A commitment to a moment.

Recipe of the week...
... Spinach and Mushroom Spaghetti

Ingredients: 200g wholemeal spaghetti, 1 vegetable stock cube, 120g fresh spinach leaves, 250g chestnut mushrooms, 1 white onion, 150-400g Greek yoghurt (depending how creamy you like your pasta), cooking oil, and salt and pepper.

Serves: Two decent platefuls of spaghetti.

Time taken: Half an hour or so.


Hi readers,

How are you all today? Are you doing okay? Not feeling too worse for wear, I hope, as we near the end of the Bank Holiday weekend. (Yes – to all readers outside the UK – we’ve had ANOTHER Bank Holiday weekend. Can’t get enough of them! Although, sadly, this does spell the end of our glorious run of four day weeks – we aren’t treated to another til the end of August now. Sigh sigh sigh).

Have you been up to much with your long weekend, readers? Hope you’ve been out enjoying the sunny Spring weather, while it lasted! And I hope you’ve been making the most of your time in the sunshine, spent with friends and family. As a write, readers, I’m in bed in my room in Sheffield and it’s raining a little bit outside. My room doesn’t look much like mine anymore as I’ve officially Started Packing, ahead of moving house next Saturday.

With just a week to go, I rolled my sleeves up this weekend and set about bagging and boxing up most of my things. There are now three different heaps of my stuff about the house. Mounds of shoppers filled with homeware and kitchenware and books and shoes... and I haven’t even packed any clothes yet (which, really, you’d think is all a human being needs – their clothes) but already there is A Lot of Stuff.

Like, if I lay down on the floor and my stuff was rained down on me, I would definitely die. It’s a killer amount of stuff. So, it’s been  good to have had the long weekend, really, as an opportunity to get cracking with packing (see what I did there??). But. Knowing that I have to unpack it all again, somewhere new, next weekend is like ohhhh MY GOD why why why why whyyyyyy meee. The prospect isn’t filling me with joy, readers.

Sadly contemplating my shell of a bedroom right now, I’m reminded of a line from a book I’ve been reading these past couple of weeks. Bittersweet, by Stephanie Danler. If you appreciate good food and drink, witty / clever / sarcastic lines, and the lure of a dangerous man – do go read this book. Pronto. The line that spring to mind, as an apt descriptor for my mood at present, iiiiis…

“You know what I dislike? When people use the future as a consolation for the present. I don’t know if there is anything less helpful.”

Bittersweet, Stephanie Danler. p.346

… this, I firmly agree with. Yes, maybe I’ll be moved in five days. Maybe I’ll have dropped a dress size and attained a gorgeous boyfriend in the process. Two of them! Who knows. But right now: It’s drizzling. And I’m sat in a stripped room populated mainly with re-usable carrier bags, bulging with my stuff and including certain items that I shouldn’t really have packed. I was being overenthusiastic and now I can’t find several things that I want back. It’s likely I won’t find them for a week or more. They’re lost in a sea of supermarket branding.

This present moment may be a little shit, readers, but – do not fear – as I’m going to turn it around with some great food. There will be a girly evening in. Nail polish, chocolate, chick flick. All will be well again. First, though, I want to say a big GO YOU to anyone who got the worker bee tattoo done this weekend, in support of the fundraiser for those victims and families affected by the terrorist attack in Manchester last week (you can donate here).

For anyone who doesn’t know, there’s been a tattoo appeal going on over the Bank Holiday weekend and tattoo parlours up and down the country have been giving their time to help out. If a person donates £50 towards the MEN fundraiser, then they can go get the worker bee tattooed at no cost. Loads and loads of people have been doing this, they’ve been queuing to get through the doors of tattoo parlours, and now the fundraiser is over 90% of the way towards hitting its target. Incredibly, with over fifty thousand supporters.  

I’m awed by it. By people! And the great things that they can bring about and achieve. As is the point of the quote from Bittersweet, there is no help in telling those poor people on the receiving end of the Manchester attack that tomorrow will be a better day. Help comes from those people who go out and do something about it – anything they can do – to make a real difference today. High five to anyone with a worker bee healing on you right now!

It feels to me as though, when everything rocks a little, like everything did seem to do last week in the wake of the attack, that people come together more. Like shaking a box full of beads. It’s felt by all and it’s experienced in unison. Everyone’s rattled. We’re all still thinking about it and talking about it, and trying to comprehend what happened. And we go on.

In another excerpt…

What did he call his tattoos?

A commitment to a moment?

Bittersweet, Stephanie Danler. p.228

… it’s a wonderful and a terrible moment that we’re in, readers. I’m grateful to experience the spirit of togetherness, fostered in the wake of the attack, and I hope that it won’t be lost as the tattoos heal. And – with that – I’ll say no more. I’ll leave the fundraising total to rise and will leave you, terrific readers, with one final thought… which is that good food alllways improves the present moment. Disprove me, I dare you. Or try your hand at my recipe of the week, which can be yours in just ten simple steps…

Recipe: Spinach and Mushroom Spaghetti

1.     Pour a drink, calm your mind and set something upbeat playing.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Me and my dad have been listening to the album that’s been released alongside Guardians of the Galaxy 2, with all the songs from the film. There are some GREAT tunes on there – I recommend. 

