I’m a lucky enough girl to have a husband who likes cooking and so the balance of cooking is generally tipped in his direction. Even if I’m cooking or we’re cooking together he has a tendency to interfere or take over, despite the fact I can cook! So a recent phenomenon in our house is for me to don my pink flamingo apron, choose a new recipe and cook without interruption on a Monday evening! The idea is not meant to be fancy, but to be simple tasty and hopefully seasonal midweek suppers.
On the table this Monday:
Mushroom papardelle
This recipe is in the September section of Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries, but has also been featured on the Guardian website here. It appealed to me as I am a big fan of pasta, and to me, mushrooms are the epitome of an autumnal ingredient. Perfect as the weather feels distinctly more autumnal this week. My little twist was to add a touch of double cream and the juice of a lemon before adding the parmesan & parsley. There is something incredibly savoury and good about this dish, and the lemon really lifted it. I also used a mix of thinly sliced chestnut mushrooms and field mushrooms, which gave a pleasing variation of size and texture in the finished dish.
Orange drizzle marmalade cake
I love a good loaf cake and my intention was to make my lemon curd cake, with marmalade instead. However, as I was leafing through the Kitchen Diaries book I noticed this recipe in there and thought I would give it a go. I thought it was probably important to choose the right marmalade so after much consideration I chose the Tiptree orange & tangerine marmalade, which is really tasty and tangy and not too sweet. The cake did indeed turn out just like the picture after the specified cooking time – sticky and moist and golden. I am not always a fan of icing on loaf cakes but the sweetness of the orange drizzle frosting just balances the tartness of the marmalade in the sponge. I’ll definitely make this again!
Tom’s review: “A nice choice for this time of year, a good mixture of earthy mushroom flavour and citrus. The cake had a subtle orange flavour and wasn’t too sweet. “
Tom’s scores on the doors: Main course 7.4/10 Dessert 8.2/10
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