Nigella Lawson's Cupcake recipe

From this cleaver blog

250g softened unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
3 large eggs
250g self raising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 200 (or 400)

Throw all ingredients into a food processor. Mix until combined. Spoon into cupcake case lined muffin tin - fill them 2/3 full. Cook for about 15 minutes until well risen and golden and springy on the top. Ice with your favourite icing, I topped them with hundreds and thousands as well. Fantastic and very popular. Might also be nice with a bit of orange zest!

Lemon Loaf

1 tbsp (20g) polyunsaturated margarine
3/4 cup (175g) caster sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups (180g) self raising flour
juice and rind of 1 lemon
1/2 cup reduced fat milk
1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar, extra

Cream margarine and sugar until soft, then gradually beat in the eggs, flour, lemon rind and milk.

Pour into a lined, greased and floured 20 cm loaf tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 35 minutes or until golden on top and an insrted skewer comes out clean.

Mix together lemon juice and extra sugar, remove loaf from oven and slowly pour on the lemon syrup. Remove from tin.

Lemon chicken with olives

Ingredients (serves 8)

• 1.2kg chicken thigh fillets, trimmed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 brown onion, halved, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 400g can diced tomatoes
• 1 small lemon, sliced
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves
• 1 cup (180g) pitted kalamata olives

Method

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in batches, turning, for 5 minutes or until browned. Remove to a plate.
2. Add onion and garlic to saucepan. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until just soft. Return chicken to saucepan. Add tomatoes, lemon, sugar and oregano. Bring to the boil.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and sauce thickened. Stir in olives. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Red lentil & pumpkin soup

Red lentil & pumpkin soup

Ingredients (serves 4)

• Olive oil spray
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1kg butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded, cut into 1cm-pieces
• 175g (3/4 cup) red lentils, rinsed
• 1.25L (5 cups) water
• 1x 10g Massel Salt-Reduced Vegetable stock cube
• 90g (1/3 cup) low-fat natural yoghurt
• Fresh coriander leaves, to serve

Method

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Spray with olive oil spray. Add the onion and cook, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, ginger and curry powder and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic.
2. Add the pumpkin, lentils, water and stock cube. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, partially covered, for 15-20 minutes or until the pumpkin and lentils are soft. Set aside to cool.
3. Ladle half the lentil mixture into the jug of a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a clean saucepan. Repeat with the remaining lentil mixture.
4. Place the soup over medium heat and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until heated through. Season with pepper. Ladle among serving bowls. Top with the yoghurt and coriander to serve.

Another Silverbeet Recipe

Chicken and chickpea stew with chorizo

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 8 chicken pieces (e.g. thighs, drumsticks)
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 onion, halved and finely sliced
• 60ml dry sherry or white wine
• 400g canned tomatoes, chopped
• 200g potato, peeled and finely diced
• 600ml stock or water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp paprika
• sea salt and pepper
• 300g silverbeet or English spinach leaves
• 400g canned chickpeas, rinsed
• 2 fresh chorizo sausages, mild or hot
  
  

Chef: Jill Dupleix Photo: Marina Oliphant Source: The Age Tuesday July 22, 2008 Spanish, 45 mins plus, Healthy, Kid-friendly, Wheat free, Dairy free, Nut free, Egg free, Dinner

A lively, spicy winter stew that doesn't take hours of cooking. Rather than use flour to thicken it, just mash some of the diced potato back into the sauce before serving.

Method

- Heat half the olive oil in a heavy lidded pan. Sear the chicken for 5 minutes on either side until golden brown, and set aside.
- Add remaining oil and cook the onions and garlic over low heat for
10 to 15 minutes until softened. Add the dry sherry and boil for 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, potato, stock, bay leaves, paprika, sea salt and pepper, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer gently, partly covered, for a good 30 minutes.
- Finely shred the silverbeet leaves and add with the chickpeas. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- At the last minute, slice the chorizo sausages on the diagonal, and pan-fry in a small dry fry pan until sizzling. Serve the chicken stew topped with chorizo and its pan juices.

Serves 4

Yummy! Another good combination of silverbeet, chickpea and chorizo.

Pumpkin, Sweet Potato & Chick Pea Soup

* 1 onion, finely diced
* 500g pumpkin, chopped
* 250g sweet potato, chopped
* 2 cups liquid chicken stock
* 300g can Chick Peas, undrained
* 1 teaspoon cumin
* Chopped fresh coriander leaves for serving

Place, frozen onions, pumpkin, sweet potato, stock and chick peas in a saucepan. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add cumin and puree soup, reheat if necessary and serve garnished with coriander

Pear and Chocolate Sticky Date Pudding

Preparation 25 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour
Serves 6

Melted butter for greasing
250g pitted dried dates
1 1/4 cups water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 firm ripe pears
90g unsalted butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup brown sugar
300ml cream
Extra 100g unsalted butter
Cream to serve, (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C. Brush a 20 cm springform tin with melted butter and line the base and sides with baking paper. Chop dates with scissors dipped in hot water. Put dates and water in a medium heavy based saucepan. Bring slowly to the boil, then remove from the heat. Stir in bicarb and stand until lukewarm.

Peel each pear , then cut into quarters and remove core. Cut each quarter into 3 slices. Arrange pear slices in the base of prepared tin. Using electric beaters, beat the butter, caster sugar and vanilla bean paste and eggs in a small bowl until light and creamy. Transfer the creamed butter mixture to a large bowl.

Sift flour and cocoa onto the creamed butter mixture. Add the cooled date mixture, then mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. Spoon the date mixture over the pears in the prepared tin. Smooth the top of the pudding and bake 40 - 45 minutes.

Put brown sugar, cream and extra butter in a small heavy based pan and stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer the sauce, uncovered for 3 - 4 minutes. Remove the pudding from the oven and pour over 1/2 cup of the hot sauce. Return pudding to the oven for a further 5 minutes. Serve the pudding hot, in wedges, with remaining sauce and cream if desired.

From Better Homes and Gardens.

I did things slightly differently as I was making this pudding after our guests had arrived and I was a bit distracted! I added the bicarb before boiling the dates, I also creamed the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon. I used vanilla essence instead of paste and thought the mixture was a bit dry after adding the dry ingredients at which point I remembered to add the eggs. Despite all this it worked out well and was delicious!