Honey and
Ricotta
food, life, ramblings

Friday 31 October 2014

5 Things

5 happy moments from this week

1. Singing in the shower
2. The most beautiful Tuesday
4. Holiday planning
5. Reflecting

Happy Friday lovely people. If you have a spare moment say a prayer for this beautiful baby girl, Margot Martini, who passed away this week.

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Wednesday 29 October 2014

October Snapshots



































Sunday 26 October 2014

Top with Cinnamon: Date Flapjacks


I knew I was going to be exhausted come Sunday morning. So exhausted that I wouldn't want to be standing in the kitchen baking. Which is as close to chronic exhaustion as I hope to ever be. Planning in advance on Thursday evening I baked a batch of Top with Cinnamon's date flapjacks, knowing that this mushy, sweet, oaty triangle would be all I would want alongside a big cup of coffee on a grey Sunday morning.

Friday 24 October 2014

5 Things

5 happy moments from a long week that still has many working hours to go...

1. Eurostar
2. Coffee
3. Stretching
4. Porridge
5. Apples

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Thursday 23 October 2014

Individual Apple Crumbles


Two mini Le Creuset pots have been sitting in my cupboard for almost a year. Determined to use them before Christmas came round (and a whole year would have passed with them simply sitting and taking up valuable cupboard space), but unwilling to serve 'sides' of vegetables in them, or a splodge of mash potato which I would then immediately empty on to my plate, I looked at the pile of apples sitting on our kitchen table and set about making crumble. I am more than a little obsessed with crumble. I know had the perfect excuse to eat a whole apple crumble myself. And to not feel bad about doing so.


It's only a bonus that they looked super cute and had little lids to keep them warm until we were ready to dig in. Too much enthusiasm from me on mini crumbles, I'll stop talking now.



For 2 baby crumbles you'll need:

2 eating apples
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp light brown sugar
1/3 cup spelt flour
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup cold butter


1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Core and peel the apples
3. Cut them into chunky slices and mix them in a saucepan with the light brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Cook over a low heat until beginning to soften.
4. Cube the fridge cold butter.
5. Mix the flour, dark brown sugar and oats together.
6. Add the butter and rub through your finger tips until it resembles breadcrumbs. If it all starts sticking in a together in one clump, put it in the fridge for a while to cool down and then go back to it.
7. Split the apples between the baking dishes/rammekins and cover with the crumble topping.
8. Bake for 25 minutes.
9. Serve with crème fraîche, ice-cream, custard or greek yoghurt.

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Monday 20 October 2014

Nigel Slater: English Apple Cake


This weekend was spent at home, sitting nibbling on a piece of Nigel Slater's English apple cake in maman's vegetable patch (the apples grown just the other side of the stone wall), sipping a cup of tea, catching the last moments of sunshine at the end of an idyllic autumn Saturday. 


When it came to returning to London on Sunday, discussing weekends past and present hiding out in the country - or more specifically in the veg patch - I realised that we were here this exact weekend the year before, which was the time I started this blog.


And so apple cake and ginger tea was eaten on some beautiful new furniture, in the dappled autumn light, thinking about all the cakes baked in the past year, and all the fruits and vegetables grown in this little space of abundant land. I'm so grateful for all you readers, unknown or known to me, silent or chatty, for spending some of your life in this little space: it warms my heart to share everything I place on here with you.



Saturday 18 October 2014

Joy the Baker: S'mores Brownies


This is what happens when I start wandering through Joy the Baker's archives. S'mores brownies. An inevitable, heavenly crime on a weekday evening because I have no control over my baking desires. 


Cakey, chocolate brownies with crunches of chocolate hobnobs (my English replacement for the graham crackers), and gooey, toasted marshmallow nestled on top. There's nothing not to love here. My addiction to all things S'mores has just increased (something I didn't think was possible). 


It's raining outside and it's a Saturday so I can only recommend you flick through Joy's recipes and wind up baking something as wonderfully bonkers as these brownies.

Friday 17 October 2014

5 Things

5 happy moments from this week:

2. Walking through London in the dark with my headphones on
3. Porridge
4. When the rain finally stopped
5. Knowing that this evening I'll be at home in the country

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Thursday 16 October 2014

Lima Floral

By the time we arrived at Lima, we were all soaked to the bone, freezing cold, and cursing the British weather. In other words, we were more than happy to be transported to the sunshine and bright colours of Peru that can be found hidden away in Covent Garden, at Lima.

We hurried downstairs, past the beautiful food being served to those dining on the more serious menu, to the beautifully turquoise-tiled bar.

A round of Pisco Sours ordered to warm as up before we tried to translate the food menu. Three Spanish graduates struggling with a Peruvian menu. I'd love to know how everyone else survives. But maybe that slight element of surprise makes the Lima experience all the more enjoyable.

Seated on a high table, all the booths around filled with people smiling and drinking, this was a comforting place to be on a miserable Wednesday evening. 

After lots of menu debating (the best kind of debating), S memorised what we were having and spilled it all out to the waitress. 

Some of the most beautiful food which we'd ever seen and eaten was bought to us in staggered servings throughout the evening. Each plate intricately decorated, each ingredient delicately positioned, and each flavour flawlessly balanced. 


Beef tenderloin, panca chilli pepper, pachamanca sauce & aubergine, limo chili pepper, hauncaina sauce anticuchos. The aubergine a favourite as always, but the beef was amazingly cooked - the best kebab in the world.


Sea scallops, giant corn, cornbread toast tostada. Just admire.


Sea Bream ceviche, yellow Tiger’s Milk, camote chips. The highlight. Obvs.


Salmon, rocoto tiger’s milk, limo chili pepper. We didn't want this to end. It was too good.

Eventually we forced ourselves back out into the rain, not overfull (in fact we all went home in search of cake), but completely in awe of the plates that had just been presented to us: magical, artistic food. 

Highlight: colours. 
Lowlight: walking there in the rain.

Monday 13 October 2014

Think Pink: Breast Cancer Awareness Month


In the spirit of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I have been baking pink treats.

Little pink and white squares of food colouring-free coconut ice have me jumping on to the 'pink for a good cause' bandwagon. 


My all too white Kitchen Aid helped me whip up this coconut ice. Sadly, I don't own one of these pink beauties, but if you're planning on splurging on a Kitchen Aid (aka your kitchen superhero) in the near future, you should probably buy this one. It's the prettiest of Kitchen Aids, and has been made specially for the fabulous charity breast cancer support charity, The Haven, as £50 of each purchase will be donated to them. As if you need an excuse not to press 'Buy' on that link now. 


So, if you do buy a pink one, wait for it to arrive and you'll be able to knock up a batch of pastel coloured sugar-heaven as easily as I did. If not, well, all it takes is a bowl and a spoon, a cake tin and a fridge, to make many, many pink nuggets of sugary-heaven. Here's the recipe, and here's your Kitchen Aid. Get shopping and then get mixing - your ice needs to chill over night in the fridge so you should probably hurry... You need this pink, sugary explosion in your life sooner than you think.


You can read more about The Haven here. If you want to support them and also need even more pink in your life, you could buy this toaster, or maybe this blender, or this hand cream... Every purchase will lead to a donation which will be happily, and greatly appreciated.

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