Effortless Afternoon Tea

I have a real love for Afternoon Tea.  To my mind there’s something deliciously civilised about sitting down with a friend to eat cake, drink tea and just chat about the world.

The ritual of setting out the cakes and making tea is so very soothing.  It sets aside this time for you and your considerations.  The world around you can wait.  You have tea and cake to focus on!

I love preparing for an afternoon tea.  My Fruit Scones are quick and simple to whip up and are always a delight.  I can spend hours fussing over making little dainty sandwiches and tartlettes.

But what if you have no time? What if your oven has broken? What if you just can’t bake?!

(You can, if you can read a recipe you can bake a cake.  You only need to believe in yourself and have a go, make a few biscuit cakes (wrong flour, oven too hot) and do your best!)

Well, my friends, even I have found myself in these circumstances.  Sometimes you need the ritual of afternoon tea to step away from your hectic, chaotic world without the chaos of hours of prep in the kitchen.  Here is my advice: You Cheat.  Mr Kipling is your friend.

Even if you have a reputation as a superb baker no one will mind if you have cheated.  It’s taking the time to sit with friends with a little something sweet and a relaxing cup of tea that is important.  With a nice cake stand and some pretty china (charity shops are a gold mine for this stuff!) take the time instead to lay a pretty table and forget about the stress of baking for a while.  Sometimes it is simply the more civilised thing to do!

 

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Herby Roasted New Potatoes

This recipe is a nice, easy, way of pepping up your potatoes a little.  For very little effort you get a whole lot of flavour and an absolutely gorgeous texture you usually only get with twice cooked chips!

The smell of the roasted herbs is amazing too!  These were cooked alongside a roast chicken and the whole kitchen smelt so good!

– Take a bag of new potatoes and place them in a nice oven dish.
– Drizzle with olive oil (3 tbsp at least, be generous!)
– Sprinkle with a pinch sea salt.
– Scatter with sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme.
– Put in the top of the oven for 1 hour at gas mark 5.
– Done! Potatoes!

Tequila Shrimp Tacos

I’m British, I don’t really like to blow my own trumpet but let me just start by saying BY GOD I’M GOOD! These Tequila Shrimp Tacos were one of my proudest culinary inventions.  They rocked my world!

Ahem, sorry about that.  But you see they had sprung from the idea of a craving.  I’d never had shrimp tacos before, I think I’d only ever eaten tacos once before actually, when I was about 17! But I had this idea.  And this idea grew on me and developed and matured until I just had to make them.  And they were everything I had dreamed!

The shrimp were deliciously meaty and briney, the limes added that fresh ZING! that cut through and enlivened everything.

The Lime Chipotle Creme Fraiche, OH MY GOD! THE LIME CHIPOTLE CREME FRAICHE! I could write sonnets to this little dish, I really could!

All in all I was so so happy with this dish and I hope you will be too!

300g King prawns
1tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp chipotle chilli powder
1 tsp coriander leaves (fresh or dried)
1 tsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 tbsp tequila

100g creme fraiche
1tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp chipotle chilli powder

1 ripe avocado
2 salad tomatoes
1tbsp lime juice
Pinch salt

Taco shells (Could use tortillas if you can’t get the taco shells)

Shredded lettuce

Limes!

– Heat a small splash of oil in a pan and add the king prawns, lime juice, chipotle chili powder, coriander, garlic and cumin to the pan.
– Cook until everything is nice and fragrant but no so long that the prawns shrivel.
– Add the tequila and simmer until reduced to a thick sauce.

– Stir together the creme fraiche, lime juice and chipotle chili powder in a bowl and set aside.

– Dice the avocado and tomatoes into chunks, add the lime juice and a pinch of salt, mix and set aside.

– Assemble your tacos with the lettuce and a good squeeze of lime on top.  Since you’ve got the tequila out already why the hell not, eh?

Banana Art!

A quick silly one for you this week as I’m concentrating on the fact that I will be running 5k tomorrow!!!  Donate Here!

Did you know you can decorate your bananas?

It’s so simple!  Just take a banana and a blunt writing implement and trace your design on the skin of the banana.  Don’t press too hard and break the skin.  Leave for a few hours and the design develops into a brown ‘bruise’ on the skin as it oxidises.  Simple!

Excellent for labeling food or leaving notes or drawings in lunchboxes to bring a smile!