Hef's kitchen

Eggs Florentine with Asparagus

2013-05-17T19:22:00.001+01:00

About 4 years ago a series of 'bad egg' events put me off of eating eggs, I've still been eating them in things, (mostly cake) but every time I try to eat them in pure egg form I manage to put myself off again. So last week armed with some fresh organic asparagus (I really, really love asparagus) I decided to give them another go. I used to love eggs florentine and my mum kept talking about making asparagus with boiled egg so I thought I'd combine them together for the best brunch ever! And that it was. I brought some really good eggs (which made me feel better about eating them) and as you can see I over cooked them a little bit, but I am an egg novice! So yeah, if you enjoy yummy vegetables and good eggs, I highly recommend this!

Serves 2:

8 spears of asparagus
Salt and pepper
2 free range eggs
1 granary bap
200g spinach
2 tbsp hollandaise sauce

Pop a griddle pan on to a medium heat and add the asparagus, season with salt and pepper and griddle for around 10 minutes.
While the asparagus is cooking poach your eggs (I have an egg poacher, I have no idea how to poach them properly) to your liking. I did mine for around 5 minutes.
Split your bap in half, then toast to your liking. Then put the spinach in to a sieve and pour boiling water over it. Drain the water off and top the bap with the wilted spinach.
Top with the egg, then the asparagus and then cover in hollandaise sauce.
Yep it really is that simple! Enjoy.

Cinnamon Rolls

2013-05-06T19:42:00.001+01:00

I spend too much time on the internet (I am a blogger after all), I'm addicted to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you name it, I'm on it. So, as you can imagine I also love Pinterest, I spend absolutely ages on there looking at pictures of other peoples food. One thing that comes up all the time is cinnamon rolls, god knows how many times I've 'pinned' them, looked at the recipe and decided I am too lazy to make them. But this weekend my uni friend Laura came to stay, and after a long list of things I suggested doing, I suddenly realised we could bake. After a not so long internet research trip we decided on cinnamon rolls. I wish I hadn't waited so long to make them! They're so easy, taste delicious and make your house smell like actual heaven (really, if I die and heaven doesn't smell like freshly baked cinnamon rolls, God has some explaining to do). I have absolutely no idea about anything to do with 'bread' baking (it always goes wrong) so I used this recipe and have since fallen in love with her blog, it's full of amazing recipes. So I've popped the recipe on here in metric measurements for all of us in the UK to enjoy and made a few little changes to the method! So... Enjoy!

Makes around 16

For the dough

1 packet of dry yeast
230 ml warm milk
75g golden caster sugar
110g butter
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
550g plain white flour

For the filling

75g melted butter
225g brown sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon

For the frosting

100g icing sugar
Enough water to make it in to a thick mixture (I never measure)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Start by tipping the dry yeast in to the warm milk in a large bowl, add a tea spoon of the golden caster sugar and leave for around 10 minutes until it's all bubbly.
Then add the caster sugar, butter, salt and eggs and mix with and electric mixer until well combined.
Add the flour and fold it, mixing until it forms a dough.
Tip the dough out on to a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until you have a lovely smooth dough.
Pop the dough back in to the bowl, cover it with a tea towel and leave it in a warm place to rise for at least an hour (it should double in size).
Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees then tip to dough on to a floured surface and roll out in to one large rectangle! (21 inches by 16 inches).
Once it's rolled out brush the butter all over it, then mix the cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle it all over!
Cut up in to around 16 even sized slices, then pop them in to a greased 8inch baking pan (I put 7 around the outside and 1 in the middle, which fit perfectly!)
Then pop them in to the oven for 15-20 minutes.
While they're baking, make up the icing by mixing the icing sugar with water and adding the vanilla extract.
When the rolls are golden brown, remove from the oven, cover them in icing and eat (they taste best fresh from the oven)

ASK Italian Master Class with Theo Randall

2013-04-29T21:44:00.000+01:00

Last week I was invited to a blogger master class at ASK Italian in London. We were invited along to try some of their new dishes created by their expert friend Theo Randall and try our hands at making their new stand out starter, Panzerottini. I was really inspired by Theo's love of authentic ingredients and could tell that a great deal of effort goes in to researching, choosing the ingredients and creating the dishes.

Theo talking about the authentic Italian ingredients.

First of all we were shown how to make the Panzerottini, which are yummy little dough balls stuffed with cheese and chilli (there is a meaty pancetta option too). Theo explained that he'd first discovered them on a trip to Italy, and thought they had the potential to become a unique addition the the starters on the menu. The head chef Fari showed us how to make them, (and he made it look so easy!) then we had a go at making them ourselves (I was no Fari, mine turned out too big and obscure shapes).

