Hungry Jenny Faux Pas: The Sausage Pasta Bake That Wasn't

It seems it's been a while since there's been a Hungry Jenny Faux Pas.

Well, a while since I've admitted to it anyway.

This one was pretty stupid.

So I've been living in a new flat for a week now and getting used to the kitchen. The electric hob is a bit tricky, it's oh-too-easy to watch something go from nothing to spillover in a matter of seconds.

But the oven. Oh the oven. It's fan-assisted, which I'm not used to. Gets hot really quickly, which means I either have to faff less during my prep time, or just preheat it for a shorter period.

It's taking a while to get used to it, and everything so far had come out with a fairly crispy top. So when it came to making a sausage pasta bake at the weekend, I found myself quickly covering it with foil after only 10 minutes - the pasta was turning black by the second.

As I mused my puzzlement to my housemate, Anita, she casually asked, "Are you sure you've got the oven on?"

"Yeh, course!" (As if I could be that stupid.)

Er, actually I am that stupid.

Turns out, I had been using the fan grill function...

Luckily I hadn't put the temperature onto the grill setting as well - I had been cooking things with the fan grill - at a high oven temperature. Even though this odd pairing seemingly worked for a couple of pies I'd already made with these settings, it clearly wasn't working for this. The pasta was burnt and the sausages underneath weren't cooking.

In the end, I just took it out and poured the filling into a wok to fry it all through. I poured in a bit of water before adding in the pasta, to try and revive the burnt bits. It kinda worked I guess, but it wasn't quite the speedy Sausage Pasta Bake I had in mind!

Oh well.

Fancy a laugh at my other Hungry-Jenny-Faux-Pas? Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Crispy Honey Shepherd's Pie

Last weekend, I moved house and as well as the joy of unpacking the new, and cleaning the old, I had to adapt to using a Different Oven. Gulp.

Now, switching to an oven you're not used to can be a dangerous thing. When I baked this disastrous orange cake in my mum's oven, it was more black than orange.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous about doing my first pie. I figured I should go for something low-key, not pastry-base. Something simple - a version of shepherd's pie. Meat filling, potato topping, it can't go wrong, right?

(If I called this 'Rustic', I could get away with it, couldn't I?)

The silly thing is, whilst it was in the oven, I kept thinking to myself, ok, better go check it every now and again to make sure it doesn't burn or anything. And promptly forgot to do so. I then get thrown by the sound of a different oven timer before being greeted with a hot steam of greyness.

Alright, so that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I was certainly hit by a bigger wall of heat than I was expecting. And, as you can see, a bit of a chargilled top.

"Oh no, I burnt it!" I exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I always think it tastes better when it's bit crispier," replied my new housemate calmly.

Hmm, Crispy Honey Shepherd's Pie...sounds good, right?

Crispy Honey Shepherd's Pie

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Serves 3-4:

250g lean beef mince
4 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp + 2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cornflour
500g potatoes, chopped
Pinch of salt
75g red onion, chopped
350g mixed beans (I used cannelini, flagelot and adzuki)
150g sweetcorn
75g cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp nutmeg

1) In a large bowl, mix the soy, 3 tbsp honey, a tbsp of the oil and the cornflour. Add in the mince and leave to marinade for at least 15 minutes.
2) Add the potatoes to a pan of boiling salted water. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes until just cooked. Drain and keep warm.
3) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Add the oil to hot wok and fry the mince to brown. After a minute or so, add the onion, followed by the beans, sweetcorn and remaining honey. Turn down and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.
4) Transfer to a 1 litre pie dish. Mash the cream cheese and nutmeg into your potatoes, then spoon evenly over the pie filling.
5) Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the top is just starting to crisp.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Chocolate Berry Squares

Psst, I need to tell you something rather cool about these...

So as usual, I didn't have a particular idea in mind of how this cake would turn out. In fact, I was expecting it to be a bit of a flop.

I wanted to clear out my freezer (due to a house move) which included some leftover frozen berries. Now when I make cakes, I tend to just sit the mixing bowl on a scale and pour things in until it looks 'about right' - or makes a nice round number on the scales.

