Classic Caggs

Tonight was my night to cook in our little rota. Cathy told me after I'd planned the meal that the one food she really dislikes in beetroot….oops.  I decided that rather than boiling the beetroots to soften them for the recipe I would bake them to make them a little sweeter and (hopefully) more palatable for a beetroot-hater. After clearing her plate she announced that she now liked beetroot. Phew.  The quantities feed five - adjust accordingly! To make roast beetroot risotto you will need: 3 uncooked beetroots Splash of oil 1 red onion (chopped) 1 garlic clove (crushed) 2 glasses of red wine 2 vegetable stock cubes A kettle of water (as much as is needed! Approx 1.5L) 450g risotto 1 tbsp butter Handful of grated parmesan Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel and slice the beetroot into half if little and quarters if large. Wrap in silver foil, drizzle with some oil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. In the meantime,...

This week I made a supper I just had to tell you about. I visited the supermarket at the perfect time, just as all the reduced food for the day was being put out, and managed to grab a piece of cod for 80p. EIGHTY PENCE! My housemate had a lonely half of butternut squash that he gave to me; that paired with some sage from my garden at home and it was a match made in heaven! After a total of 30 minutes in the oven I had a lovely, healthy supper waiting for me.  I think this supper made me so happy just because it was cheap but delicious! Simple as that! Obviously this meal serves one, just increase it to the number of mouths you need to feed! To make baked cod with sage butternut squash you will need: A piece of cod (or any other white fish) Squeeze of half a lemon + a slice to bake in the foil Half a butternut squash A few sage leaves Drizzle of oil Preheat the oven to 180C. Lie the fish fillet onto some silver foil and squeeze the lemon over it. Place a...

We recreated the Secret Squirrel's honey popcorn slices  this weekend. They're deeply delicious without being too bad for you, the tahini adds a nuttiness to them which is perfectly balanced with the sweetness of the chocolate and coconut….basically they're super. Simple as that. Whilst you're waiting for them to cool in the fridge too the extra popcorn pieces are perfect dipping implements in the scraped out chocolate and tahini/honey mixing bowls (naughty). To make a tray of honey and tahini popcorn bites you will need:  4 cups of popcorn (cover the bottom of a medium saucepan with kernels and that'll give you just over 4 cups…just incase you have any accidents involving popcorn on the floor!) 1/4 cup tahini paste 2 tbsp honey 2 tbsp melted coconut oil (plus a bit more to cook the popcorn) 1/2 tbsp agave syrup (or maple) 2 tbsp cocoa powder Line a square tin with foil Melt the coconut oil in a medium saucepan and add to this the popcorn kern...

Overnight oats are so simple yet so satisfying to make - baking them in the morning turns them into a wonderful oatmeal (perfect for when autumn is setting in here in Wales!) I had a load of home-grown pears that my parents had packed me off with after I'd visited last week, Emily brought some stem ginger in syrup into the equation and so these overnight oats were born! The addition of a little of the ginger syrup is magical - we did refer to these as "divine oats", not to sing their praises too much... To make 4 portions of overnight pear and ginger baked oats you will need: 3 pears 1 and a 1/2 balls of stem ginger, chopped into medium sized pieces 1 and a 1/2 cups of oats - I recommend a chunky oat like Mornflake 1 cup of milk  1 and a 1/2 tbsp ginger syrup 1 tsp baking powder If you're baking the oats straight away, preheat the oven to 180C Chop the pears up and pop these and the sliced stem ginger in the bottom of your baking bowl. Put the...

Our Saturday tradition has become making pancakes. Today Emily and I decided to try using ground almond to make them and they turned out so much better than we could have ever hoped! They hold their shape so well and taste almost cakey. The addition of lemon and cinnamon to the batter just completes them. I cannot WAIT to make them again!  To make 8 gluten free chocolate chip pancakes you will need: 100g ground almonds 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp cinnamon  Pinch of salt  3 eggs 3 tbsp milk 2 tbsp honey Squeeze of 1/2 a lemon  Shake of chocolate chips Little butter for the pan  Blueberries to serve Chocolate coconut oil drizzle (see my pancakes from a fortnight ago for quantities) Pour the ground almonds, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a bowl. In a separate jug whisk the eggs, milk, honey and lemon together and pour this into the dry ingredients, gently whisking to combine. Add the chocolate chips at this point. Warm the frying pan, ...

Today my friend Cathy and I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies to give to the team we have been working with for the last month and a half as a little present. They are "proper" cookies - soft and squidgy and full of chocolate chips. Again these were made minus scales so it's a miracle they turned out well (or just a good demonstration of a suitable recipe for guessing quantities for!) You will be able to make about 25 small cookies from this batter (or fewer if you make monster ones - you might just need to cook them for a few minutes more!) To make a batch of chocolate chip cookies you will need: 150g salted butter 125g soft brown sugar 100g caster sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk 300g self raising flour (or  300g plain flour  + 1/2 tsp baking powder) 300g chocolate chips - we used a mix of both plain and dark chocolate chips Preheat the oven to 170C and line a few baking trays with greaseproof paper....

In my group of friends we all cook supper a night a week, which means that we only have to make an effort on one night every 7 days really. Which is lovely.  Tonight was my go; I had a variation on this meal just before coming back to university as a leaving meal back at home and I hadn't stopped dreaming about it since. I always cook a vegetarian meal for the group and thankfully I managed to win over even the biggest meat eater, who said "this must be the reason why people are veggie".  The quantities I used make enough for 2 (enormous) wraps for 5 people but just reduce the number of vegetables you use for a smaller number of people (or cook it all and have leftovers for the following day).  For vegetarian mega wraps for 5 hungry students you will need: A minimum of 2 wraps per person (seeded ones hold their structure better than white) Fillings 3 portobello mushrooms, sliced 1 courgette, sliced in half-discs 3 peppers, sliced (red, o...

Saturday mornings. Pancakes. A pairing that never grows old. My friend Emily and I had been talking about making authentic American pancakes at-some-point-in-the-future for about a month and this Saturday it at last happened.  Emily is one of those girls that eats amazingly so when she produced a jar of coconut oil to make a chocolate sauce I wasn't surprised - what I was surprised about was how flipping delicious it was considering it is so much better for you than any other chocolate sauce I could have dreamt up! She also makes a cracking cappuccino. Dream girl right there.  To make a batch of 9(ish) American blueberry and bacon pancakes you will need: 200g self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 egg 300ml milk Little pack of blueberries - ours was 200g A little butter for the frying pan 2 strips of bacon per person Chocolate sauce 2 tbsp coconut oil (melted) 1/2 tbsp agave syrup or maple syrup 2 tbsp cocoa powder (to taste) Sieve...

These brownies were created one sunny Sunday morning in North Wales. Whist they were baking I also won at three games of Bananagrams so the day was wonderful before I'd even tasted them.  They were made with my friend Emily who loves mucking about in the kitchen as much as me - as well as being crazy about salted caramel. She infact scattered Maldon sea salt all over the top which took them from amazing to magical.  We didn't have any scales to hand whilst making these so the measurements were quite a clever art, demonstrating that as long as you're vaguely there with this recipe they will turn out brilliantly. To make a tray of salted caramel mocha brownies you will need: For the brownie mix 225g butter 115g milk chocolate 300g granulated sugar 2 tablespoons instant coffee 4 eggs 120g cocoa powder 130g plain flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 150g hazelnut chocolate spread (i.e. Nutella) For the caramel sauce 250ml black coffee 275g soft brown sugar 240ml d...