After our attempts at making the Panzerottini we were brought a fresh batch to try. They are ridiculously delicious and addictive, I could quite happily polish off a whole plate by myself. They're baked in a stone oven and only take a few minutes to pop up and bake (my kind of fast food).

Next we got to try the Spaghetti Al Pomodoro, a simple pasta dish with Santos tomatoes, garlic and fresh basil. It had a beautiful fresh flavour and proper chunks of buffalo mozzarella on top, which always goes down well with me!

After the pasta, two of the pizzas were brought out to try, I don't have a picture because they weren't veggie, but they smelled phenomenal, I will definitely be trying a pizza on my next visit to ASK! After the pizza came the most indulgent flour-less chocolate cake, the Chocolate Amore. I don't even have to tell you how good this was, I think the picture says it all.

You'd think we would have had enough after that amazing feast, but no! There was still once last dish to come, the desert sharing board with chocolate and almond cake, Italian cheesecake and warm almond, plum and pistachio tart served with Alphonso mango sorbet.

I left feeling inspired, very full and planning my next trip to Ask to try more of the new dishes on the menu!

Baked Camembert, Walnut and Mushroom Fricassee at Nelson Street Resturant

2013-04-28T11:58:00.001+01:00

As you may or may not know, I detest mushrooms, but there are some exceptions such as when vegan Emma cooks them (she has a magical mushroom touch) and the other day when I went to take some pictures at the restaurant that my brother works at. While taking the pictures I got to try the baked camembert, walnut and mushroom fricassee. Well, I think the picture says it all, who wouldn't want to eat that! So I just thought I'd share this beautiful cheesy picture for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy.

Sweet Potato and Aubergine Katsu Curry

2013-04-25T12:57:00.000+01:00

Over the last 2 weeks I've been house/pug sitting for my mum's friend. It was like a dream because 1. I got to pretend to be a housewife 2. I got to look after Bentely the pug aka the cutest and most mischievous dog ever 3. She is a lovely, lovely lady who filled the fridge with vegetarian food for me! I was pretty excited about this fridge of food and what I could cook from it, but there was also something in there that I've never cooked with before, an aubergine. I know what you're thinking, Hef, you're a vegetarian, how have you never cooked an aubergine before. Well, I used to think they were a bit gross, bordering on mushroom territory (ewwww). So I wasn't really sure what to do with it. I thought about when I've eaten it in other meals and the one that stuck out was Katsu curry. I freaking love kastu curry, I could eat it all day every day and I've been wanting to make it from scratch for a while so I decided this was the perfect opportunity. I based the sauce on Gizzi Erskines recpie, but made it vegetarian and added some more veggies (why not, eh?). I tried making it twice this week, once frying the vegetables and once baking. I prefer them baked, so that's what I'm going with. Sorry for the not so great quality of the picture, Mr Hef told me to 'stop taking pictures and eat your dinner' and like a good housewife, I did (haha).

Serves 2

For the sauce

A bit of olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tbsp curry powder
300ml vegetable stock
1 tsp honey
2 tsp soy sauce
1 bay leaf
A large pinch of garam masala

For the vegetables

Olive oil spray
1 free range egg, beaten
100g seasoned plain flour
200g panko breadcrumbs (this is an estimation, I am extremely messy and get them stuck every where so you may need more or less)
1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced in to thin circly shapes
1 aubergine, chopped to the same width as the sweet potato

And some sticky white rice to serve!

Start by pre heating the oven to 180 degrees and setting up your egg, seasoned flour and panko breadcrumbs in separate bowls then pop to one side
Heat a little olive oil in a sauce pan, then add the onion and garlic and sweat on a low heat for 2 minutes.
Then add the carrot, pop the lid on and leave to soften, stirring occasionally.
While the carrot is cooking away, prepare a large baking tray by spraying with olive oil, then take your slices of sweet potato, first coating them in the breaded flour, then dipping them in egg, then covering them in the panko bread crumbs.
Place each one on to the baking tray and spray well with the oil and pop in to the oven for around 30 minutes.
Go back to your sauce and add the flour and curry powder and mix in well.
Slowly pour in the vegetable stock, bit by bit and stir well to avoid any lumps occurring.
Add the soy sauce, bay leaf and honey, bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove the bay leaf from the sauce and add the garam masala, then pop in in to a blender and give it a good whizz so that there's no lumps left.
Remove the vegetables from the oven (they should be lovely and golden brown) and pop on to your plate with some sticky white rice, cover it all with the sauce and enjoy!

