Thursday 3 May 2007

A Taste of Yellow - Best Laid Plans....

and all that. There are those days when things don't go according to plan. Today was one of them... We'd agreed, only with ourselves, to make a certain menu for A Taste of Yellow, unable to get to the shops today we adapted the menu to suit what we had in the house. Thankfully we are well stocked for such days. On top of this, husband was going to be late home and Small fell asleep on the sofa. So Little and I cooked and then ate together in the sunshine. Not as planned, but beautiful all the same. The others just had theirs and enjoyed it just as much as we did.

A Taste of Yellow Menu from the Little Foodies Household

Toasty Stars and Roasty Sunshine Peppers
Serves 4-6 people
2 yellow peppers
4 cloves of garlic
a tablespoon of oil
4 slices of bread.

Turn oven to 200C.
Wash the yellow peppers. Cut one into quarters and chop the other into small pieces.
Rub oil over the 4 quarters of yellow pepper and the garlic
Arrange on a baking tray. Cook for approx 25 minutes at 200C, 400F, Gas Mark 6.
In the meantime, Toast some sliced bread - whatever you have. When it's toasted use a star shaped cutter and press out shapes from the toast.
When the pepper and garlic have cooked and cooled a little, squeeze the garlic out of the skin into a blender and add the roasted yellow pepper and the raw yellow pepper. Blitz to the consistency that you like. Then spoon a little onto each star toast. These got a very big thumbs up! I think the mixture of the raw pepper with the roasted pepper worked really well.





Yellow Pagetti Cream (Spaghetti with creamy saffron sauce & shredded roasted chicken)
Serves 4-6 people
500g pack of long spaghetti
Equivalent of 2 roasted chicken breasts, shredded (We used meat from chicken roasted yesterday)
2 cloves garlic crushed
Large pinch of saffron
50ml boiling hot water
1 pot of double cream
Tablespoon of oil
salt and pepper




Cook the spaghetti
In a small pot add the pinch of saffron and cover with boiling water
In a separate pan add the oil and fry the garlic and chicken for a couple of minutes
Add the cream and saffron with the water that it's in and cook on high for approx 5 minutes
Drain the spaghetti and add the creamy chicken sauce. Add salt and pepper if required. I thought it needed it. It was delicate and light - perfect for eating in the late afternoon sun.

Marzipan Muffins (makes 12 large muffins)
We adapted a plain muffin recipe from an old Aga recipe sheet that I had. (I must add we don't have an Aga, it would be lovely if we did, but we don't).

450g (16oz/1lb) plain flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
115g (4oz) caster sugar (we only had cinammon sugar which we made at Christmas)
300ml (1/2 pint) milk
2 large eggs (beaten)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
55g (2oz) melted butter
225g (8oz) marzipan (We used Mediterranean almond marzipan as it has a better flavour)


Turn the oven to 170C, 325F or Gas Mark 3.
Sift the flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl and mix together.
Cut the marzipan into 12 equal pieces then roll each one into a ball.
Measure the milk, add the eggs, vanilla and melted butter, mix it all up with a fork.
Add the wet mix to the dry mix and stir it quite lightly. It will be gooey and lumpy. Avoid over mixing or it can give the muffin a tough texture when eating.
Spoon into muffin cases then pop a ball of marzipan on the top and push into the middle with your finger then gently push the muffin mix over to cover the hole where it's gone in.
Bake in the oven for 20-25mins. Leave to cool a little before trying!
These are not too sweet and the almond marzipan tastes lovely when you get to it. I think maybe next time I would chop the marzipan up and mix it in so that you have a chance of getting a piece with each mouthful.

Why all this yellow food? Barbara at Winos and Foodies (inspired name!) has thought of a great way for raising awareness for cancer and cancer survivors. It is being recognised as an official event in support of LiveStrong Day on 16th May. Check out Barbara's blog on the 16th May for a final round up from food bloggers around the world who took part.

9 comments:

Barbara said...

Thank you Amada for such a wonderful entry. The marzipan muffins are a nice change from the usual. The pagetti sauce made me smile. When our children were little we were playing Dictionary and the word "poon" came up and my friend wrote "something you eat your pagetti with".

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Ah, how lovely! I have a book that I write all the funny things they say in. I read back through it now and it makes me smile. I want to read it as an old lady. As I said in my e-mail to you it meant a lot to particpate in your event but it was also such fun. Thank you Barbara

Anonymous said...

Great recipes! It all looks so delicious! I think I may have to try those muffins! I am doing a food class here at my house for some of the ladies from my church in a few weeks and I think they'd enjoy them!

Anonymous said...

Very good recipes ! I love your stars. It all looks so delicious

Kelly-Jane said...

How lovely a sunny yellow menu! Well done :)

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Hi Marie, Pom d'api & KJ, Thanks very much, it was really good fun to take part and nice that it was for such a good cause. Take care, Amanda

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your lovely comment - I am quite stunned at the response across the board. I know it can be a very touchy subject, and although I don't want to seem arrogant - I want to make people think. Your words and the words of others have made me feel like what I've said is the right thing - it's definitely what I believe.

I'm glad I'm finding new people, too! Lovely blog and gorgeous recipes, you are officially bookmarked :D

Brilynn said...

I love your toasty stars! Everything's more fun when it's a novelty shape.

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Hi Tash, you're on my blogroll
as is Brilynn, you both make very good reading. I love small food things, especially in cute shapes. It's a weakness!

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