2.     Fill the kettle and set it boiling, and sort veg prep while you wait. Peel your onion and chop into small pieces, and quarter your mushrooms.

3.     When the kettle’s boiled, set a two-portion amount of spaghetti cooking in a saucepan with half the stock cube crumbled in.

4.     Heat some cooking oil in a wok or a large frying pan, and fry your mushroom and onion for five minutes until they’re beginning to brown.

5.     Then, add 200ml water from the saucepan, along with your yoghurt and the rest of the stock cube.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I added 150ml yoghurt as I’m not a fan of very creamy sauces, but if you’re thinking ‘the creamier the better!’ then go for it. Add up to 400ml if you like.

6.     Meanwhile, once your spaghetti is cooked you can take this off the heat and drain.

7.     Leave the contents of the pan to simmer until the ingredients come together, and they begin to thicken and look more like a sauce than a liquid.

8.     When things are getting saucy in the wok, tip your fresh spinach into the pan and – one wilted – then add the pasta.

9.     Give everything a good stir together and season with salt and pepper.

10.  Then, take off the heat and divide between two plates. You can serve up and tuck in!

Et voila!
A plateful of Spinach and Mushroom Spaghetti

What do you think, readers? Are you keen?? Does this sound do-able? I found the recipe in Tesco’s May 2017 edition of their free magazine (entitled ‘The Healthy Issue), on page 67, and decided to give it a go as a simple, healthy, tasty dinner. Ordinarily, I almost always rely on a shop-bought sauces, but this recipe provides a great way to make your own sauce without many ingredients and without it being particularly time consuming or difficult to do.

Also, I like that you can make this dish more or less creamy to suit your taste. And that creamy sauces don’t necessarily have to be cheesy, though they often are. Plus – you have options. You could switch the spaghetti for tagliatelle, if you like, or a regular pasta like penne or fusilli. And, if you’re vegan, you could adapt the recipe by switching the Greek yoghurt for a plant-based alternative (like Alpro).

Have I convinced you yet, readers?? If not, may I add what a filllling.. delllicious.. richhh and indddulgent plateful of food this is. Truly, it’s a delight! Go on, readers, give this recipe a try and please let me know what you think. Did things go to plan in the kitchen? Did your pasta turn out well? And did you enjoy the taste of it?? Keep me posted on your antics in the kitchen (good or gory) and please send all recipe feedback my way! Hit me with it!

Until next time, readers, in a new room on a new road in a new month,

Spaghetti safely,

Hayley

GINGERBREAD IN A GREY NORTHERN TOWN

Festive Recipe No. 2 ... Gingerbread Christmas Trees!

Makes: 24 Gingerbread Christmas Trees (or an unknown number of men/stars/snowmen/reindeer…).

Ingredients: 350g plain flour, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 125g butter, 175g light soft brown sugar, 1 large egg, 4 tablespoons golden syrup, writing icing or writing chocolate, and cake decorations.

Time taken: An hour to make, 15 mins to bake, and 15 mins to decorate.

Good evening readers,

And how are you, on this fine Monday evening? Are you hanging in there?? Was it a good weekend? Is it a distant memory now?

As I write, readers, we are storming on with the 2016 countdown to Christmas. How are you doing, do you think?? Have you made any progress with your ideas and cards and presents yet? With less than 2 weeks to go, it feels a lot like we’re barreling towards Christmas Day at full pelt! The sledge is out of control! Avalanche warnings! This slope leads to a ravine!    

I’m doing OHKIZAY, I think. Read into this: I’m not sorted with ideas or cards or presents. Not at all. Everyone on Facebook has done more than me, it would seem. And they all have a boyfriend, or fiancée, or husband to support them out on the festive battlefield. BUT not one to let this get me down, I located my glitter and sellotape this weekend, and can report that Christmas prep is underway in the ChefBeHere household. In that, I know where the glitter and sellotape are now.

And today, readers, I’m sharing with you my second bake of the festive season this year… it’s gingerbread!! Who out there likes gingerbread?? Are you raising your hand? If so, this could be THE festive recipe for you! As gingerbread, it turns out, is both tasty and easy to bake! Whooooooo!

So, I never knew of the wonders of gingerbread before, readers. Rock-hard shop-bought gingerbread men were (I fear) the only gingerbread I was ever exposed to during my childhood. Raised in a grey northern town. With a single tear running down my cheek. ANYHOO, until this weekend, I’d never tried to bake the stuff before. Didn’t rate it highly. Wasn’t interested.

But, while scrolling through Facebook this weekend, I remembered my wonderful trip to London a few weeks ago. I saw one of my besties, Floss (a keen baker), and remembered how she said that top of her baking list for Christmas… was gingerbread. She bakes it every year. Loves the stuff. Can’t get enough of it. And I was inspired!