Confessions of a Chocoholic Afternoon Tea, London Hilton, Park Lane

2013-04-19T17:09:00.002+01:00

I'm not sure if I really believe in soul mates, but if I did Georgie would be mine (sorry Mr Hef). We are both boys under our super girly exterior (thats a bit of a lie, I look like a boy from the outside too), have oddly similar boyfriends and share a love of all things food and cake. I met Georgie when I started working at a chocolate shop in Southampton. She didn't like me because she thought I was trying to take her job, little did she know I was a massive slacker who was just there to constantly annoy her. Any way, this year for my Birthday Georgie got me the most awesome present, a chocolate lovers afternoon tea at the Park Lane Hilton Hotel in London. The afternoon tea started with with a super friendly man explaining all of the options on the menu. Georgie and I were happy to eat whatever they gave us (as long as mine was veggie!) and we started things off with a glass of champagne.

They then brought us an assortment of teas to look at/smell, which excited us both greatly. I went for an afternoon tea blend, I can't remember what Georgie had, because I'm useless. After we had our champagne and tea, it all started to get very exciting, we were presented with the most beautiful finger sandwiches I have ever seen. They were absolutely delicious and quite dainty, which luckily left enough room for the large amount of cake we would soon be eating.

After the sandwiches we were presented with a beautiful 3 tiered tower of scones, pastries and miniature fancies. I didn't manage to take a good picture of how beautiful it was, because, quite frankly I was too excited about eating it all (sorry). After getting over the excitement of the beautiful cakes, we went straight in with the warm chocolate chip, plain and fruit scones. Once again they were absolutely delicious and perfectly accompanied with jam, cream and the best chocolate praline I have ever tried. All the the cakes and scones are handmade at the Hilton and you can really tell, they we're light, fluffy and extremely fresh.

Then we got to the cakes. I don't even know what to say about them. Each one was unique and had an amazing flavour. I think my favourite was the raspberry and elderflower cupcake, mainly because anything containing elderflower is a winner in my books.

After we had devoured the first cake layer (which consisted of a battenberg, Sasher torte, raspberry and elder flower cupcake and a red velvet cupcake). We were ready to tackle the second (which consisted of white chocolate and cherry cheesecake and red velvet and orange tuile, Milk chocolate cremeux, pistachio macaroon with manjari chocolate filling, iced shortbread butterfly with an orange and chocolate profiterole, lemon and raspberry marshmallow cone and a meringue lolly). This layer was made even more exciting by the fact that the plate was made of chocolate. Yes! YOU COULD EAT THE FREAKING PLATE. We noticed that some of the other guests that were enjoying the afternoon tea were taking their left over cakes away in super cute little boxes, but Georgie and I aren't ones to be defeated by food. No! We ate the whole thing, well, we didn't quite manage to eat the whole chocolate plate, but Georgie took a bite. She's a real champion.

Obviously I would recommend this to any one, it was the perfect way to spend an afternoon in London. Everything was to such a high standard and tasted like heaven! If you're not convinced, here's a picture with Georgie and the chocolate plate. A CHOCOLATE PLATE!

Spicy Courgette Fritters with Lime and Coriander Tzatziki

2013-04-12T16:47:00.001+01:00

Last week I got some courgettes in my veg box and although I eat them quite a lot, I couldn't decide what to do with them. Every time I opened the fridge, they were there, looking at me, making me feel bad about not eating them. So I took action and turned them in to fritters, mainly because my mum had brought me some spinach and pine nut balls and I couldn't decide what to do with them (I was obviously lacking inspiration last week). So I decided to make myself a small mezze of yummy things. Then I told my mum about my plans and she wanted some, then my little brother got involved and then I discovered that Mr Hef hadn't eaten and since he no longer lives with him mum and is useless in the kitchen, I feel like it's my duty to feed him. So the mezze ended up being giant, so big it took up my whole dining table! We had the courgette fritters, homemade lime and coriander tzatziki, garlic potatoes, spinach and pine nut balls, olives, hummus, sun dried tomatoes and spelt and rye bread. So if you're looking for something to serve them with, all of those options make a brilliant meal!

For the fritters:

2 courgettes
4 tbsp gram flour + a bit extra for coating
1 small chili, chopped in to little bits
100g vegetarian parmesan (they sell it in Morrisons now, yay)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Lime and Coriander Tzatziki:

1/2 a medium cucumber
200g greek yoghurt
A handful of coriander, chopped finely
1 tbsp lime juice
Salt and Pepper

Start by grating the courgettes and popping them in to a sieve over a bowl, place a heavy weight on top (I used a heavy bowl) and leave for 15 minutes to drain the juice out of them.
Pour the juice away, then transfer the grated courgettes to a bowl and add in the gram flour, veggie parmesan, chopped chili and a bit of salt and pepper and mix in well.
Put the mixture to one side to absorb the flour and other flavours, and start making the Tzatziki by peeling the cucumber.
Grate the cucumber in to a sieve over a bowl and repeat the process you just did for the courgette.
After 15 minutes pour away the cucumber juice and pop the cucumber in to a bowl, add the yoghurt, coriander, lime juice and a pinch of salt and pepper and give it a good old mix up, pop to one side.
Heat some olive oil in a frying pan (it needs to be very hot!) and take small handfuls of the courgette mixture, squash in to fritter shapes and dust each side with gram flour.
Pop the fritters in to the pan and fry until they are well done, flipping them over when nice and brown.
Move to a plate and serve with the tzatziki.

