Nailed It! The Bacon and Cheese Scone Quest

I promised you this recipe would come eventually! And lo, here it is!!


So, when I was a wee lass (which I typed first as ass... hilarious), my Nana used to make these bacon cakes. They were triangular shaped like scones often are, moist, delicate and delicious slathered in butter and we would have them for tea. Nana always made "tea" at 6pm. It was her version of supper, the last meal of the day, and it would be malt loaf or eggy bread or ham sandwiches or bacon cakes or something else delightfully carby. It was usually my favorite meal. I would spend my six week long summer holidays with her and I loved tea-time almost as much as I loved blackberrying and rollerskating and her bedtime stories.

I have a few of her recipes and one of them is for bacon cakes. I've diligently made it a few times, and while the result is pretty good, it isn't what my ten year old self remembers. I've tried to tweak it a lot, and finally I decided that instead of just creating a replica, I need to create something that I really like.... something of my own.

I started over, tweaking, making, kneading, shaping, re-doing. I tried adding ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, cream cheese. I played with the amount of baking powder, the type of milk, the quality of the butter. Until finally one day a few weeks ago I got the result I wanted. I think I've gone through at least nine incarnations of this recipe, but it's finally the one I like best. Ironically, it's probably the one with the fewest ingredients... the simplest version. These are perfect just out of the oven, cut in half and spread with some good quality salted butter.


Bacon and Cheese Scones

4oz Butter (1 Stick), cold
2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
4oz Sharp Cheddar, grated
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
3 Slices of Bacon, cooked and diced
1 Scallion, sliced thin
1 Egg
2/3 Cup Milk (any kind)

Preheat your oven to 400F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the butter with the flour, salt and baking powder until it becomes like breadcrumbs. Stir in your cheese, scallion and bacon. Beat the egg into the milk, then slowly add to the dry mixture until combine. Try to mix it as gently and as little as possible.

Roll out the dough until it is an inch thick and cut into circles with a four inch or so cookie cutter. I, owning cookie cutters only in the shape of candy canes and ninjas, used a jam jar lid.

You should get about 8-10 circles out of it. If you like, you can do a quick egg wash glaze over these by beating an egg with a couple of tablespoons of milk and brushing with a pastry brush. It's not completely necessary, but I would take the time if you have it.

Bake for 20 minutes until well risen and turning slightly golden. If you need to reheat these for later, do use the oven and not the microwave... it's much better.

Slather with butter and enjoy hot, with fond memories of your childhood drifting through your head.

Well That Snuck Up on Me

Okay, I swear I have recipes. I actually have like, a really good one for you. But the post it note that I wrote it down on fell behind the fridge and I haven't managed to get to it yet.

And I've been working.

And doing lots of voice overs.

Oh yeah, and I turned 30.

Seriously. 30. I know I know it's "not that bad"and being 30 is the new 20 and all that stuff and look at all the great things I've accomplished and blah blah blah.

But it's hard when you look at your life and you think of all the things you meant to do before now. You make a list in your head of what you can pull off before you're 35, or 40. How late is too late?

I wish I could tell you that at the age of 30 I'm going to rededicate myself to food and be awesome and amazing... but I just don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm day by day here in the Valley. I get up, I go record voice overs, I go to the Circus, I spend time with my boyfriend. I live off poached eggs on toast and lots of coffee. I go to the park with the dog. I watch Deadliest Catch before bed to help me fall asleep. I do it all over again. 

It's a weird cycle. And I'm going to be in it for a while I think. But I'm hoping that soon, soon things will shift in some way. Soon I'll get to the next stage of my life, whatever that may be. Soon I'll embrace 30 and not be in this weird limbo thing where I'm not sure what to do with it. 

Soon, I'll dig out that recipe. Because it has bacon in it... and it's really good.

Food Riot Launches Today!

Today is the day! Food Riot is finally here!

