Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for March 2018.
As the name suggests, the Cookery Calendar Challenge is my monthly challenge to choose and make two new recipes, and share them on my blog.
Everyone is very welcome to join me; you will find a summary of the Challenge at the end of this post, and any other details you need can be found on the Cookery Calendar Challenge page.
My chosen book for February was Dorset Cereals Breakfast Book. I picked up this book up in our local garden centre a couple of years ago, and have enjoyed making quite a few dishes from it. This time round, Isaac helped me choose two new recipes to try.
My first selected recipe was Baked Egg Baguettes.
Isaac and I had this for our tea one evening when Derek was out. We had high hopes, it sounded simple, savoury, and delicious. Finely chopped bacon is fried off until crispy (we used Quorn bacon), then mixed with eggs, double cream, grated gruyere, sliced spring onion, and seasoning. This mixture is then poured into the baguettes, from which a 'V' has been cut, to contain the mixture, and the dish is baked in the oven until fully cooked through.
As you can see from the finished dish, cutting a 'V' into the baguettes was a demand too far for my knife skills, but even if I had managed, I think the mixture would still have run over the top of the bread and poured into the baking dish.
This meal contained some of my favourite ingredients: eggs, cheese, cream and bread, but unfortunately neither Isaac or I enjoyed it. The flavours somehow did not make a harmonious whole; the spring onions were a bit overwhelming, and the cream and cheese together made the dish sickly, or 'glaggy' as we say in our house! Sadly this was a definite thumbs down from both of us, and a big red 'X' for 'Epic Fail' on the family food scoring system!
The second recipe I selected was Peanut Butter Energy Bars.
Butter, soft brown sugar, peanut butter and honey are melted together over a low heat, then poured over porridge oats and muesli, and this mixture is baked for 30-40 minutes until golden.
With that list of gorgeous ingredients, it is hardly surprising that these earned a resounding double green tick*
They are sweet, with a slight glaze on the outside, created by the cooked honey. They have a satisfying 'give' in the middle, courtesy of the porridge oats. They are nubbly and nutty, thanks to the muesli and (be still my beating heart) the crunchy peanut butter, and a good pinch of salt prevents them from being overly sugary.
They are also supremely speedy to make; 5 minutes prep at most, and although I have only made them as per the original recipe book so far, I can imagine them lending themselves to all sorts of lovely additions such as dessicated coconut; raisins, flaked almonds, dried apricots.....
These are a joyous addition to my baking repertoire, and I suspect they might be to yours too; here is the recipe.
Ingredients:
125g unsalted butter
150g soft light brown sugar
125g crunchy peanut butter
75g runny honey
150g porridge oats
150g muesli (I used Jordans 'Simply Granola')
good pinch of salt
Method:
Preheat oven to Gas 3/160c
Grease and line a 20cm/8" square baking tin.
Put butter, sugar, peanut butter and honey in a heavy bottomed saucepan over a low heat and stir until melted and well combined.
Weigh oats, muesli and salt into a bowl and combine briefly, before adding the peanut butter mixture. Mix thoroughly.
Scrape into baking tin and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden in the centre, and golden brown at the edges.
Cool completely in tin, then turn out and cut into squares.
n.b. The original recipe includes the finely grated zest of an orange and a lemon, and some extra runny honey for glazing. They also keep well for 5-7 days in an airtight tin.
On to my selected recipe book for this month, which is 'Feasts' by Sabrina Ghayour.
I have used one of Sabrina's books before for a Cookery Calendar Challenge with unhappy results, but this one was on offer at Waitrose, and the cover is beautiful, some of the recipes look delicious, and, well, I'm just a sucker for a new recipe book so it somehow jumped in to my trolley and came home with me.
If you are wondering whether to take part in this challenge, I do hope you decide to join me. Through the Cookery Calendar Challenge I have discovered some dishes that are now firm favourites in our house (as well as some I will never make again!), and I now make better use of my recipe books than before. It is an ongoing project, so it is never too late to join, and everyone is very welcome. Here's what to do:
The first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for anything: main meal, a cake or bake, a preserve, anything at all which is a recipe that is new to you.
If you haven't taken a photograph of the dish, don't worry, you can still describe it, and let everyone know how it worked out. Similarly, you are welcome to share a recipe if you wish, but there is no pressure to do so. This project is more about the process of reconnecting with your cookery book collection, than about recipe sharing or food photography.
At the beginning of the following month, blog about the book and recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. Add your post to the linky on my blog, to allow others to see what you have made.
I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post.
There is also a Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart )
All this information is also on the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, should you wish to check anything in more detail, or of course you are welcome to message me also.
(* double green tick = 'Yum, new favourite'.)
