Crazy Englishwoman Cooks!

After a three day weekend at a movie festival in Indiana, where meals consisted of Cracker Barrel (breakfast), Pizza Hut (lunch) and Taco Bell (dinner), I was ready for veggies. Time to pull out my trusty new favorite, The Produce Bible: Essential Ingredient Information and More Than 200 Recipes for Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs & Nuts.

Regular readers know that I have been building a relationship with eggplant this summer. Yesterday, I added a new recipe to my eggplant repertoire: Moroccan Eggplant with Couscous.

For 2 people you need:
1/2 cup couscous
olive oil
1/2 onion, sliced
1 eggplant
3 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cloves
butter

Put the couscous in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Leave for about 10 minutes and fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, heat some oil in a frying pan and cook the onion for about 10 minutes.
Once the onions are browned, remove them from the pan.

Cut the eggplant into 1 inch thick slices and then quarters. Put in a bowl with the spices and a little salt and toss to make sure the slices are well coated. Add a little more oil to the pan, then add the eggplant. Cook for 25 minutes over a medium heat, turning once.


When the eggplant is cooked, remove from the pan and set aside with the onion.

Melt a little butter in the same pan, add the couscous and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the onion and eggplant and warm through before serving.

I'll be honest, I really wasn't sure how this was going to turn out but it was delicious. Even Nic, a die-hard meat lover, told me it was a keeper and went so far as to say that the eggplant took on a nice meatiness.

Yesterday's dinner was courtesy of a Betty Crocker recipe. One of the things I like about this is that you really get to control the heat and flavor with your choice of salsa. I used a habanero lime salsa for some real zing. If you like something less spicy, use a milder salsa.

Fajita Bowls (to serve 4)


1 cup uncooked rice
1 lb boneless beef
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tortilla, cut into thin strips
1 lb sliced peppers and onions
1/2 cup corn
1 cup salsa
2 tbs lime juice
2 tbs chili sauce
1/2 tsp cumin

Cook the rice as directed on the package.
While the rice is cooking, heat a large skillet over a medium high heat and add the oil. Coll the tortilla strips for a couple of minutes until crispy. Drain on a paper towel.
Add the beef (cut into thin strips) tot he skillet and stir fry until no longer pink. Remove from the skillet.
Put bell peppers, onions, and corn in skillet. Stir fry for a minute then cover and steam for about 3 minutes. Stir in the beef, salsa, chili sauce, lime juice, and cumin. Cook for a few minutes until hot then serve over rice and topped with crispy tortilla strips.

For my dad's birthday last week, I decided to make a chocolate cheesecake with a little something extra.



* 1 cup crushed chocolate cookies
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* 2 tbs sugar
* 1/4 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
* 3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
* 1 cup sugar
* 3 eggs
* 1/2 lb semisweet chocolate chips
* 2 tbs heavy cream
* 1 cup sour cream
* 1 pinch salt
* 3/4 cup Irish stout (Guinness, Beamish, etc)
* 2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9 inch springform pan with butter.
Combine the crushed cookies, butter, 2 tbs sugar, and cocoa in a small bowl; mix; press into the bottom of the prepared springform pan.
Place the cream cheese in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer set to low speed until smooth. While beating, slowly add 1 cup sugar and then the eggs, one at a time. Continue beating until smooth.
Combine the chocolate chips and cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave until the chocolate is completely melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Beat the chocolate into the cream cheese mixture. Add the sour cream, salt, beer, and vanilla; blend until smooth. Pour the mixture over the crust. Place the pan into a large, deep baking dish. Fill the dish with water to cover the bottom half of the springform pan.
Bake the cheesecake in the water bath in the preheated oven for 45 minutes; turn oven off; leave the cheesecake in the oven with oven door slightly ajar another 45 minutes; remove from oven. Run a knife along the edge of the cheesecake to loosen from pan. Chill in refrigerator at least 4 hours.

The result was a little surprising. When I added the stout to the mix, it smelled incredibly strong. Once it was cooked, however, you end up with a wonderfully rich, but not overpowering, chocolate cheesecake.

Definitely a keeper.

Since my mum reads my blog every day and knows how much I love cookbooks and trying new recipes, she gave me a new addition to my collection when she visited.

Growers Market: Cooking with Seasonal Produce is a fabulous guide to cooking with all of those goodies you see at the farmer's market each week. Don't know what to do with that strange looking vegetable you've never tried before? Author Leanne Kitchen will provide plenty of suggestions.

We started out by making the most of the plums that were on sale in the local grocery. This delicious plum cobbler was easy to make and gorgeous with a drizzle of fresh cream. The recipe below gives the amount of plums specified in the book, but you could easily double this.



Plum Cobbler

About 10 plums (or more)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
4 1/2 oz butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350F or Gas 4. Lightly grease a 2 litre baking dish.

Cut the plums into quarters and discard the stones. Put the fruit in a saucepan with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tbs water. Stir over a low heat for 5 - 10 minutes until the sugar dissolves and the fruit softens. Pour the fruit into the baking dish.

Sift the flours together with the remaining sugar and rub in the butter until the mix is crumbly.

In a spearate bowl, mix the egg and milk. Stir into the flour mix and make a dough.

Drop spoonfulls of the dough on top of the plums. Bake for about 40 minutes.

My family flew back to England yesterday so the house is quiet and I have time to catch up on my blogs again.

This is the time of year when we are overrun with tomatoes. We get piles of them from the CSA each week and it can be hard to find new recipes for them. Luckily, our CSA newsletter offered the following recipe for a tomato pie and it is delicious! Try it and see.

Heirloom Tomato Pie

4 large heirloom tomatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
5 large leaves of fresh basil
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 9 inch piecrust
1/4 cup feta cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella
3 tbs grated Parmesan
1 cup grated cheddar

Prebake the pie shell for about 8 minutes at 450F. Remove the shell from the oven and lower the temperature to 350F.

Slice the tomatoes and place in a colander to drain. Sprinkle with salt and leave for 15 minutes.

Layer the tomatoes and basil into the pie shell. Top with pine nuts. Mix the mozzarella, cheddar, and mayonnaise and spread over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with feta and Parmesan and bake for 40 minutes.

Leave to set for 5 minutes or more. The pie can be eaten hot or cold.