid/second floor on and cover in whip cream and strawberries. 

 

 Final result should look something like this!

Then go be merry!!

xoxo

P