Of Babies and Basketcases

A good friend of mine just had a beautiful baby girl a couple of days ago and on this same weekend it appeared we were going to get our last rays of summer. She was discharged from hospital yesterday and a group of us had also planned to have a picnic in Primrose Hill to embrace the last of the summer sun, for being September, hopeful as we are for a late summer, we are reminded today by blistering showers, that it is London afterall! Hopeful of being discharged early on Saturday and surprising us all by bringing little Amelia Ruby, weighing in at 2.51kgs and measuring 46cms, to meet us at Primrose Hill. As they were unable to make the picnic, I thought I would bring the picnic to them when visiting their new family! As I was cooking for the picnic anyways, I tried to think of what I could make that my friends would enjoy and thus make for them as well as to bring along to the park. In the end I went with some tried and tested, safe recipes plus a couple of new recipes.

On the menu was:

Yotam Ottolenghi's Mango, Aubergine and Soba Noodle salad with a sweet chilli citrus dressing

This dish featured at her babyshower recently and I knew she was wanting to make it herself as she had just bought the ingredients last week. I love the Ottolenghi shop in Notting Hill -it has scrumptious displays of colourful salads and mouthwatering cakes, almost too good to eat. It is tiny though, bar a few seats outside and a couple of tables inside. I have been told the branch at Angel is also good and also bigger so if you are after a lunch date and coffee spot to sit and chat, this may be a better choice. My adapted version included the addition of red peppers and fried onions, which added a nice crunch to the dish. I couldn't find any sweet ripe mangoes, so mine was the in between variety, what I usually like to eat, not to sweet and not sour. The recipe calls for the mango to be cut in chunks, but I decided to grate it instead as it was not sweet and juicy. It worked but the riper mango does add an element of juiciness and freshness to contrast the other ingredients that the subpar mango did not. So if you have a choice, sweeter one and chunks of it worked better in this recipe - Australian Bowen mangoes would do well here! My version with the grated mango resembled more of a VIetnamese mango salad or a Thai papaya salad - with the ingredients all similar textures and sizes. Crunch was needed. I also used Japanese rice vinegar, which is more mellow that rice wine vinegar which worked just as well. I had visions of packing this in white cardboard Chinese takeaway containers with little handles and providing wooden chopsticks as well. Alas, upon searching a couple of grocery stores and asking a few Chinese restaurants, it appears it is only the Americans who really use these. Well, at least that is what the American sitcoms depict. So I had to settle for more unsightly plastic and foil containers.

Mango Soba Salad Ingredients

Nigel Slater's Sticky Rib marinade, used for chicken wings. This is one of my favourite marinades. I have used it for ribs, which was Nigel Slater's original calling for the marinade and for which the sitckiness of the marinade emulates traditional bbq baby back rib recipes - think sticky fingers and all. However, the marinade also works well with Lamb Cutlets/chops and in this case chicken wings. I imagine it would complement most meats, slightly spicey, yet sweet and savoury at the same time. You could serve this with a nice baguette and some salad, or, as there is the addition of star anise to give it its Oriental influences, it also tastes great with plain jasmine rice. Everyone loves chicken wings (except for maybe, say, Vegetarians).

Nigel Slaters Sticky Rib Marinade (can be used on all meats)

Ingredients for 1.5kg meat

1. 6 tbsp thickish honey

2. 3 heaped tbsp oyster sauce

3. 4 cloves garlic, crushed

4. 1 tsp dried chilli flakes(fresh chillies/extra flakes to suit)

5. 4 whole star anise
6. 1/4 tsp salt flakes
7. 1/4 tsp black peppercorns, crushed

Method

1. Marinate for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.

Cook at 180'C for approximately 40 minutes for chicken wings.

Pan Roasted Chicken with Maple Syrup Glaze and Tomatoes: I saw this recipe linked off WhatKatieAte - a blog I absolutely love. So I decided to make it in the morning before packing up my picnic for my visit. I didn't read the recipe right and baked it in the oven with the lid on, which meant the chicken was tender and soft form baking in its own juices, but lacked the caramelisation that the maple syrup would have brought to the dish had the lid been off. A quick and easy recipe that I would do again, perhaps with less maple syrup, depending on how sweet your palate is. Don't forget to season!

