Not really cheating...

I've been asked a few times whether the film 'Juliet and Julia' was the inspiration for this blog. Of course, I've seen the movie, but the germ of the idea came when I saw an item on BBC news with the depressing statistic that the average family eat the same eight dishes on rotation. I counted on my fingers how many dishes S and I ate regularly and came to the realisation that it was fourteen - - so seven dishes each. A few months later, when we were returning from our Christmas trip to see our families, my heart sank at the idea of the same old soup - - so I decided to expand what I cook. One hundred and eleven is an arbitrary number in all but the fact that it forces me to cook at least two new recipes a week.

This week has a theme of 'quick and easy'. For my first recipe, I had a bash at 'Donut Muffins'. There are few smells that make me feel as hungry as fresh donuts, so when I saw that 'Cupcakes, Muffiins and More', (Parragon Books) have come up with a muffin donut hybrid, I had to try them. Don't worry, this does not involve deep frying muffins -- although I bet they'd be nice). It is a muffin made to taste like a donut, only you don't need a deep fat fryer. Incidentally, the batter tastes amazing, the nicest bowl I have ever licked! Make sure your muffin tray is deep if your granny is coming to tea, mine rose in all sorts of rude shapes. To create the donut effect, these are finished by painting on butter and sprinkling on cinnamon and sugar. Best eaten warm with a mug of tea, and they did remind me of donuts. They went stale disappointingly fast, but were revived with a zap in the microwave and a splash of cream, filthily delicious and no waste!

Number two for this week was Nigel Slater's recipe for his Lazy Loaf of soda bread. Slater's recipe was a joy; no kneading, no proving, the quicker you move the better. I made a couple of substitutions with this recipe. There was a derth of buttermilk in Leeds, however, full-fat milk with a squeeze of lemon juice, will provide all the acidity you need to let the bicarbonate of soda do its stuff and make the thing rise - - so don't bother searching if you can't find it - - in fact, it's a slightly cheffy ingredient which isn't needed in this recipe, don't look for it at all! I also swapped wholemeal flour for embarrassingly middle-class kamut flour. Apparently this is an ancient Egyptian wheat flour, eaten by the Pharaohs, if the packet is to be believed. I swear it was the closest thing that I could find to wholemeal flour. Despite the substitutions, the loaf turned out well, it was chewy and dense and not too heavy, just like a soda bread should be! It needs eating hot -- it really doesn't keep. As someone who is trying to improve their cooking repertoire, this has given me a loaf of bread I could prepare on a week night, as F proved to me on Wednesday. 

One hundred and four to go!