I’ve made a few trips to the shops over the last couple of weeks, readers. Some very unsuccessful attempts at Christmas shopping. I’ve been doing that thing we all do where you set out with the best of intentions… but buy things solely for yourself, totally lose sight of what you went shopping for, and return home with gifts just for yours truly. That thing.

And I’ve bought soooo much festive baking gear! I’ve bought a Christmas tree cutter, festive muffin cases, fancy chocolate writing pens, golden sprinkles, Snowball chocolates, reindeer gift boxes… and it hit me this weekend the realisation that I do need to get cracking and start using these things.

Reindeer gift boxes... a Lakeland essential purchase

SO. I was inspired to bake homemade gingerbread, readers, having never tried to before – but hearing good things. And I was overexcited with a lot of new baking gear. And SOMEHOW this didn’t turn into a disaster – it worked out quite well!

Want to join the party and have a crack at some homemade gingerbread of your very own? Course you do! Here’s how you go about baking gingerbread for the first ever time…

1.     Pour yourself a festive bev and get some Christmas songs playing.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: My next door neighbour this weekend recommended mixing half and half amaretto and Baileys to make the ultimate Christmas cocktail – I’m off alcohol for a few more days… but will DEFINITELY be trying this once I can drink again!

2.     Measure the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.

3.     Next, add the butter to the bowl and use your fingertips to rub everything together, until your mix forms crumbs.

4.     Stir the sugar into the mix using a wooden spoon.

5.     Crack your egg into a mug and add four spoons of syrup.

6.     Use a fork to lightly beat the egg and syrup together, until they look as though they’ve become one.

7.     Pour this eggy goo in the mixing bowl and roughly stir together with the crumb mix.

8.     Then, get your hand back in the bowl and try to clump everything together into one big ball of gingerbread dough.

9.     Transfer your ball of dough onto a plate and pop it in the fridge to chill for ten minutes or so.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: As I’ve previously mentioned, my fridge is of the kind that chills in its own fine time. It won’t be hurried and certainly won’t affect the temperature of a dough in the space of ten minutes. What a fantastical notion. For this reason, I put my dough in the freezer instead of the fridge. You know your fridge freezer – act accordingly.

10.  Then, dance around! Clean a few dishes. Top up your drink. Pay someone a compliment.

11.  After ten minutes or so, heat the oven to 180C.

12.  Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper, and dust a clean kitchen side and your rolling pin with flour.

13.  Then, get that dough back out of the fridge (or freezer) and roll it out.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: You’re aiming for quite a thick thickness here. Thicker, certainly, than mince pie pastry. Thicker than UK snowfall in recent years. Not as thick as a book. But thicker than a magazine. Thick doesn’t sound like a word anymore! Maybe a centimetre? Who knows.

14.  Using cutters of any shape you like, cut out your gingerbread shapes and transfer them onto your lined baking trays, leaving a bit of a gap between each in case they should try to get cosy in the oven.

As seen here

15.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until they’re looking a golden brown colour.

16.  When they look baked but are still a bit squidgy to touch, carefully take your gingerbread out of the oven.

17.  Run a spatula under each gingerbread to loosen it from the paper, and separate any that have coupled up in the oven.

18.  Lift your baking paper off the trays and onto the kitchen side so your gingerbread can cool away from the hot trays.

Thiiiiis is how we doooooo ittttt! 

19.  When your gingerbread feel cool, then you can decorate them!

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I used one of my fancy chocolate writing kits from Wilko to draw a Christmas tree shape and tinsel, on each of my gingerbread, and then I shook some golden sprinkles over the chocolate before it set. A simple festive decoration, I think. But you can do anything you like! Maybe Smarties or JellyTots as baubles? A Magic Star as the star on your tree? Be colourful and creative!

20.  When your gingerbread decoration has set, then you can devour/serve up/share out/Tupperware for another day. Clean that kitchen and top up your drink. Pat yourself on the back… you just made gingerbread!

 

And ... ta-da!

That’s honestly all there is to it. When I set about making gingerbread, I had in my mind that it was sort of a trial run to see where it would go wrong and to try and fail at using a chocolate writing pen for the first time.

Turns out these are super easy to use!

But, readers, it all came good! My gingerbread mix was effortless to make, it baked well and turned a nice colour in the right amount of time (even a tray that I sat on the bottom of the oven). I had friends over that afternoon, and we all tried some and loved it! A warm, spicy taste of Christmas, and a really soft bake that I had no trouble eating – even with my poorly mouth.

Thumbs up from me, 2016’s newest gingerbread convert! Plus, this recipe makes such a generous amount you can share your gingerbread with every man and his dog and still have loads left for yourself! No one need miss out. I’ve taken gingerbread into work today, and there are Tupperwares ready to go for my Mother Bear and Father Bear, too.

I hope they all like their gingerbread. And I hope you get a chance, readers, amidst all the chaos in the run up to Christmas – to give this gingerbread recipe a try!

Make a small recipe happy this Christmas. Go on, readers.

Bake safely,

Hayley

You need gingerbread in your life!