With the berries, I poured them into the bowl which already had my cocoa flour mixture in until it looked 'about right'. But there was just a pitiful amount of berries left in the bag so I just chucked them in anyway.

Suddenly the bowl became dwarfed with berries and it got a bit tricky to mix everything else in, turning the whole thing into a clumpy patchy mess. Oh well, I thought, I'll just press it into the tin anyway.

And the result?

Well the mixture came together at least! But what surprised me was that they came out with that divine brownie texture - cracked and crunchy on top, with a slightly fudgey texture inside. And very, very moreish...

Chocolate Berry Squares (butter free)

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For an 8" square tin (12 squares):

150g mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
1 egg
175ml rice bran oil
1 tsp vanilla
150g plain flour
75g brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder

1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg with the oil and vanilla.
2) In a larger bowl, sift in the flour. Mix in the sugar, cocoa and baking powder. Fold in the berries.
3) Pour in the egg mixture until just mixed.
4) Transfer to a lined square tin, then bake for about half an hour.

Other chocolate-laden recipes you might fancy.

More Hungry Jenny cakes!

Other butter free baking recipes that might take your fancy. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Prawn and Ginger Tartlets

Yesss...after continually failing to make bite-sized dainty looking pie treats, finally I have a tartlet to present, that actually looks like a Tartlet!

Well this is as posh as you'll get with me.

Maybe it's the lardiness in me, but these things always tend to turn out slightly larger than planned (classic case: Sausage Woahs). At least with a cupcake tray, it puts a certain limitation on the pastry case size. These are decent enough to serve at a dinner or cocktail party as a dainty hors d'oeuvre, right?

Prawn and Ginger Tartlets

Print-friendly recipe

Makes 12:

250g plain flour
100g unsalted butter, cold
OR
400g shortcrust pastry

24 raw king prawns (about 175g)
1 tbsp ginger, grated
100g butterbeans
25g frozen peas
100g cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsp lemon juice

If using premade pastry, go straight to step 3

1) Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Rub in the butter to a breadcrumb mixture.
2) Gradually add a tablespoon of cold water to knead the mixture into a dough. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
3) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Roll out the pastry onto a floured surface. Stamp out 12 circles with a 4" cutter. Transfer to a non-stick cupcake tray. Cover each pastry round with some baking paper and baking beads, then blind bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
4) Whack the oven back on, this time to 200 degrees C. In a bowl, toss together the prawns, ginger, butterbeans and peas. Set aside.
5) In a separate bowl, mix together the cream cheese with the lemon juice. Spread onto the base and sides of each pastry case.
6) Divide the prawn mixture evenly into each case, making sure each has two prawns sitting on top. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures.

Other seafood recipes you might like. Continue reading this post..

Baked Balsamic Orange Chicken

The last month or so has been proving rather hectic, both in work and life. I certainly won't bore you with the details but lately I'm finding myself with very little time to bake and cook. But the Hungriness in me always makes time to eat.

So it's at times like this when a low maintenance (yet still rather delicious) dinner is called for...

Hello, chicken!

Because no matter how busy you are, this Baked Balsamic Orange Chicken is a decent meal that is relatively quick to prep and can be left to cook itself quite merrily in the oven, whilst you tend to the world.

The sauce probably seems a bit longwinded, but the whole recipe itself is really straightforward. You've just got 3 steps - marinade chicken, chuck veg and chicken into dish, bake the dish.

That doesn't sound too tiring, does it?

Baked Balsamic Orange Chicken

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Serves 4:

8 chicken thighs/drumsticks
Juice and zest of 1 orange (about 100ml)
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp cornflour
200g broccoli, chopped
200g carrot, sliced
75g mushrooms, quartered
75g shallots, chopped
1 orange, cut into 8 thin slices

1) Put the juice and zest of the orange in a large bowl with the balsamic, soy, honey and cornflour. Mix well and add the chicken. Coat it all well and leave to marinade for at least 15 minutes.
2) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Add all of the veg to a large casserole dish (2 litres), spreading out evenly. Place the chicken pieces on top, skin down.
3) Pour any remaining marinade over the chicken and veg, then bake for about 45 minutes, turning once. Test the chicken is cooked through with a fork - the juices should run clear. Garnish with the orange slices.

