Tray baked triple cheese toast : perfect for brunch

In my book cheese is always good, for tea as well as breakfast and brunch. Continuing from my last post, let me tell you about one of my favourite brunch food. The genesis of this recipe is part Nigella Lawson's triple cheese strata and part my need to create tasty dishes using the supermarkets marked down buys, which means stale baguettes and cheese thats at its end by date. This is a very flexible recipe, so feel free to adapt it to your own liking. The following quantities makes very generous portions for two people.

Ingredients

1 onion (Nigella's recipe uses spring onions, I use whatever is available, which more often than not, a red onion)

1 baguette

Choice of cheese (Mature cheddar is a staple, the rest depends on what I buy)

Sour cream (two generous dollops)

3 eggs 

Coriander (for garnish)

Method

Preheat your oven to 170 Celsius. 

First I melt my cheese over medium heat. Once the cheese has melted, I take it off the gas. If I am using mozzarella, I just cut it into bite size chunks and add it to the hot cheese, it will melt anyway once in the oven. Nigella blitzes all of this in a food processor, I tried that a couple of time, but find melting the cheese works more for me. I then whisk up three eggs, add pepper, a bit of cumin powder, and a bit of sea salt (the salt quantity depends upon the kind of cheese used. Sometimes I skip this step altogether).

I then cut up the stale, slightly hard bread into medium sized round slices and arrange it in a baking tray like so. And sprinkle finely chopped onions or spring onions over it. 

Next, I add the sour cream and egg mixture to the melted cheese which should have cooled down by now. 

And then I pour the liquid over the bread and pop it into the oven for about 25 mins. I add a bit of coriander on top for a fresh hit and there, its done. 

This dish is easy to make but is a real treat. Its part toast, part cheese omelette in the best possible way. The original recipe is assembled overnight and kept in the fridge, I prefer mine this way as the bread  gives a very satisfying crunch. And it really works well as a lazy brunch, as you can see from the empty  tray. 

Cheesy tea time cake: cheddar, cranberry and pecan nuts

One of my favourite food blogger is Joy and I have been following her blog since 2010. And on twitter and instagram too if you must know. What makes her such a darling is that not only is she a great baker, but her food photography is to die for. She was responsible for the great baking experiments of 2013 which ended up in me buying only baking stuff on my US trip (Well baking and multiple trips to Sephora). And last week she posted an unbelievable recipe of a savoury cheddar cheese with cranberry and pecan nuts and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to make it. And here I ran into a problem, I couldn't find any cheddar cheese powder in any stores around my area or online. King Arthurs Flour is available only in the US and I didn't have a food dehydrator or the time to make my own cheese powder so I did what I had to do, I adapted the recipe. Joy's version is a bread, mine is a hybrid between a bread and a cake. But its darn good. Especially right now when the weather is just so depressing and horrible. I have this for my post gym snack with a cup of hot tea and all rights in my world. And let me tell you there is nothing like a bit of cheese post workout, nothing. So without further ado let's get started. 

Ingredients: 

Dry Ingredients

self raising flour (1 1/2 cups, I ran out of plain flour so used this)

soda bicarb (1 teaspoon, Joy uses the same amount)

Baking powder (1 teaspoon, used less than the original recipe as I was using self raising flour, If using plain flour, put in 2 teaspoon baking powder)

Salt (1/2 teaspoon)

Sugar (6 tablespoon, this is double of the original recipe, and I used cane sugar)

Butter (120 gms, cut in cubes. Not sure how much Joy uses as thats in oz.)

Wet Ingredients

Egg (1 large)

Buttermilk ( I used the Dale Farm pot which is 250 gms)

Yogurt (1/2 cup)

Extra bits

Cheddar cheese (200 gms grated, extra for toppings, I had to make up for the loss of cheese powder. You can put in a bit more if you prefer)

Dried cranberries (100 gms, I used this as I had some left over from my mince pie filling. The original recipe uses fresh cranberries)

Pecan nuts (a very generous handful, roughly chopped)

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 Celsius. 

Sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt together. I don't know the scientific reason for doing this but I have always seen my aunt doing this and I have just taken it from there. To this I add the butter (I take this out of the fridge about 1 hour before so thats its cold but not too cold) and work it into the flour with fingers. The mixture will remain crumbly, not to worry. 

Add the cranberries, nuts and grated cheese to this crumbly mixture.

I then whisk all the wet ingredients in another bowl and add to the flour mixture. Fold the batter in gently and add the sugar. The consistency should be slightly gloopy and I know there is a lot of stuff in the bowl, but it works. 

Grease a 81/2" x 41/2" loaf tin and spread the batter evenly. Grate over some more cheese for a more cheesy crust. 

I baked this at 190 Celsius for 40 minutes. Everyones oven is different so its a bit difficult to give a specific time. The best way is to insert a skewer into the middle and if it comes out with no gloopy bits, then you are done. I like to rest my baked goods in the oven for about 10 mins before bringing it out, so I time it accordingly. You can also create a foil tent to cover the top if it should brown too much during baking. I faced no such problems with this one. 

Winter nightcap: mulled cider

The moment we step into the new year there is an urgency to start everything on a fresh slate. I however have been struggling to get into any kind of active zone right now. Its been a combination of events, a very hectic holiday season, my pets been sick and a very close family member passed away suddenly. Being so far away from home makes you feel a bit helpless at times like this so I have turned to baking with a vengeance. But before I post my baking recipes, I want to share a something a bit more familiar and comforting : mulled cider. Technically, mulled wine or cider is more of a holiday drink and I don't deny that I guzzled quite a few glassful down at christmas parties but I like it most at bedtime while reading a book. This version has been supplied by the much maligned domestic goddess of this tiny island, Ms. Nigella Lawson and is part of her spectacular Nigella's Christmas series. I made a couple of tweaks to it keeping in mind taste and pantry provisions but the bulk of it remains the same. Do bear in mind that different ciders give different flavour. If you are using something like Kingston cider, reduce the level of sugar as this cider is very very sweet. Something like Stella gives a more appley tang which I like. So without much ado, here goes:

Ingredients
Cinnamon stick (I used a whole stick)
Cloves (a couple)
Cardamom pods (I use the green ones not the black, in other words the choti elachi)
Apple cider (1 bottle)
Brown sugar (3 tablespoon)
Rum (a generous Patiala peg)
Clementine (halved with tops studded with a clove)
Bay leaf (I use the indian variety because I have it in my pantry)
Tea (1 big mug of Lady Grey which mirrors the orange flavour, the original recipe uses apple infusion tea)

Method

I brew the tea separately in a mug and tip it into a pan along with the sugar and the spices. To this spiced tea I add the juice of a squeezed clementine and the shell with its studded clove. This adds to the orangey flavour that we are going for. I then add the cider and rum to the pan and after the fizz settles down, I bring the liquid to a gentle boil. And thats it. Done. Now all you have to do is pour it into mugs, take to bed, get under duvet and curl your toes around a hot water bottle. A good night's sleep guaranteed.