Dessert

Creamy Panna Cotta with Cherry Compote

August 11, 2011

This creamy panna cotta is made entirely of full fat cream, so it’s a pretty decadent but you know it tastes delicious. The accompanying cherry compote is rich, fruity and it has a flavour of Christmas for me (perhaps it’s the brandy in it!). I made the panna cotta’s quite small as they are devishly rich. However it does serve as a small but perfect dessert that is sure to impress. The mint on top is apple mint and is just to decorate and give a nice minty aroma. This is a super easy pud to make, twenty minutes to make and totally foolproof. However, you will need at least three hours to set the panna cotta or leave it covered in the fridge overnight. It’s a great easy dinner party dessert that you can make in advance and wow your guests! Continue Reading…

Treats

Chocolate Macarons

August 5, 2011

Have you noticed how macarons have suddenly become über cool and fancy? You can now buy them in exotic flavours such as white truffle with hazelnut and Lilly of the Valley! They are packaged up like expensive perfumes in pretty boxes with silky ribbons and tissue paper in soft pastel hues. Move over Belgian chocolates, Macarons are the gift du jour for the dinner part host. Continue Reading…

Appetizer

Cheesy Courgette Fritters

August 3, 2011

Unlike me, my other half doesn’t love courgettes. He claims they squeak – like green beans and aubergines – they’re on his “I’ll only eat those if there’s another famine'” list. So I spend a lot of time trying to create recipes which make these vegetables more appetising and less….squeaky. These fritters have been the greatest success so far, though it may be due to the fact that they are completely, cheesy, crispy and delicious. You could probably create these fritters with other squeaky vegetables like aubergines and they also work great with leeks. My Dad has a glut of courgettes in the garden, so these fritters are great to use them up. The fritters are accompanied by my other half’s special recipe for tomato and chilli jam which is rich and sweet and a perfect match for them. This dish makes a great tea-time snack or a scrummy starter. Continue Reading…

Cake

Cherry and Almond Muffins

July 25, 2011

I can’t get enough of fresh cherries this summer. And ever since I got my new cherry pitter, there really is no stopping me. This cherry and almond muffin recipe is so simple to make. In fact they were ready to come out of the oven by the time I had washed up all the dirty dishes. Then, I got to sit down and enjoy these warm nutty buttery cherry muffins with dollop of crème fraiche and a nice cup of tea. Sometimes the simplest things in life really are the best. Cherries in season are so sweet and go so well with almonds. I am a crazy about nuts so I kind of went a bit mad with the flaked almonds on top:) Continue Reading…

Salad

Beetroot, Pear, Feta and Pistachio Salad

July 20, 2011

Back to simpler fare this week with another summer salad to test your taste buds. I got the idea for the beetroot and feta salad from this great blog called Taste Food.  However, I made a few adjustments. I love fruit in salads as it always entices me to eat more green leaves, when I add some sweetness in the form of fruit. Pears work so well with cheese and nuts but I was unsure how it would go with beetroot. Surprisingly beetroot and pear taste great together. The creamy, slightly acidic cheese offsets the earthiness of the beet and the sweetness of the juicy pear. The mild white balsamic dressing brings them all together and the pistachios add a great nutty texture. Try it and see what you think? Continue Reading…

Cake

Rubik’s Battenberg

July 12, 2011

Update: On July 14th, two days after posting I received an email from Ernő Rubik himself saying that he liked my cake. I guess the world is really a very small place.

‘ Thanks for the nice birthday surprise which sweetens the bitterness of passing time.’

Hungarian Ernő Rubik invented the Rubik’s cube in 1974.  He was born on the 13th of July, 1944. Myself and my other half set about making a birthday cake, worthy of the great man himself. Battenberg cakes are constructed of rectangular pieces of alternatively coloured Victoria sponge cake, sandwiched together by jam and held together with walls of marzipan. We decided that the different pieces of cake could by dyed the traditional six colours of the Rubik’s cube – white, red, blue, orange, green and yellow. Then to make the cake a little more Rubik’s like, we decided to have each slice of the cake reveal a different combination of coloured squares, just like a Rubik’s cube. To achieve this, we cut the coloured rectangles of sponge into different lengths. This was definitely a case where I needed the engineering mind of my other half to figure out the maths of this cake. It took a little planning to get it right, however I think it might just be a worthy birthday treat. I’m not sure if Ernő has a sweet tooth but hopefully he might enjoy this puzzling cake.

Continue Reading…

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I'm Vicky and Stasty is my simple and tasty food recipe blog. I love to cook and I love to talk about food, so this blog is really my ramblings and thoughts about cooking and eating. Some of the recipes are my own and some are ones that I found on the net or picked up from my favorite cookbooks. I cook everything in our little kitchen in beautiful Washington. I am aided and abetted by my I.T guru/tantrum-trouble-shooter/editor and chief-taster otherwise known as the OH or Nelius.