Other chicken recipes you might enjoy. Continue reading this post..

Peanut Squares (with The Marmite Effect)

Don't worry, these Peanut Squares don't actually have Marmite in them or anything. (Because that would just be weird)

But you'll either Love them. Or Hate them.

When I first tasted these Peanut Squares, I couldn't work out whether they were nice or not - they are quite stodgy, but in a kind of flapjack way.

Usually when I make a cake that doesn't taste quite right (or just plain horrible), I don't encourage others to eat it. But since I couldn't put my finger on whether these Peanut Squares actually worked, I thought I'd share them out anyway to my workmates and the Hungry Aikido guys.

"Hm, interesting..."
"Mm, these are nice!"
"Er, I won't have any more thanks."
"Is it ok if I have another?"
"It's kinda weird"
"Will you be posting the recipe?"

Just a handful of reactions here - clearly, opinions were divided. And I've got to admit, I wasn't that keen on them in the end.

Sometimes you can sort of tell when people are being polite, and just nibbling at it kindly. But one person ate three pieces - and no this wasn't me forcing it on the guy, he just went back for more! So there must have been something right about them.

I'm still not entirely convinced to be honest, but I've posted the recipe anyway so that you can perhaps decide for yourself whether you love them or hate them...

Peanut Squares

Print-friendly recipe

For an 8" square tin (12 squares):

100g butternut squash, cooked and cooled
100g sugar
125ml skimmed milk
125g rolled oats
100g plain flour
100g unsalted peanuts
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
250g Greek yogurt

1) Mash the butternut squash in a bowl with the sugar and milk.
2) In another bowl, mix together the oats, flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Fold in the peanuts.
3) Transfer the squash mixture into the dry mixture and gently mix in. Finally, fold in the yogurt.
4) Transfer to a lined square tin, then bake at 180 degrees C for about 30 minutes.

Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Cheddar and Chestnut Pasties

Getting the ratio of pastry to filling is quite tricky.

Whenever I make pasty type things, it always comes out looking like there's more pastry than what's inside!

This is just an aesthetics thing though, it's all packed in there with cheddar and cheese, honest. Yeh, you get cheese strings and everything when you bite into these!

I think the issue I had was that I cut the cheddar into cubes, where grating it probably would have been more sensible. It's a bit more pasty-filling-friendly.

Now I was planning to do this whole three-cheese, three-onion extravaganza with these pasties. Just to make sure these really did taste cheese and oniony. But when I remembered how fiddly it all is to make little pasties, I went for a simpler cheddar, red onion, and er, water chestnut filling instead.

Oh come on, it still worked!

Cheddar and Chestnut Pasties

Print-friendly recipe

Makes 8:

200g puff pastry (make your own!)
75g cheddar, grated
25g water chestnuts, finely chopped
1 tbsp red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp mixed herbs
1 egg, lightly beaten

1) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface. Use a 4" cutter to stamp out 8 rounds.
2) Mix the cheddar, chestnuts, onion and herbs in a bowl.
3) Spoon a little of the mixture onto a pastry round. Brush some egg around the edge of the round, then fold over and pinch together the edges to close into a crescent shape. Repeat with the other 7 rounds.
4) Prick through the top of each pastry with a fork, brush with more egg yolk, then bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Lime and Coconut Yogurt Cake (butter free)

The last time I made a Lime Coconut Cake, it looked nothing like a lime cake. In fact, it just looked a bit dull.

So clearly, in this second attempt, I er, still didn't achieve this...

I mean, you expect a lime cake to be green, right?

Well I'm sorry folks, but I didn't want to resort to food colouring to make this look prettier. I went with some lime icing to spruce it up instead. (Plus some squeezed limes in the background because I didn't have any spare ones to chop some nice looking slices.)

Um, how about I just say that this tastes really limey?

