It has been a little over a month now since returning to Scotland. Here is what I have cooked/ate whilst I have been AWOL from Bendi Benri.
Feeling a lot more settled in now I am ready to embark on my new life as a student AGAIN and get back into creating more yum.
Enjoy!
First up, home-coming welcome dinner, beautifully and deliciously prepared by my wonderful mother. It is very clear to me now that my mum is the source for my desire to cook. She effortlessly manages to put on amazing wholesome spreads. What a mum.
Nutty Chocolate Brownies (heaven in your mouth) & Scones with Home made Jam
Victoria Sponge
prawn & avocado cocktail
Home Made Steak Pie
Home Made traditional Scottish Oatcakes
What I forgot to capture was the Ultimate Chocolate cake smothered in Ganache! I am gaining pounds just thinking about it! I swear that cake was to die for! Here’s a link to the recipe.
A flying visit home then back to Edinburgh to meet Izumi and Sofie, friends we met in Japan. They had never tasted Haggis before, so Andy and I decided to take them to Urban Angel to give it a try. I love the concept of this Restaurant, stylish and delicious, “using the best local, organic, free-range and fairly traded produce available.”
To follow I visited a three-day foodies festival, filled with freebies of scrumptious organically prepared fresh food from all over the country. Some healthy and some just down right naughty! I was in my element.
Salmon and potato pie!
Tiger Prawn Paella
Feeling inspired from my weekend boozing and munching, I bought a nice big bunch of fresh beetroot and put together a yummy beetroot cake smothered in cream cheese icing. Here’s the recipe I used. Yep, I AM growing by the day! Twice the size I was a month ago. Oops!
No time to break just yet. The Edinburgh festival brought my folks and brother up to Edinburgh. The weekend consisted mainly of indulgence and laughter. Good times!
Below we eat at Amore Dogs another very trendy restaurant serving Italian scrum.
tuna nicoise salad on the side of a grilled sea bass on a bed of baked tomatoes.
Goats Cheese & Sun dried tomato Risotto
Wow what a month. Loved every minute!
I really miss Japan and crave a lot of the food we ate whilst we lived there, especially Soba noodles, so I treated us to a yummy crispy tofu soba dish. Satisfying beyond expectation! Go me!
Ingredients; serves 2 if you really have to share.
2 portions of soba noodles
150g Tofu (drained and cut into cubes)
1 small red onion (sliced into half moons)
1 stick of celery
around 12 sugar snap peas (halved)
2 cloves garlic
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 T light soy sauce
1 tsp pure honey
1 T chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon chilli (from the jar or fresh)
2 T olive oil
2 tsp vegetable powdered bullion
2 T corn flour
Directions:
1. prepare all ingredients
2. evenly coat the tofu in the corn flour
3. heat up the olive oil in a wok or frying pan then add the tofu. When coloured a reddish brown remove from the pan and place on some absorbing kitchen paper
4. In the same pan add the onions and garlic and cook until translucent
5. add the all of the other ingredients except the soba and basil and lemon then stir through on a medium heat.
6. In the mean time boil the soba until just tender then rinse quickly under cold water to avoid over cooking.
stir through the noodles, tofu, basil and lemon juice to the vegetable mixture then serve in warm bowls.
To finish, here is yesterdays lunch…
Chilli Squash Soup accompanied with rice crackers topped with cheddar cheese (hello my long-lost naughty friend) and cranberry sauce. yummmm…..
Ingredients; serves 4-6
I small butternut squash
4 sticks of celery
1 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
50g low fat soft cheese
2 tsp vegetable bullion
Directions:
1. Saute the onion and garlic until translucent
2. In the mean time bring a med/large pot of water (2 litre) the boil
3. cut the squash into cubes then allow to boil until tender
4. when the squash is ready add all other ingredients except the cream cheese, then mix through
5. Turn off the heat then use a hand held blender to pulse the mixture until smooth(ish) stir though the cream cheese then serve in warm bowls
Bendi Benri 