The Cake and Bake Show, Manchester 2013

2013-04-08T20:06:00.000+01:00

So, this is my 200th blog post! When I started this blog I didn't even consider getting to 100 posts let alone 200, so today I feel proud. I think the best way to celebrate anything is with cake (or at least some kind of food) and luckily I was invited to the Cake and Bake show in Manchester last weekend. I really do have a massive soft spot for cake, so I've been excited about this for a while. I took my fabulous assistant Mike and we enjoyed a day of cake eating, chef watching, gingerbread decorating and a lot of shopping! There was a massive variety of stalls from cake accessories, pies, breads, brownies... really anything you can think of to do with baking!

Giant gingerbread house

There was also loads of stages with various demonstrations going on, so you can literally indulge in all things cake and baking all day long. Mike and I watched Paul A Young (I think he's amazing!) making mayan chocolate cakes and caught a bit of John Whaite talking on the Lakeland stage. Unfortunately Paul Hollywood wasn't doing any demos on the Sunday otherwise I would have been in the front row (what a silver fox).

The Ginger Bakers Stand

The show highlights for me were Paul A Young (obvs), Ginger Bakers Brownies, oh my god were they good, so good Mr Hef only left me a quarter of each!

More Ginger Bakers brownies, they deserve a second picture

The giant gingerbread house and the amazing pop corn from Joe and Seph's, all of the flavours I tried at the show were delicious, but I ended up buying some caramel and peanut butter and caramel and sea salt to take home. If you missed it, good news, the next show is in London in September and you can buy tickets here! If you like cake or baking I seriously recommend going.

Refried Bean and Scrambled Tofu Tostada

2013-04-01T12:09:00.001+01:00

I didn't get the nickname Fatty Heffa for eating small portions of healthy food. No it came from being an actual Fatty Heffa. I used to run a lot, so eating a massive amount of food didn't feel so bad, but one day I stopped running and didn't start again, due to cold weather/being lazy/any other excuse I could think of. 3 weeks ago I started running again which means I can eat massive meals (horary!) and not feel guilty any more. One of my favourite giant meals is the Breakfast Burrito and seeing as I hadn't had one in ages I decided to treat myself. So I went to the shops and brought all the ingredients that I needed, happy and guilt free. When I actually came to make my burrito, disaster struck, I had accidentally brought some kind of child sized tortillas. There was no way all of my fillings would fit in to such a tiny tortilla, so I was left with only one option, tostada. This meant I could pile all of my tasty toppings nice and high on top of a crispy tortilla, if that isn't the breakfast of kings, I don't know what is. I like to make the salsa, guac and refried beans from scratch, but if you're in a hurry store brought is still yummy.

Per serving:

1 small tortilla

1 small can of refried beans/home made refried beans

A splash of olive oil

100g tofu, drained

1 pinch turmeric

1 pinch chili powder

A dash of soy sauce

Raw homemade salsa (store brought is also good)

Raw homemade Guacamole (store brought is also good)

Extra corriander and chopped red chili to stick on top

If you're making your refried beans, salsa and guac from scratch, start by doing that and put them to one side.
Splash a bit of olive oil in a pan and turn it on to a medium heat, crumble the tofu in and add the turmeric, chili powder and soy sauce and stir frequently.
Spray the tortilla with a bit of oil then season with salt and pepper and pop in to a preheated oven for 5 minutes.
Reheat the refried beans in a sauce pan, then take the tortilla out of the oven, pop the beans on top, then the tofu, and the cover it in guacamole and salsa.
Sprinkle some chopped coriander and red chili on top and enjoy!

Birthday Burgers

2013-03-30T18:16:00.000Z

There isn't enough blog posts in the world to fully tell you about how much I love Atomic Burger, (really I'm on my 5th) but I went there last week to celebrate my belated Birthday and ordered this beast. The veggie Frito Bandito. I could describe how freaking amazing it was, but I have definitely already done that. So here's a picture of the beautiful burger instead. Enjoy.

