Potato & Leek Gratin

We bought some cute little individual casserole \ pie dishes and what better way to use them then with an oven bake.  I found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website (the link goes through to the actual recipe).

The recipe is for 4 but it easily reduces down.  Really nice to do something with leeks and the combination with the bits of bacon is lovely.

Changes from recipe:  Instead of using ham I used bacon lardons which were super flavoursome.

Susan Reimer's Apple Spice Muffins

So I had some dessert apples I needed to use and I had been hankering after a muffin for a while - put the two together and I heard Apple Muffins calling!.  I have a great little book by Susan Reimer called Muffins Fast and Fantastic.  The book has a multitude of flavours, and lots of muffin baking advice.

The original recipe is below:


Ingredients
255g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice (or try 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon plus 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and a pinch of ginger and cloves)
 raising flour
110-140g fine white granulated sugar
1 egg
170 grams chopped apple
150ml milk
90ml vegetable oil or 85g butter melted
60-85grams raisins, sultanas or chopped walnuts


Optional topping
3 tablespoons soft brown sugar
60grams walnuts, chopped


Method

• Preheat oven to 190-200C. Place paper cases in a muffin tin (makes 10-12)
• In a large bowl, sift together: flour, baking powder, salt, spice and sugar.
• In a second bowl, beat egg with a fork. Stir in chopped apple and milk, followed by oil\melted butter.
• Pour all of wet mixture into dry. Stir until just combined, adding dried fruit\walnuts during the final strokes.  This batter is thicker than most: apple released juice as it cooks
• Spoon into tins. Sprinkle with topping. Bake about 20-25 minutes until tops are lightly browned and spring back when pressed gently. Cool for several minutes to make removal easier.

Chilli Prawn Noodles

I have had total disasters with noodle dishes, but this one is always a winner, its super refreshing and rather healthy too!!  The chilli gives just the right amount of heat and the prawns are really refreshing.

I got it from the BBC Good Food website (you can reach the recipe from the link).

Changes to recipe:  I used small prawns rather than the larger king prawns.

Enjoy!