Maple glazed pot roasted chicken

Pan-roasted chicken with maple syrup

Ingredients

1. 1/3 cup maple syrup
2. 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
3. 1½ tbsp olive oil
4. 20g butter
5. 4 courgettes, quartered
6. 8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
7. 2 rosemary stalks
8. 8 chicken thigh fillets on the bone, skin on
9. Sea salt & cracked black pepper
10. 200g punnet cherry or grape tomatoes
11. Crusty bread and/or leafy green salad, to serve

Method

1. Place maple syrup and mustard in small bowl and stir to combine.
2. Heat olive oil and butter in large frying pan over high heat.
3. Cook courgettes, garlic cloves and rosemary for 4 mins until beginning to colour. Remove from frying pan and set aside.
4. Season chicken thighs and cook skin side down in frying pan for 5 mins, until golden and crisp. Drain off excess fat.
5. Turn chicken skin side up and drizzle with maple syrup and mustard mixture.
6. Put courgettes, garlic, rosemary and tomatoes in between chicken thighs in frying pan. Season to taste. Place in oven for 25 to 30 mins until chicken is cooked through.

Cook at 200'C (fan forced) for 30-40 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Banana mini muffins:
This is a tried and tested recipe and probably one of the quickest and most foolproof banana cake recipes I have tried. I usually make this in a loaf tin and have on many an occasion, with the sight of brown overripe bananas sitting in my fruit bowl, thrown this together after work. On some occasions, I felt I really should buy less bananas to save the extra calories bestowed upon my workmates. On one occasion, I made my flatmate take them in to her workmates instead. Calories shared are calories spared. The quickest time was 20- 25minutes from measuring, mashing and mixing to the time this loaf went into the oven. So you can have freshly baked cake most nights of the week! No creaming of butter is involved and with the use of vegetable oil this recipe stays fresh and moist for days. It also freezes very well for times when you just can't face another banana. I chose to make them in a muffin tin this time, thinking of how I was going to package them for my care picnic basket after and know the muffins would be better presented. Worked just as well, though obviously a loaf required less greasing and also meant for more soft cakey parts vs more crusty edges of muffins. Cooking time was reduced to approximately 17 minutes. 

Mini muffins

Moist Banana Cake

Ingredients
1. 2 eggs
2. 3/4 cup vegetable oil
3. 3/4 cup caster sugar (170g)
4. 1 tsp vanilla extract
5. 2 mashed ripe bananas
6. 1.5 cups plain flour (143g)
7. 1 tsp bicarb of soda

Method
1. Beat eggs and add oil. Beat well.
2. Add sugar, vanilla, bananas and beat again
3. Fold in flour and bi-carb
Cook at 180'C for 45-50 minutes for a standard loaf tin. 17 minutes as mini muffins.

Peanut Butter and Choc Chip Muffins: I made this at about 1am. I have a habit of baking or cooking or marinating or anything else I feel will save me some time of a weekend morning. Only I choose to do it at weird hours - sometimes after a few drinks so sometimes recipes may be abit hazy and not quite go to plan. I like peanut butter and I love chocolate, but I thought these muffins weren't great. Perhaps slightly undercooked, but I thought the muffins weren't sweet enough, actually, rather bland and heavy. They did however, puff up nicely and have a dome muffin top. Ah, the familiarity.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Muffins

To ensure all food groups were met, I threw in some cut up melon, a fresh baguette (not homebaked unfortunately!) to accompany the maple glazed chicken, as well as a couple of Mars Bars, Ferrero Rochers - chocolates they like; a rough handwritten menu and a basket sourced from my local Oxfam store. I enjoyed putting it together, it felt personal and satisfying to bring something I had cooked and hoped they would enjoy. It also gave me a chance to try a few new recipes with guinea pigs to test them on. Work in progress on flavours and all but the process is fun. Guineas pigs are always in demand... please apply at your own risk.

Homemade hamper