Green Stir Fry With Smoked Tofu

2013-03-24T20:45:00.000Z

As I mentioned in my last post, I got loads of broccoli in my latest veg box and I also got some chinese leaves. The logical decision was to make a stir fry. Especially as Mr Hef had taken me to Waitrose (it's like ingredient kryptonite in there) and I found some fancy smoked tofu, which I thought would go perfectly. I brought some Vietnamese rice noodles with no instructions on for this (luckily the internet helped me with how to cook them), but fresh will also be good (and quicker) and I used the sauce I always make, but you can use any stir fry sauce. So yeah, super easy, probably healthy, green stir fry!

Serves 2.

For the sauce:

2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp orange juice

For the stir fry:

2 bundles/1 pack of rice noodles
Olive oil
1 pack of smoked tofu chopped in to chunks
1 small head of broccoli, chopped in to little florets
1 head of chinese leaves, sliced into ribbons
1 clove of garlic, minced
A handful of edamame beans

Start by soaking the rice noodles in a bowl of warm water for half an hour (if using dried) and make up the sauce by mixing the sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and orange juice together in a small bowl.
Once the noodles are all soaked, pop your tofu in to an oiled pan (I like to use a griddle) and fry gently, turning it over when needed.
While the tofu's frying away, pour a little oil in to a wok/pan and stir fry the broccoli for around 3 minutes.
Add the chinese leaves and garlic and stir fry for a further few minutes, then drain the noodles and add them to the pan along with the edamame beans and stir fry for 2 more minutes.
Transfer the stir fry to a bowl and top it with the tofu, then pour your sauce all over and chow down!

Broccoli and Cashew Soup

2013-03-20T20:56:00.000Z

I've just started getting a fruit and veg box from Abel and Cole and it is probably the most exciting thing ever. I love vegetables and I love getting post, so getting vegetables delivered to my door is amazing. I've been wanting to sign up for ages, but just couldn't commit, then we got an offer through work and I thought why not! I really enjoy getting a variety of different veg as it's making me cook a lot of different meals. This week I got loads of Broccoli in my box so I decided to make some soup. When I think of Broccoli soup, I immediately think of stilton, but I tried to make Broccoli and stilton soup once upon a time and it was horrendous, it put me off of stilton for about a year. So I decided to go for a vegan option instead, adding the cashews makes it cheesy and creamy as well as a bit more substantial so it makes a great light lunch that will keep you going until the end of the day (I struggle with this, I get extremely hungry by home time and it makes me really angry, ask Mr Hef).

Serves 2:

100g raw cashew nuts
1 large head of broccoli, chopped in to florets
A little olive oil
1 small onion chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
Salt and pepper
500ml vegetable stock (I liked to use the water from the steamer pan, it's all green and lovely from the broccoli)

Start by soaking your cashews in water for at least an hour.
Pop the broccoli in to a steamer and steam for around 20-30 minutes or until nice and tender.
When the broccoli is nearing tenderness, cook the onion in a little oil until translucent, then add the garlic a cook for a further few minutes.
Add the broccoli to the pan with the onion and garlic and cook for a few more minutes.
Drain the cashews and pop them in a blender with 100ml of the vegetable stock and blend until smooth.
Add the broccoli, onion and garlic to the blender with the rest of the stock and give it a good old blitz.
Pour it back in to the pan, heat up, serve up (with some lemon if you want) and enjoy!

Vegan Toad in the Hole

2013-02-14T09:49:00.000Z

I've wanted to make vegan toad in the hole for ages, but I only really make toad in the hole if Mr Hef is coming round for tea. He's on holiday this week, so I thought why not, I'll cook a gigantic meal all for myself. I've made vegan yorkshires before using this recipe (I used this one because I'm afraid of egg replacers and other such things), so I just adapted it to what I had in my house and added veggie sausages. It couldn't be simpler and it actually came out better than some of the disastrous non-vegan ones I've made (I once made one which was just like a giant cake with sausages inside). Served with creamy mash and peas, this is the best vegan comfort meal I have ever discovered!

Serves 4

8 vegan sausages (I used these ones, just prepare according to the instructions)
A large glug of olive oil
225g plain flour
2 tsp gram flour
1 pint of almond milk
A large pinch of salt

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees, prepare your baking pan (large enough to fit 8 sausages in!) by pouring enough olive oil to cover the bottom in, then pop it in to the oven for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, place your sausages in the pan and cook them in the oil for 10 minutes.
Make the batter by sifting together the salt, plain flour and gram flour, then slowly whisk the almond milk in until you have a nice runny mixture with loads of bubbles (I like to use and electric whisk).
Remove your pan from the oven, and pour half of your mixture in to the pan, pop back in to the oven for 10 minutes, then pour the other half over the top. Pop back in to the oven for 40-50 minutes, or until it's looking brown and crispy.
Serve up with some yummy mash and veg and enjoy!

