What I love about blogging and chatting to fellow foodies is that it gets me started in all sorts of hair brained creative ideas. I found this wonderful blog post: Food Endeavours of the Blue Apocalypse: Chocolate and cardamom soft centred pudding and I thought hmmm, chocolate….and cardomom. I also had a chat with Mike of Indie Ices at the Leeds Loves Food festival a few weeks back and that gave me a few ideas too! I tried his mango kulfis at one of the TestSpace events last year and since I found out he makes pistachio kulfi AND it’s won prizes at The Great Taste Awards, I’d been dying to try even just a spoonful of this magic frozen treat. I wasn’t wrong about how delish it was, and guess what? It had cardomom in!

Last weekend it was Mr Laythetable’s friend’s birthday. I was set the task of “make him a cake, the more chocolatey the better – something I won’t like” (because Mr Laythetable likes chocolate, and cake, but not chocolate IN cake!) and I knew just the recipe! How many recipe books are sitting on your shelf gathering dust? Quite a few in my house, but they’re taking up real estate on my book shelf, so damn it I’m gooing to use them! I made the Brooklyn Blackout Cake from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook and happened to have some of the eggless custard left over – I’m in denial that this was a deliberate move. I totally didn’t lick any off the spoon either, you didn’t see me do it so you can’t prove anything.

So what else do you do when you’re left with a surplus amount of eggless chocolate custard and a need to bake something tasty? When in Rome, or, when in the kitchen, bake muffins. Spoon a bit of the custard inside, slap a bit on top and don’t get fussy about the way you put it on, they’re not meant to be the prettiest things in world! A bit of a sprinkle of pistachio and you’re done…enjoy

{Makes 15 muffins}

Ingredients

For the eggless chocolate custard

Adapted from Hummingbird Bakery book

• 125g caster sugar
• ¼tbsp golden syrup
• 35g cocoa powder
• 50g cornflour
• 25g unsalted butter
• 3 cardamom pods

For the muffins

• 310g plain flour
• 250ml full fat milk
• 130g granulated sugar
• 110g unsalted butter
• 1tbsp baking powder
• 4tbsp honey
• 2 eggs
• 40g shelled pistachios

Instructions

1. Soak the cardamom pods in boiling water for about 5 minutes until the pods soften, then pop open and remove the seeds. Dry on a kitchen towel then crush with a pestle and mortar.
2. Put the sugar, golden syrup, coca powder and cardamom seeds in a large saucepan with 150ml water and bring to the boil. Mix cornflour with 50ml water in a bowl then stir into saucepan, whisking vigourously. It should thicken fairly instantly. Bring back to the boil then leave for a minute or so to cook. Turn off the heat and stir in the butter.
3. Take a baking tray and line with foil, then spread out the custard. Leave to cool.
4. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and line muffin tray with muffin cases.
5. Melt the butter in the microwave then leave to cool but not solidify. Place the pistachios in a blender and pulse until nearly smooth but not quite. Remove two tablespoons of the finest bits in a separate dish for garnishing the muffins.
6. Mix the flour, ground pistachio, salt and baking powder together and in a separate bowl mix the eggs, milk, honey and sugar. Bit by bit, add the butter to the flour mixture, then add the eggy milk mixture until it has just mixed – it will be quite a lumpy mix but that’s exactly how we want it to be!
7. Spoon 1 tablespoon of mixture into cases, then take a teaspoon of the chocolate custard and spoon into the centre of the muffin. Then add another tablespoon of mixture over the top. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
8. Once cool, load the spatula end with the custard then slap down on the middle of the muffin and pull spatula backwards, giving it that “wiped on” look. Top with a sprinkle of the reserved pistachio to finish.

So nice I had to name them twice. (Sorry Levi Roots!) These have long been a BBQ staple in my house. I remember the long lazy weekends after I graduated, sitting on Southsea Common with my friends eating these. They’re so easy to make, but they key to the flavour is the overnight marination.

This recipe calls for overnight marination, to maximise the flavours absorbed by the chicken. If you only do it for an hour or so the taste tends to get overpowered by the flavours of the BBQ.

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 clove garlic
• 1tbsp english mustard
• 4tbsp dark soy sauce
• 3tbsp honey
• 1tbsp oil
• Small handful fresh coriander
• Kebabs skewers

Instructions

1. Slice the chicken into strips in the direction of the grain.
2. Crush the garlic clove and chop the coriander finely.
3. Combine all the marination ingredients into a large bowl and mix well, then add the chicken. Leave to marinate at least overnight, I try to make it 24 hours.
4. If using wooden kebab skewers, soak them in water before use to prevent them burning on the BBQ.
5. Carefully thread the chicken onto the skewers. I spread out the meat so that it cooks quite quickly and ensures even cooking.
6. Depending on how hot your BBQ is and how much meat is on each st, the chicken should take 5-10 minutes to cook. Always check they are cooked through before serving!

Served warm and sticky, these make a delicious Bonfire Night treat, or winter snack. The addition of ketchup gives the honey mustard glaze a little oomph.

15mins – Prep time: 5mins – Cooking time: 10mins

Ingredients

• 2tbsp runny honey
• 1tbsp tomato ketchup
• 2tsp English mustard
• 1tsp wasabi
• A couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 4tbsp sesame seeds
• 1tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. Mix ketchup, wasabi and mustard together in a small bowl.
2. Warm the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat.
3. Put the sausages in the pan and fry until gently browned, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Spoon the ketchup/wasabi/mustard mix over the sausages and stir to mix it in. Add the Worcestershire sauce.
5. Allow to cook for 1 more minute, then spoon over the honey mixture. Let the mixture bubble and reduce, so that it goes nice and sticky.
6. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little before sprinkling the sesame seeds over.
7. Serve warm or allow to cool and store them in the fridge.