Broccoli & Cornmeal Upside Down Cake

Broccoli & Cornmeal Upside Down Cake
Originally uploaded by esurientes.

This was made in an effort to get some more vegetables into us after a while spent in Europe; specifically a while spent in Germany & Austria, where The Sausage Is King...and then some time in the UK where we couldn't afford to buy much at all!
This is quite a healthy recipe I found on Clothilde's website. It uses a whole head of broccoli, yoghurt, cottage cheese and cornmeal/polenta (same diff).
Doesn't it look lovely when it comes out of the oven?



This is a light, fresh tasting cake. It's perfect for slicing and putting in your bag to take to uni or work. (to eat on the way for breakfast...)

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Espresso chocolate cupcakes

I made these a few days after returning from Europe. I hadn't baked for such a long time, and received a present of half a kilo of really good quality Dutch cocoa powder. I wanted to make some little cakes to keep in the freezer for when the need arises, and I wanted to make them using cocoa powder, not chocolate.

So, this recipe was found on The Daily Bread website. The icing calls for 1/4 cup of coffee, so I decided to add some coffee powder to the cakes too, making a fairly intense coffee, chocolate experience.

Look at them in front of the fire. Is there a more comforting sight?

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Nasu dengaku

This was my lunch today. It was violently storming, rain shaking the house, wind threatening to lift the roof...and I wanted something hot, filling and smoky.
I have eggplant, I have a deep fryer and I have miso...albeit elderly miso from A's fridge! (doesn't Elderly Miso sound like a friend of Mr Miyagi...)
The recipe for the Dengaku sauce took me all of 30 seconds to find on Google. It worked really well...a little sweeter than at my favourite Japanese restaurant, but still excellent. Definitely will make this again!

Nasu Dengaku
1 eggplant
2 Tbs miso paste
2 Tbs mirin
2 Tbs sake
2 Tbs sugar

Preheat deep fryer to 190c.
Mix sauce ingredients together.
Eggplant should take 5 minutes to cook, at most. Mine was probably cooked a little too much.
Drain well - absorbent paper helps here!
Spoon sauce.
Eat in front of the open fire watching rain come down like somebody was throwing buckets of water at the windows.

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The first test

Well, this is new. Let's see if it works.

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