Hummus, Avocado, Grilled Tomatoes and Pesto on Toast

2013-02-10T16:38:00.003Z

I love breakfast, especially on days like today where my main concerns are what I'm going to eat and how long I can stay in bed watching TV before I start to feel guilty. Well I decided I wanted avocados on toast and that I could fit in a whole season of The Undateables before it was time to get out of bed and join society. I decided to add hummus, grilled tomatoes and pesto to my toast because I've had something similar in a restaurant before and it was quite simply amazing. I made my own pesto for this because the only one I can find that is vegetarian is super expensive and I'd rather have it without cheese, but store brought would also be yummy.

Serves one: (Mr Hef is on holiday, I'm eating all aloooone)

For the pesto:

3 tbsp chopped cashew nuts
3 handfuls of basil
Lots of olive oil
Salt and Pepper

For the toast:

2 slices of your favourite bread (I chose some kind of spelt, rye hybrid, the fancy name attracted me)
A handful of cherry tomatoes
Some more olive oil
Salt and pepper
half a tub of hummus
1 avocado, peeled and sliced

Start by making the pesto, if you have a mini chopper/food processor then chuck it all in there and whizz away, adding olive oil little by little until it has a nice runny consistency. If you broke yours like me or don't have one, crush the nuts in a pestle and mortar, then chop the basil finely and bash it all together with the pestle. Slowly add the olive oil until it has a nice runny consistency then top off with a bit of salt and pepper and pop it to one side.
Slice your tomatoes in half, then place them sliced side up on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, then cover them with a little salt and pepper.
Place your slices of bread on the same tray, then pop it under the grill on a low heat until the bread is toasted.
Flip the bread over and toast until brown, then transfer it to a plate. Pop the tomatoes back under the grill and whack it up to full heat to give them a good old sizzle while you construct the toast.
Spread as much hummus as you like over the top of your toast, then top with the sliced avocado.
Remove the tomatoes from the grill and place them on top of the avocado.
Dollop some of your pesto on, get back in to bed, put the telly on and enjoy!

Chocolate and Marshmallow Whoopie Pies

2013-02-04T13:28:00.000Z

I've been with Mr Hef for nearly 7 years now, which means we've had quite a few Valentines days together. I'm pretty sure he's had something homemade every year, because lets face it, buying Valentines gifts is hard. Last year it was brownies, the year before I made him a 3 course meal, the year before that I think I made him a really terrible handmade card. He's not here this year, so I'm pretty much off scott free, but I decided to do some pre Valentines baking, just 'cause. If you're looking for something that is simple to make, looks cute and doesn't cost a lot of money, these are perfect! I always think homemade gifts make the best gifts. I used a stencil and a piping bag to make the heart shapes, you can download the stencil I used here and place it under baking paper to pipe over.

Makes around 12:

90g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
150g plain white flour
25g cocoa powder
A large pinch of baking powder
A large pinch of baking soda
A pinch of salt
1 small egg
100 ml buttermilk

Marshmallow butter cream:

75g softened butter
150g icing sugar
Half a tub of marshmallow fluff
A few drops of Milk to loosen

Start by heating up the oven to 180 degrees and prepare your baking trays by either printing lots of stencils and placing them under baking paper on a baking tray. Or trace the hearts on to the paper with a pencil, flip it over and place on a baking tray.
Pop the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat it together with an electric mixture until its nice and fluffy.
Beat in the egg until it's nice and smooth, then add the buttermilk and keep mixing.
Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt gradually and mix well until it's all combined.
Spoon the mixture in to a piping bag, then pipe heart shapes, using your stencil on to the baking paper (you need 24 hearts all together)
Pop them in to the oven for 8-9 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack while you make the marshmallow frosting.
To make the frosting, cream the butter and icing sugar together until thick and creamy, add a little milk if you think it needs loosening, then add the Marshmallow fluff and mix up well.
Once the cookies are cool pipe the marshmallow mixture on to one side then squish another cookie on top.
Whoopie pie done! Enjoy or put in to a fancy box and present to your lover.

I won!

2013-01-25T10:48:00.002Z

Woohoo! I won the Ben and Jerry's #captureeuphoria competition, which means you guys get the chance to win a prize too! I have a years supply (24 x Vouchers) of Ben and Jerry's and a huge photography set, including a photography book and two sets of film to give away. To enter just comment on this post, then send an e-mail to Heather@hefskitchen.com letting me know you have (so that I can contact you if you win!). The competition will end at 12pm on 1st February 2013 and then I'll use one of those fancy Internet random number generators to pick a winner. Good luck!