Lime and Coconut Yogurt Cake (butter free)

Print-friendly recipe

For an 8" tin (8 slices):

1 egg
75g white sugar
75ml olive oil
100ml lime juice (about 4 limes)
Zest of 1 lime
100g plain flour
50g dessicated coconut
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g yogurt
100g icing sugar

1)Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Beat the egg with the sugar. Mix in the oil, lime juice and zest, reserving a tablespoon of juice for the icing.
2) Sift the flour into a large bowl with the coconut, baking powder and bicarb.
3) Add in the lime mixture, mixing in carefully. Fold in the yogurt.
4) Pour into a lined tin, then bake for 25-30 minutes until you can pull a skewer out clean. Allow to cool.
5) Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then use a fork to gently beat in the remaining tbsp of lime juice. Use a knife or the back of spoon to smooth over the top of the cake.
6) Allow to cool for an hour or so before cutting into slices.

More Hungry Jenny cakes here.

Other butter free baking recipes that might take your fancy. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day: Bangers and Mash Pie

National Sausage Week + Friday Pie Day
=
Bangers and Mash Pie

(Alright, it looks a bit of mess but once you get stuck in, you won't even notice.)

It's National Sausage Week and Friday Pie Day so naturally, today's pie simply had to contain SAUSAGES!

With it being a British thing an' all, I thought I'd have a go at turning the classic bangers and mash dish into a pie :-)

So, you'd normally have a nice pile of mash swimming in gravy (often with onions), and then 2 or 3 sausages proudly sitting on top.

Ok, stop salivating now.

It was quite simple to turn this into a pie - I pretty much just flipped it the other way up - not literally though.

First I fried some shallots, before adding in some soy sauce and other bits to make the gravy. Make sure you keep those shallots chunky - don't chop them too small. They will make the most satisfying crunch when you come to eat the pie later!

I then chopped the sausages into fat pieces and browned them in the pan, then transferred this all into the pie dish with the gravy. I sneaked in some peas and parsley there too, to add some greenery.

Finally, the pie is topped with creamy mash. I used red potatoes, which is a good variety to use if you want fluffy, creamy mash. I couldn't help but add in some double cream and cheese in there too though ;-)

Hurrah to SAUSAGES!

Bangers and Mash Pie

Print-friendly recipe

Serves 2-3 (in a 1 litre pie dish):

500g red potatoes, chopped (peeled or unpeeled)
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp cornflour
Some water
150g shallots, quartered
200g peas (fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp olive oil
6 porky bangers
100ml double cream
50ml milk
25g cheddar cheese, grated

1. Gently boil the red potatoes for about 10-15 minutes until just cooked. Drain and keep warm.
2. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Mix the soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, honey and cornflour in a small bowl.
3. Fry the shallots to brown for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat right down and pour in the soy sauce mixture. Gently mix, adding in a little water if you want to thin it out a bit. Transfer to a 1 litre pie dish. Mix in the peas.
4. Add the oil to the pan, then fry the sausages for a few minutes to brown, before transferring to the pie dish also.
5. Pour the cream, milk and cheese into your potato pan. Mash well, then spoon atop your pie.
6. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the potato is just starting to crisp.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures.

More SAUSAGES to indulge in! Continue reading this post..

Three Ways to Use Butternut Squash

Initially, this was going to be a 'Three Ways to Use Pumpkin' entry, as a post-Halloween thing. More interesting ways than just throwing into a soup at least. But then I remembered the Painful Pumpkin Pie disaster I had last Halloween, and swiftly went off the idea of doing anything pumpkin-like.

So I went for the next best thing, er, butternut squash (in the form of Butter 'nut nut' pie), and henceforth came this post for using up butternut squash instead.

This might seem a bit of a sweeping statement but pumpkin and butternut squash are pretty interchangeable I think. So what I'm trying to say is that you could probably use these recipes for leftover pumpkin too anyway - which you'll hopefully find more fun to make than just boring old soup ;-)

Butternut Block Cake

It's called a 'block' cake because it's ruddy huge. The cake comes out looking quite scary and tall, but don't worry, it is a lovely soft and fluffy sponge cake that won't harm you!

Mild Butternut Squash and Salmon Curry

This is a kind of Thai-influenced curry, but Hungry-Jennyfied - ie mild and random.

Chestnut and Butternut Squash Pie Cups

And finally, butternut squash, roasted chestnut, celery and chestnut mushrooms, dressed in rosemary and balsamic vinegar, hugged in buttery shortcrust pastry. Mmm...

What a nice warm fuzzy feeling to leave you with, eh?
Continue reading this post..