If you haven't heard about it yet, Food Riot is this absolutely amazing project brought to you by the makers of the hugely popular blog Book Riot. It's a food community like no other, and I'm extremely proud to be one of their contributors! Check them out. Subscribe. Share. Enjoy!

Liquid Diet

I would regale you with all the tales of the awesome food coming out of my kitchen, but I really have none to tell. I've been on a pretty liquid diet for the last little bit because my show is dark for a week. To the average person living in Las Vegas, having a week off work when you can't go anywhere pretty much turns into one thing.... day drinking!

I have, though, eaten a couple of really good things which I managed to be smart enough to take a few pics of, so please consider this an interim post, sharing with you a couple of highlights of food sandwiched between a lot of cheap Tempranillo, Redd's Apple Ale (love the name!), Buddha Beer and Gimlets.

The beach house breakfast I made for Larry, Justin and Amee when I spent a whirlwind 25 hours in Newport beach a few weeks ago.

The KJ Steamer at Joe's Crab Shack. I subbed shrimp in because I wasn't in the mood for mussels. Snow crab is just one of the most delicious things ever. This was the day I got permission to go play hooky from work and see a concert with my hot boyfriend.

This burger looks weird, and to a degree it was a let down because it was ordered medium rare and arrived well done, but on it was truffled cheese and bacon onion jam. That really made up for it. This was also the night that we were planning to go to the gym after work but decided a crappy day meant we would go to the Yardhouse instead.

Oh Brio. Home of Cucumber Basil Gimlets, and this Three Tomato Insalata with Chicken. Divine and yummy and just the fortification I needed to spend an afternoon shopping with the lovely Dani. She and I really are the worst together. We egg each other on when it comes to buying clothes almost as much as when it comes to ordering cocktails.

I realize that posts like this make it sound like I have this really epic fabulous life. To a degree, I do. but I'm only showing you the highlights, not the other 97% of the time.

It's a really nice 3% though.

Poached Chicken Spring Salad with Blueberries and Strawberries

Winter is coming to a close here in the Valley. Since we've actually already had a 90 degree day, I'm guessing we're in that sweet spot where we have two weeks of Spring before everything becomes, well, deserty.

In a last ditch attempt to enjoy the winter, my guy and a few of our friends toddled off to the mountains in Utah for a day of Snowboarding. Since I have an angry knee, I went for the pretty views and the chance to escape.

We were staying over night in a little condo so that everyone could get up early and make the first run. My friend Chat  had made the worlds most enormous salad and insisted I try a plate. It had about twelve ingredients and was really delicious. I picked out the celery because I'm weird like that. He'd mixed everything up and added some chicken that he baked in the oven. I nearly went for seconds.

So I spent the day in the lodge, sipping on Maple Crown and Coke (I had a flask because I'm smart like that). Then when we got home I couldn't stop thinking about that damn salad. So off to the grocery store I trundled and picked up the goodies to make a revised version. I didn't want to bake the chicken and I luckily remembered that my friend Kyle had told me that he'd taken to poaching chicken for salads and then refrigerating it to eat through the week. Bingo. Worked like a charm.

And so, this salad was born. I can't stop eating it. It's so simple and delicious and ridiculously low calorie.

Poached Chicken Spring Salad with Blueberries and Strawberries

Play with your quantities here until you're happy with what you have. You'll only use about 1/3rd of a chicken breast per salad, but of course you need to cook the whole thing.

1 Chicken Breast (boneless and skinless)
2 Handfuls Spring Salad Mix
2 Strawberries, diced
10-15 Blueberries
Salt and Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar Salad Dressing

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and drop in the chicken breast. You need enough water to just cover the chicken. Turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover and cook for twenty minutes. Check to make sure it's cooked all the way through, then shred it. Season with salt and pepper. You can then use about 1/3rd per salad.

Put the spring mix on a plate. Scatter over your diced strawberries and blueberries. Top with the poached chicken and drizzle over some balsamic vinegar salad dressing. Or, make your own with 1 teaspoon flavored olive oil and one teaspoon balsamic vinegar.

