COD WITH GARLIC MOUSSELINE

This is a way to prepare cod that became fashionable in Spanish restaurants a few years ago. It is very simple to make. You need:

- one fresh cod steak per person (this recipe is for four steaks) - the recipe is even better if you do it with salted cod,which is a great product, but for some inexplicable reason it is too difficult to find salted cod in the UK. 

- 2 eggs whites

- one egg yoke

- half a clove of garlic

- half a teaspoon of parsley

- 4 generous tablespoons of mayonnaise (shop bought is fine)

- salt

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. 

Salt the cod steaks and put them on a roasting tray (if you want you can oil a bit the tray beforehand, but it is not really necessary).  Whisk the egg whites. Separately blend the mayonnaise, egg yoke, garlic and parsley (you can do this in a food processor or with a hand held blender). Mix carefully the mayonnaise mixture with the egg white and pour it over the steaks covering them completely (or just cover each steak if you want less sauce). Bake for 20 minutes.  

If your children do not like the garlic flavour you can do this without the garlic, but then add another egg yoke to the mayonnaise mixture.

Children can easily help with most of the preparation for this, but ask them to be careful when they mix the mayonnaise and the egg white as if they mix too energetically you will loose all the egg whites' air.

BANANA BAKE

Apparently bananas have a soothing effect, which is exactly what I need after we discovered yesterday that our system had been hacked. Just in the blog we got more than 2,600 hits from a single country (yes, that country). No point involving the police, since last time this happened (and despite my husband being in government at the time) they were so utterly hopeless that it was actually rather funny. Talking of funny, I am half-discussing with a couple of people about putting together some recipes with  funny anecdotes (not just about the police!!) that took place during the last five years. Not sure I will find the time to do this...but will definitely keep you posted.

For this recipe you need:
- two bananas
- half a lemon
- 4 table spoons of fromage frais or thick yogourt
- two table spoons of honey

Preheat the over at 175 degrees.
Mash the bananas (reserve three slices for decoration). Sprinkle the juice of the lemon on the bananas. Mix with the yogurt/fromage frais. Put it on a small baking dish or ramekin. Drizzle the honey on top. Bake for 20 minutes (we put it at the end for 1 minute under the grill to get a nice brown colour).

Unlike me, my children love both bananas and honey, so they like this for breakfast. It is really easy for them to do the whole recipe on their own provided you help with the oven.

PS - have you joined the Inspiring Women campaign? We have 16,500 women registered already (and if you are a man, you can join Inspiring the Future, which is the wider campaign)

PADDINGTON LOAF CAKE

This is a seriously easy cake.

You need:
- 275 g self-raising flour
- 2 eggs
- 120 g butter - melted
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- 100 g sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons of marmalade (we used thick cut)
- a handful of 'perled sugar' (if you do not have this just used a coupe of tablespoons of demerara sugar)

Preheat the oven at 175 degrees.

Mix the flour, salt and sugar. Then separately mix the melted butter, beaten eggs and milk. Combine both sets of ingredients (just do this with a wooden spoon) Then add the marmalade. Put it all into a loaf tin (just lined, no need to grease it). Sprinkle the pearl sugar or demerara sugar on top and bake it for one hour (put a bit of foil on top of the cake after half an hour so that  the sugar does not get burnt).

According to my children this tastes particularly good with chocolate ice-cream.

PANNA COTTA

Very simple to make. We have tried different combinations of gelatine and cream and this one makes a properly wobbly panna cotta.
You need:
- 350 ml cream
- 2 gelatine leaves
- 150 ml milk (we use semi skimmed)
- 50 gr icing sugar
- a vanilla pod or table spoon of vanilla extract

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water. Heat the cream, milk and vanilla pod (take out the seeds) or vanilla extract. Once it is boiling let it simmer for one minute and a half. Take it off the heat, remove the vanilla iPod,  and add the icing guar and the gelatine leaves. Stir it a bit so that the gelatine dissolves. Sieve it through a colander and pour into individual ramekins (this makes 4)

. Let them set in the fridge overnight. When you are going to serve it put the ramekin for just a second in warm water.

CAPRESE SALAD

Very simple salad, but a good way for the children to taste different kinds of tomatoes (and they do taste differently). There is indeed an incredible variety of tomatoes in the market.  I read recently that there is more technology in a tomato  than in an i-phone - fancy the thought!

You need:
- various kinds of tomatoes, sliced thinly
- basil leaves
- mozzarella cheese (cut in cubes or teared into small pieces)
- olive oil (plenty)
- balsamic vinegar
- salt

Arrange the tomatoes first, the salt, then the basil leaves and finally the mozzarella. Pour the oil first and finally the balsamic vinegar. Eat it immediately (if you are preparing this in advance do not pour the oil and vinegar until you are just about to eat the salad)

 

PASTA BAKE

This works really well if you have to feed a crowd (especially kids and teenagers, but it is great for adults too). You need:

- 1 kg dried pasta (penne or similar)
- salt
- 3 red or yellow peppers
- one aubergine
- 2 courgettes
- 2 onions
- four table spoons of olive oil
- 6-8 basil leaves (this is just for decoration really)
- a mug of tomato sauce
- three handfuls of grated cheese

Cut all the vegetables in chunks. Put them on a baking tray. Add salt and the olive oil and mix well so that each chunk is coated with the salt and oil. Bake (200 degrees) for 45 minutes until the edges get brown. Meanwhile boil the pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain the pasta. When the veggies are ready toss them with the pasta and the tomato sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top, dip the basil leaves in olive oil and put them on top of the cheese and grill for 3-4- minutes until the cheese is golden.

Tossing the veggies with the oil and then with the tomato sauce and dipping the basil leaves in oil  is what children like most in this recipe.

CHARLOTTE RUSSE

My birthday was yesterday and this was my cake. The charlotte russe dates back to the 18th century when a French female chef prepared a lady fingers and custard cake for the Russian Tsar Alexander I, whose sister was called Charlotte. You need:
- 30 lady fingers
- 150 ml water
-12 g of gelatin powder
- 2 tablespoons of strawberry jam
- 5 eggs
- half a litre of milk
- a teaspoon of corn flour
- a teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons of sugar
- a handful of strawberries

You also need a (not too big) cooking ring.

Put the cooking ring on the dish where you are going to serve the charlotte.

Make a syrup by heating the strawberry jam and the 150 ml of water. When the jam is completely diluted let it cool down. Then start dipping the ladyfingers in the syrup and cover the sides of the ring as well as the base with them.

Heat the milk with two tablespoons of sugar and the gelatin powder (while you whisk it) until it is about to reach simmering point. Take a bit of the milk in a cup and mix it with the cornflour. Separate the egg yokes from the whites. Mix the egg yokes with the remaining two tablespoons of sugar. Then slowly mix the milk with the egg yokes and finally pour the cornflour mixture in.  Put the milk mixture back in the pan and heat it (slowly) while you whisk it until it becomes thick (it should coat the back of a spoon). Add the vanilla extract and then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Whisk the egg whites until you get stiff peaks. Mix the custard with the egg whites (fold it in carefully so that you do not loose any air). Pour half of this mixture inside the ladyfingers mould. Then put more ladyfingers (dipped in the strawberry jam syrup) on top of the custard mixture and finally add the rest of the custard mixture on top of the ladyfingers layer. Put the cake in the fridge and let it rest for 5 hours or ideally overnight until the gelatin sets.

Before serving it get rid of the ring and cover with strawberries.

This cake is a bit fiddly for the children, but at the end of the day it is like making a slightly complicated version of a tiramisu. You can simplify it by using shop bought custard. I think my children prefer the tiramisu though.