P.s I'll announce the winner on the Hef's Kitchen Facebook page, so keep your eyes peeled!
P.p.s Only one entry per person.

#captureeuphoria Day 7

2013-01-20T12:10:00.002Z

I've loved taking part in the Ben and Jerry's #captureeuphoria competition, even if I don't win a huge photography set, including a photography book and two sets of film, (if I do you get the chance to win one too!) It's been lovely thinking about what makes me happy every day. The last picture I'm going to post is more of a euphoric memory. It's so cold at the moment, I think everyone in the UK is probably wishing for the summer, myself included. So today's picture is from one of my favourite moments from last summer, when Vegan Emma and I were staying at the Creepy Death Cabin. We were on our daily stick foraging mission and exploring the forest when it only seemed right to get a little bit naked and run around. My whole time there was pretty euphoric, but this image sums it up. Remember you can still get involved too by checking out Ben and Jerry's Instagram website or Facebook.

#captureeuphoria Day 6

2013-01-19T12:32:00.000Z

Today's #captureeuphoria post, for the Ben and Jerry's Instagram competition is about my job, because I'm one of those lucky people who wakes up every morning and wants to go to work (apart from on days off, when I don't ever want to wake up). I work in a Lush shop and it really is the best job ever, I love the girls I work with, I love the company and I love the products. So I'm sharing my favourite bath ballistic/bubble bar cocktail, perfectly named the Mermaids bath. It consists of a big blue bath ballistic (lemon, sea salt and lavender loveliness) and a sunny side bubble bar (citrusy, shimmery and uplifting). Together they create the most beautiful turquoise, shimmering bath with a wonderful uplifting sent. I could lay there for hours pretending to be a mermaid (especially as I have't had my hair cut in so long, I can make a mermaid like hair bra). If you want to post your euphoric pictures as well check out Ben and Jerry's Instagram website and Facebook.

#captureeuphoria Day 5

2013-01-18T12:26:00.000Z

You may have thought that after our giant afternoon tea, Mike and I would have had our fill of cakes for the week. Well after a whole week of thinking about Ben and Jerry's we we're quite sure we could fit a little bit more in. So today we made brownies. We took them straight from the oven, topped then with Ben and Jerry's Vermonster ice cream and covered the whole thing in home made caramel. Just look at that picture, if that isn't capturing euphoria, I don't know what is! Get involved in the #captureeuphoria fun by checking out Ben and Jerry's Instagram website or Facebook.

#captureeuphoria Day 4

2013-01-17T12:01:00.000Z

Ruby and I didn't get off on the right foot, mainly because I was still in mourning over my lovely springer spaniel Tess when my mum wanted to get her. I didn't like her from the first moment I saw her, I thought she looked like an ugly version of a guinea pig, but when my mum brought this fluffy little bundle of love home (she'd grown from an ugly guinea pig, to ridiculously cute fluffy puppy who could fit in my hand) I fell in love. I absolutely love dogs and Ruby is a wonderful example of how brilliant they can be, even if she totally rules my house, snores, bites me when my mum isn't looking (then pretends she was licking me) and snots on my face. She's given me so much joy over the past 7 years and a lot of euphoric moments, so I had to include her in the competition. I took a majestic picture with my fancy camera of Ruby running through the snow (you can check it out on my Instagram feed @heflar), but it's just not as good as this one of her reading a book, it made me laugh for about 10 minutes straight (She's reading my favourite book, Oryx and Crake, if you were wondering). If you fancy getting involved in the #captureeuphoria fun check out Ben and Jerry's Instagram website and Facebook.

#captureeuphoria Day 3

2013-01-16T17:15:00.001Z

Today's #captureeuphoria picture contains cake, because cake is amazing. The story behind today goes like this... I took my mum to a tea room for her Birthday and saw that they did vintage tea parties. Of course I wanted one straight away, but most of my friends are male and I can't quite imagine them sitting around a cute little table eating tiny sandwiches and cakes. I shared my dismay with my mum, who said Mike would want to come (Mike who lets me boss him around in the kitchen, wears an apron and proof reads these posts). I was like don't be so silly, Mike does like to bake, but he's not that girly. Well, I was wrong, because as soon as he saw my post about Teapots, he was like 'when can we go for afternoon tea, I really want one of those tower things with cakes on'. So today Mikes tower of cakes dream came true and I was more than happy to indulge in tiny sandwiches, cake and tea. Don't forget to check out Ben and Jerry's website and Facebook page to join in.