Eat with fond memories of mountain views. Embrace spring.

Makes one salad, with leftover chicken for two more.

Going Back to the Start with Rhubarb Crumble

I posted a little while ago about how I'm sort of in this rut. I finished my book and after that was done it's been a "now what?" situation. I've not really been spending much time in my kitchen, and when I have I've been making old faithful type food that I've already told you about here on this blog.

I couldn't figure out what to do now that I've finished something big. Then, I got all zen and stuff and realized that what I needed to do was take a breath and go back to the beginning. I needed to go back to my childhood. To something familiar and comforting. I needed Rhubarb Crumble.

Rhubarb is a lot less common in American than it is in England. I rarely see it fresh here, and I've never seen it growing.

Back in England, when we moved into the house that I lived in for the five years before I moved to America I remember my Mother going through and ripping out a lot of the old garden. I helped somewhat, until I accidentally speared a frog with a garden fork. I became quite the indoor girl after that. It still gives me the willies thinking about it.
Anyway, so Mum went and dug up a big Rhubarb plant that she didn't want. She went ahead and put it on a pile of scrap sticks and woody things that would eventually be burned. It was sitting on top of the pile, half hacked to pieces, and the darned thing kept on growing. I think it sat and flourished for about two weeks.
So Mum hacked off all the green parts again and then had a nice little bonfire to burn all the green scrap that wouldn't be good for composting. After the bonfire there was a pile of rubble and a few chunks of unburnt wood that didn't quite finish combusting all the way. And about a week later, this pile was of course growing bright green Rhubarb stalks.

I don't know how the hell is survived. I also don't know how the hell Mum finally killed it. But hey, I've had a soft spot for Rhubarb ever since.

This Rhubarb Crumble is my Mum's recipe. She used to make it here and there when I was young, and I think my Nana used to make it too. It was served frequently with custard or vanilla ice cream, and I recommend you do the same thing!

Rhubarb Crumble

The easiest way to make this is in a pie plate or an 8x8 pan. You can throw in some strawberries as well if you need to use some up. I had a few in the fridge the last time I made this and sliced them over the rhubarb before I layered on the topping.

20oz Frozen Rhubarb
6oz Flour
3oz Butter (cold)
6oz Sugar (split in half)

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Take half the sugar and toss the rhubarb in it. Lay the rhubarb in the bottom of a pie plate or other pan, spread fairly evenly.

In a small bowl, work the flour and butter together with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make sure you start with cold butter and work pretty quickly as you don't want it to melt. Mix in the rest of the sugar and spread this topping evenly over the rhubarb.

Bake for 45 minutes until the top has become golden brown.

Eat with a dollop of ice cream, custard or whipped cream while tucked up in bed watching the Top Chef finale.

Makes 12 servings.

Afterwards

Here's the thing about writing a book. It's a huge personal accomplishment. It's very big in your head and very emotional in some ways because it's like this little being that you've created. You work so hard to create it, get it dressed, make it pretty and perfect, and then you send it out into the world.

And then what?

Then, well, you did that. Check. Moving on.

I'm having a really hard time with the afterwards of writing my book. I've had so many projects and when it came to cooking and food, that was the big one. Now, well, now I've kind of hit pause when it comes to cooking.

I've been away a lot. I've been snowboarding or working on other big non-food projects (I narrate audiobooks too and just got done with a really big one). When it comes to cooking, I've not been making anything new. I've made a lot of meatballs and salads and things that you've seen already. I haven't been reading food magazines or other peoples blogs. I've not been jotting recipe ideas down at every opportunity. I've not been feeling inspired, so I haven't really been writing.

This makes me sad. I love this blog and I love food, and writing about food. I need to kick start myself somehow. I need to be inspired. I need to just get back in my kitchen and play. I need to start going to the grocery store and grabbing something random and figuring out what I want to do with it. There are so many "I need to" and "I should do", but I just can't seem to get started.

What do you do when you hit a wall? How do you handle the afterwards of something big?