Courgette, Basil, Polenta and Cheese Wedges

This is a great recipe for a simple weeknight meal. It does take a little bit of prep time but it's well worth it.  It's also vegetarian if you are looking to eat less meat of if you are a vegetarian. The recipe is quite versatile and you can add in a few extra ingredients if you wish. It's great for lunchboxes the next day and will also be good for picnics in the summer. I've made this a few times at home each time with a slight variation so I thought I'd share it with you. Mine turned out a little soft but it tasted delicious warm with the tomato sauce. You can really taste the polenta and the chili and tomatoes added an extra kick and bite to it. I loved the basil as well and used a lot of it in my recipe. I think it's going on the menu plan again this week! 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month. 

Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is fruit and veg. There's courgette and tomatoes in this recipe and as it's served in wedges I hope it qualifies for the challenge!

Cooking with Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. This recipe uses a lot of fresh basil. 

Extra Veg hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle from Utterly Scrummy. 

Tea Time Treats hosted by Janie from The Hedgecombers and Karen from Lavender and Lovage. There's no theme this month and these would make for a great tea time treat! 

Meat Free Mondays hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes.

 courgette and cheese mixture

 polenta 

 ready to go in the oven

 making the tomato sauce

Recipe adapted slightly from The Veg Space

For the wedges
1 courgette, coarsely grated
50g cheddar cheese, grated
1 red chilli, finely chopped

2 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped (also works well with sundried tomatoes)
20g butter, cut into small cubes
large handful fresh basil, roughly chopped
120g instant polenta
450ml vegetable stock

For the tomato sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, finely chopped
6 pitted black olives, finely chopped
250g passata
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp caster sugar

• In a large bowl, mix the grated courgette, cheese, chili, fresh tomatoes, butter and basil leaves. 
• Place the polenta in a medium sized pan.
• Add in the hot vegetable stock, stirring constantly.
• Cook the polenta and stock over a low heat whilst stirring continuously. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the courgette and cheese mixture. 
• Pour the batter into a springform tin lined with greaseproof paper. 
• Allow to cool and then place in the fridge for about half an hour (I skipped this step once and it still turned out ok).
• Make the tomato sauce by heating the olive oil in a small saucepan. Add in the garlic and chili and cook over a low heat for a few minutes. 
• Add the passata, balsamic vinegar, sugar and olives and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes. 
• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Bake the polenta for 45-40 minutes or until golden brown on top. 
• Slice into wedges and serve with the tomato sauce. 

Raspberry and Basil financiers

Recently I was invited to a French Glace Cherries Masterclass in London where Cindy from Food For Thoughts showed us how to make French glacé cherries Jelly Cakes and French glace cherry and pistachio financiers. We also got to sample some lovely treats made with glacé cherries which Cindy prepared for us to sample throughout the afternoon. 

The inspiration for this recipe came from the financiers we made. I had a lot of leftover egg whites after making custard for my custard crumble cake so I decided to make financiers. As it's nearing Valentine's, I chose to make raspberry and basil financiers after seeing it on BBC Good Food.  

This is a slightly unusual combination of flavours but I thought it worked really well. It was definitely not to everyone's taste though particularly the basil. The cake itself is light and nutty and the tart raspberries paired well with the basil. The heart shapes look cute and are perfect for a delicious Valentine treat. 

I'm sending this to a few challenges this month. 

Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea is to make everything from scratch.

Cooking with Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is Chinese and Romantic Inspired Recipes with Herbs. 

Treat Petite hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi and Kat from the Baking Explorer. The theme this month is Loved Ones. 

Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes and Laura from Laura Loves Cakes. The theme this month is Oh L'Amour!

Four Seasons Food hosted by Anneli from Delicieux and Louisa from Eat Your Veg. The theme this month is 'Food from the Heart' 

A new challenge called Love Cake hosted by Jibber Jabber UK. The theme this month is Baking with Passion. 

Let's Cook Sweet Treats for Valentine hosted by Nayna from Simply Food. 

 cooking browned butter

 adding basil

 add raspberries before baking

Recipe is from BBC Good Food

Roasted Tomato, Basil and Gruyere Quiche

I have a savoury recipe to share for a change. My work had a Xmas buffet lunch where everyone brings something so of course I offered to make cake. One of my colleagues prefers savoury food and has been asking for another quiche as she really enjoyed the one I made previously so I dutifully obliged and found this recipe on BBC Good Food. I did also make a cake but I'll save that for another day.

This is a really simple recipe with only 3 key ingredients - tomato, basil and cheese. It was really tasty and would be perfect for the festive season as the colours are very festive.

As usual, I'm entering this to several challenges this month

Cooking with herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.

Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior.

Four Seasons Food hosted by Anneli from Delicieux and Louisa from Eat your Veg. The theme this month is Party Food.

Let's Cook Christmas Party Food hosted by Nayna from Simply Food.

Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes and co-hosted by Laura from Laura loves Cakes. The theme this month is Jingle Bell Rock.

 flour, basil, olive oil, butter, tomatoes, cream, eggs, cheese 

 drizzle olive oil on tomatoes, season and roast in the oven 

 adding chopped basil 

 my tart shell after blind baking 

 sprinkle grated cheese 

 add roasted tomatoes 

 pour in the egg/cream mixture 

 sprinkle more grated cheese on top 

 

Recipe adapted slightly from BBC Good Food

For the pastry
280g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
140g cold butter, cut into pieces

8 tablespoons cold water 

For the filling

300g cherry tomatoes
drizzle olive oil
100g Gruyere cheese, grated
2 eggs
300ml double cream
Approximately 15-20 basil leaves, shredded, plus a few small ones left whole for scattering

• Rub the butter and flour together until it resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly add water one tablespoon at a time until a dough forms. 
• Roll into a ball, wrap with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking. 
• Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and line your tart tin. 
• Use a small ball of pastry scrap to press the pastry into the corners of the tin. 
• Chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• Place the tomatoes in a baking tray/roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for at least 30 minutes or the tomatoes are well roasted with slightly charred skin. 
• Prick the base of the tart with a fork.
• Line the tart case with kitchen foil or baking paper and fill with baking bean. Blind bake for 20 minutes, then remove the beans and foil/paper and continue baking for 5 - 10 minutes until the pastry is light brown. 
• Remove the tomatoes and pastry from the oven. 
• Whilst the tart and tomatoes are in the oven, make the filling by beating the eggs in a large bowl.
• Gradually add the cream followed by the chopped basil. 
• Season with salt and pepper. 
• When the tart case is ready,sprinkle half the cheese over the base, scatter over the tomatoes, then pour over the cream mix. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
• Bake for 20 -25 minutes or until the filling is set and the pastry is golden brown.
• Allow to cool completely before trimming the edges of the pastry and serving 
• Scatter over small whole basil leaves before serving 

Strawberry Basil Cake

I had some leftover strawberry puree from making my neapolitan cake and initially decided to make a strawberry cake as it was my favourite layer of the cake. I then got to thinking about what would pair well with strawberries and thought of my favourite herb basil. It's basically a sponge cake with pureed strawberry and basil mixed in. It was really aromatic and tasted amazing. It has a banana bread like texture and you can definitely taste the basil. Not too exciting to look at but absolutely delicious! I imagine it would be great served warm with a strawberry puree! 

I'm entering this to Javelin Warrior's Made with love Mondays where the idea is to make something from scratch. This is about as fresh as you can get. No artificial flavours or colours!

I'm also entering it to Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. Basil is my favourite herb and I've baked with it a few times now.

 blend fresh strawberries and basil leaves... 

... into a puree 

 bundt cakes always look good :) 

 You can just about see the flecks of strawberry and basil in the cake

An original recipe by bakingaddict

250g butter

270g sugar (I added a little bit more as strawberries are out of season and are slightly sour)

400g self raising flour

225g fresh strawberries

large handful of basil leaves

2 eggs

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Wash, hull and dry the strawberries.
• Blitz the strawberries with the fresh basil leaves into a puree. 
• Cream the butter and sugar.
• Add the eggs one at a time.
• Mix in the flour.
• Add the strawberry basil puree and mix until well incorporated.
• Pour into a bundt tin ( or any cake tin) and bake for approximately 40-45 minutes or until well risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Lemon, Lime and Basil Cookies

Time for something different from all the fancy cupcakes and Jubilee baking. Back to basics with fresh, simple ingredients. I saw these on Chasing Delicious and bookmarked them immediately. You have to click through to see the awesome pictures and read the beautiful post. I'm so pleased I finally got round to making these as they are delicious!! I love citrus and the addition of basil is inspired. You can really taste the freshness of the citrus and the smell and taste of the basil is lovely. Everyone really enjoyed this at work and I had a few requests for the recipe. 

I made very minor modifications to the recipe as it's such a good one. I decided to add in some lemon and lime juice for extra citrus zing! The batter was not too liquid but required a few extra minutes of cooking time. I also used plain flour as I didn't have bread flour as specified in the original recipe and it worked fine. 

I'm entering this to multiple challenges as I am a bakingaddict and a challenge-addict. Plus I love killing many birds with one stone (no animals were harmed in the making of these!)

First up I am going to enter this to Simple and in Season as basil is currently in season as are lemons. Simple and in Season is run by Ren from Fabulicious Food and hosted this month by Urvashi from The Botanical Baker. 

Next I am entering this to Herbs on a Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.

As this recipe uses fresh ingredients I'm also entering it to Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior's Cookin' w/ Luv where the idea is to make foods from scratch. 

I am also entering it to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes as I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages! 

Finally I am entering it to One Ingredient Challenge where the theme is Lemons. This is a monthly family friendly cooking challenge hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food and Nazima from Working London Mummy.

 my lovely fresh ingredients - basil, lime and lemon

 adding chopped basil to the batter 

 lovely cookie dough

 

 How many would you like? :) 

Recipe adapted from Chasing Delicious - published with kind permission from the author

Makes approximately 24 cookies of the size shown

(My modifications are highlighted in blue)

113g butter, at room temperature
170g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 lime
2 tablespoons basil leaves, finely chopped
200g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional:
2 tablespoons lemon juice 

1 tablespoon lime juice 
Note - if adding juice, the cookies need to be cooked for a few minutes longer

• Preheat an oven to 190°C. 
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Cream the sugar and butter together until it is light and fluffy.
• Add the egg, vanilla, zests and basil and mix in well.
• Add in the lemon and lime juice if using.
• Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. 
• Mix well.
• Spoon the dough onto the lined baking sheets. I used an ice-cream scoop. 
• Bake in a preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes - you may need 15 minutes with the addition of the juice. 
• Allow to cool for a couple minutes before removing from the baking sheet.