#captureeuphoria Day 2

2013-01-15T13:09:00.000Z

SNOW! Yes, snow the most exciting hazardous weather condition ever! I love snow for around half an hour every year, before it ruins my ability to drive (I had a tiny accident involving my new car and the curb this morning), makes me really cold and stops everything in the UK working. Regardless, that first half an hour is like pure white magic falling from the sky. There was only a small spattering (is that a real word?) this morning, but just enough for me to run outside in my onesie to make a snow angel, while my less than impressed younger brother took pictures from the window. So this is today's #captureeuphoria post, playing in the snow is pretty much as euphoric as you get. Remember you can get involved as well by checking out Ben and Jerry's Capture Euphoria website or their Facebook.

#captureeuphoria Day 1

2013-01-14T12:47:00.000Z

Last week Ben and Jerry's asked me if I wanted to get involved in their #captureeuphoria Instagram competition. Am I going to say no to anything involving Ben and Jerry's? Hell no! So for the next week I'll be posting a picture each day which shows my euphoria for the day. Most of my life and euphoric moments involve food, but I'm looking forward to posting a bit more about other things in my life as well. The best part is you can get involved too, check out the website http://captureeuphoria.benjerry.com/ or the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/benjerryuk for more information.

To start this off, I had to go for something good. So what better than my favourite burger restaurant, Atomic Burger! I ask Mr Hef if we can do a lot of things, mainly things I know he will say no to, such as 'Can we go all the way to Brighton to go to a restaurant? Can we go to London to see the dinosaurs? (he actually said yes to that in the end) Can we go and stay in a tree house?' (I really want to stay in a treehouse). I must ask to go to Atomic Burger on a regular basis now, because it's been nearly a year since our last visit, but this time when I asked he said yes! I've been excited ever since. So this is my first #captureeuphoria moment, because there really is nothing quite as euphoric as that first bite of an Atomic Burger. I had a veggie Big Kahuna, which had swiss cheese, pineapple and teriyaki sauce on top, with a side of sci fries (triple fried, chili and garlic coated fries, mmmmmm). All washed down with a sugar puffs milkshake (which was topped with fizz whizz, of course).

Ramen

2013-01-13T22:39:00.000Z

Do you ever get to that point in the week after Christmas where you couldn't possibly stomach any more Christmas food? No, me either which is why I chased this dish with a slice of Christmas cake, but I did fancy making something different. After having Ramen with my brother a couple of weeks ago I wanted to try and re-create it at home. It's a really simple recipe, the only hard part is trying to get hold of some of the ingredients, luckily I still had some miso paste and wakame in my cupboard from when I made miso soup. So all I needed was tofu, sweet corn and some spring onions. It would be good with shitake mushrooms and topped with a hard boiled egg, but I am afraid of eating both of these things.

Serves 2

100g tofu, drained and pressed
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp sweet chili sauce
1 pack of Clear Spring Miso Bouillon Paste
500 ml boiling water
A handful of wakame seaweed
100g ramen noodles
2 spring onions, chopped
50g sweetcorn
1 tsp sesame seeds

Start by chopping your tofu in to small triangles, then mixing the hoisin and sweet chili sauces together. Then pop the tofu in to the sauces and leave to marinate for around 2 hours.
Once the tofu has absorbed all of the flavours, dry fry it (no oil) on a medium heat in a non stick pan until its nice and crispy on the outside, then pop to one side.
Pop your wakame in to a bowl of luke warm water to soak and pop it to one side.
Add the boiling water to a sauce pan, then stir the miso paste in, add the ramen noodles and cook for 3 minutes, then drain the wakame and add it to the miso broth.
Cook for a further minute then transfer it to a bowl, top with your tofu, sweet corn, spring onion (and whatever else you want to add) and enjoy!

Nelson Street Restaurant, Buckingham

2013-01-06T17:50:00.000Z

Have I ever mentioned that I have 2 brothers? Well I do, an older one and a younger one, if you don't already feel sorry for me then you should. I went through years of double brother bullying, but we're all grown up now and are pretty much the Brady bunch (probably a lie). Weirdly we all like to cook, my little brothers (lets call him bearded Hef) specialties are very non vegetarian pulled pork and mega sandwiches (think man vs food) and my older brother (lets call him moustached Hef) has worked in restaurants since he was about 16. This year he started working in Nelson Street restaurant and I've had the privilege of eating there twice. I'm not going to do a proper review because it may be slightly biased, but the food really is spectacular as is the decor, the service and the atmosphere of the restaurant. So I'll leave you with some pictures of what I've eaten there, which I'm sure will be enough to make you want to go!

Blue cheese, walnut and poached pear salad

Glamorgan sausages, creamed spinach and beetroot.

Nut roast with dauphinoise potatoes and red cabbage.

Salt and caramel chocolate tart.

White chocolate fudge, salted caramels and chocolate truffles.