Home by Marilynne Robinson

Quiet. Subtle. Sad (but not manipulative). Plain, lovable characters. Such fine writing. So good.

Raisin muffins

This is loosely based on a Maida Heatter recipe but adapted for what I had in the kitchen.

Result: Fairly dense but flavourful and moist. Fresh out of the oven they were sooo yummy - crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Next day they liked being grilled with butter. I would use fewer raisins next time but otherwise utterly repeatable.

2 1/4 c flour (1 1/4 whole wheat; 1 white)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp ground seeds (flax/sunflower/pumpkin)
1 Tbsp whole oats
1 1/2 c sour milk
5/8 c brown sugar
6 oz/1 1/4 cup raisins

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix milk and sugar in a small bowl. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients - don't overmix. Add raisins. Put in greased muffin tins (filled 10 of mine). Bake at 160C fan (180C/350F oven) for about 35 mins, turning pan front to back halfway through.

Your One-Year-Old by Ames, Ilg and Haber

As parenting books go, this was a good one. I liked that it wasn't a 'how to' book but more observational.

I particularly liked the first chapter, which summarises how many children behave at this age (based on research by qualified individuals). This is good when you've never had kids before, nor been around kids of this age very much (or recently). It answers all those, "Is this normal for this age? Should I be expecting something different?" questions which are often instigated by shouting/throwing food/kicking etc.

It talked some about developmental milestones and 'techniques' which tend to work best at this age but none of it was too preachy and instead focussed on getting through the difficult stuff with minimal damage to all.

I love the Q&As at the end which had to do with sleep - an issue which tormented me for the first year or so of my dear daughter's life (now I see how unnecessary this was, the torment anyway) - which basically said, "Sorry your kid's not sleeping! If you're not getting enough sleep, get some help for yourself."

I have already bought "Your Two-Year-Old" - it's sitting on the bookshelf, waiting.

Pan-fried sardines

I got some sardines at the farmer's market because they were cheap and looked nice and fresh. SWC said he'd never had sardines he liked so I took it as a challenge to make these really tasty.

Result: I thought they were amazing: moist, flavourful and crispy. SWC agreed on the taste but had a hard time with the bones, which I barely noticed.

The original recipe called for cumin in the flour but I was hoping the toddler might eat these too so I left that out. She didn't go for them in the end - might try spicing up the flour next time.

Handful of fresh parsley, chopped fine
4-6 garlic cloves, chopped fine
6 sardines, prepared
Half a lemon
About 1/2 cup plain flour
Vegetable oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Chop the parsley and garlic and mix together in a bowl. Then spread the mixture all over the sardines - inside and out. Lay the fish out on a plate, squeeze some lemon juice over them, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about two hours.

Place the flour, salt and pepper on a large plate. Mix. Roll the sardines in the flour, taking care to coat each fish thoroughly.

Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan until very hot. Fry the fish for a few minutes on each side, until brown and crispy. Place on paper towels to drain any grease (there shouldn't be much if your oil's hot enough) and serve warm.

Zucchini muffins

It's called courgette in the UK but when making muffins - such an American item - I call it zucchini.

These were delicious - moist and fluffy inside, with crunchy tops. AND they used up both zucchini (cheap at the farmer's market these days) AND sour milk.

I grated the zucchini in the food processor and it took about two seconds. I could have spiced them up more with some nutmeg or ginger (not that they needed it) - might try that next time if I'm in the mood for something spicier.

3 cups flour (one whole wheat, two white)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 pound zucchini, grated fine
2 eggs
1.5 cups white sugar
4 Tbsp oil
1 cup sour milk/buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients: eggs, oil, milk, sugar and vanilla. Combone wet and dry ingredients. Stir in courgette. Pour batter into oiled muffin tins (makes 12, if you fill them up to the top). Bake at 160C fan (350F/180C) about 35 mins, turning the pan front to back halfway through.

Vanilla pudding II

Here's another vanilla pudding recipe I tried, as part of my ongoing effort to use up milk. It had more steps than 'vanilla pudding I' and the texture wasn't as good: it was a lot runnier, it was only slightly thicker than milk. I think I didn't cook it long enough at the end - with pudding I, cooking an extra five minutes is what thickened it up. I may try this again, and cook it longer, and see how it turns out.

3 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

In a large stainless steel (or heatproof) bowl whisk together 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch, salt, eggs, and egg yolk. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the milk. Set aside while you heat the rest of the milk and sugar. Have ready a fine medium-sized strainer and bowl as you will need to strain the pudding after it is cooked.

First, rinse a medium-sized heavy saucepan with cold water and then shake out the excess water. Then pour the remaining 3 cups of milk, along with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, into the saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and gradually pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth.

Transfer the pudding mixture to a clean, large heavy bottomed saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise (about 6 minutes). Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract. If necessary, pour through the strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed during cooking.

Pour the pudding into six or eight serving dishes, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well chilled, about two hours.

Serve cold or at room temperature.

Vanilla pudding I

In an effort to use up milk, I began searching for a good vanilla pudding recipe (in the American sense of that word). This one was nice, if a little sweet. And it was pretty runny - nice served over fruit or with cake but not gelatinous enough to be served on its own.

3 cups milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Scald 2 2/3 cups of the milk. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch, sugar and salt; stir in remaining 1/3 cup milk. Add the milk/cornstarch mixture to scalded milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Continue cooking vanilla pudding for about 5 minutes to thoroughly cook cornstarch. Serve warm or cool. It will thicken more as it cools.

Corn muffins

We got behind on drinking our delivered milk, so I had to come up with some recipes to use the sour milk. These were super easy and pretty good - great texture, could have been either sweeter or saltier. As they were, best served as side dish or with butter and jam or honey.

1 cup corn-meal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, well beaten
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup thick sour milk
1 tablespoon melted butter or vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients: corn meal, flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat egg then add sugar, melted butter or oil and milk. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Bake in greased muffin tins for about 25 mins at 160C fan (350F/180C).

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Finished! (more later)

Leftovers carbonara

We often make Marcella Hazen's carbonara recipe, but tonight we had an odd collection of leftovers. Nevertheless, a carbonara-esque meal materialised, and it was delicious.

500 g linguine (normally spaghetti, but we had none)
1 courgette
2 sausages (grilled yesterday)
1 head of fresh garlic
A little sun-dried tomato
1 egg
Parmesan
Olive oil
1 tbsp sherry (or dry white wine)

Chop up the entire head of fresh garlic. Fresh garlic is milder and sweeter than the regular stuff. Saute it in the olive oil for a minute, then add thin sliced courgette, sausage and sun-dried tomato. We use a mandolin to get 0.5 mm thick courgette slices. Saute until the courgette is slightly browned, then add the sherry and deglaze.

Mix the egg (raw) with enough grated parmesan cheese to make a thick paste. Grate black pepper into the paste. Add the cooked pasta and toss until it's evenly coated. Add the sauce and toss again.