Brain food

With my finals coming up in a couple of weeks I've started to think more about what I'm eating and how it affects my concentration (that's not to say I don't still indulge in some chocolate as a post-revision treat!)

I've been reading up on foods that are meant to be good for your brain and while some, such as turmeric, are a little more obscure, others are really common and super-easy to fit into your daily diet, like eggs.  This evening my meal contains lots of foods which are good for your brain.

Superfood Supper

I used salmon (an oily fish which apparently helps improve your attention span), eggs, brown rice (a wholegrain which will improve your concentration and focus), spinach and broccoli (pretty much all green leafy vegetables are recommended).

So here's my recipe for fried salmon, with egg-fried rice, steamed tender-stem broccoli and wilted spinach, with a mug of green tea.

For two portions you will need:
brown rice (about 100g)
some oil for frying
2 salmon fillets (skin on)
salt and pepper for seasoning
a small pack of tender-stem broccoli
2 eggs (beaten)
100g spinach

1. Cook the rice for 20-25 minutes in simmering water.  Drain and leave in the saucepan to one side.
2. Heat some oil in a pan and place the pieces of salmon, skin side down, into the pan.  Season your salmon with some salt and pepper.  Cook for 5-10 minutes (until the salmon is cooked to about halfway - this will vary depending on how thick your fillet is), then turn it over and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until the salmon is cooked through.  Remove from the pan and place onto a plate.
3. I steamed my broccoli in a microwaveable steam bag for 4-5 minutes.
4. While the broccoli is steaming return the pan to the heat and add the rice, then pour in the beaten egg.  Fry for a couple of minutes, stirring, so that the egg cooks in with the rice.  Add the spinach to the pan and toss with the rice, cover the pan for a minute or so to allow the spinach to wilt slightly.
5. Place the broccoli and rice mixture onto the plate with your salmon and serve.

I realised as I was serving this that I had forgotten about a sauce.  Although this is fine without a sauce it may be a little dry.  Luckily I had some soy sauce in the cupboard and drizzled a little on.  If you're not a fan of soy sauce then you could also squeeze a little lemon juice over the salmon.

As for what to drink, green tea is meant to be good for you as it contains a small amount of caffeine which will help with your concentration, but not too much.

Green Tea

There are loads of other superfoods which you can try: beans, lentils, blueberries (which I've heard delay short-term memory loss - excellent when cramming!), nuts, avocado (a good source of fat and it reduces your blood pressure which is in turn good for the functioning of your brain) and pomegranate juice (which is meant to thin the blood, enabling good circulation which is good for the brain).  As for the turmeric I mentioned earlier, it helps to repair brain cells and regulate your mood.  The reason I included eggs in my meal is because they are a good source of vitamin D which helps to alleviate depression.  You can get vitamin D from being outside in the sun, but with the weather the way it is at the moment that seems like a rather unreliable source!

Finally, and most importantly, cocoa solids (i.e. dark chocolate) are also a good source of caffeine as, like green tea, it occurs in small quantities so is better for you than coffee.  Not only that, chocolate also helps with concentration, improves blood flow to the brain and as if that wasn't enough it also stimulates endorphins which make you feel good!

Brunch time!

It's time for another brunch post!  With the weekend not far off it's the perfect time to start thinking about what you'll be eating.

I love this time of year, the weather is improving, spring is in the air and asparagus is in season!  So I made a deliciously simple brunch made from asparagus, pancetta and eggs.

Asparagus, pancetta and eggs - simply delightful!

First of all fry the pancetta.  You don't need to use any oil - the pancetta is fatty enough on its own.  Once it is brown and starting to go crispy put the asparagus stems into the pan.  Fry them, making sure to turn them regularly so that they don't burn.  Finally crack the two eggs over the asparagus, then cover the pan and leave to cook for a couple of minutes until the white is cooked but the yolks are still runny.

The beauty of this dish is its simplicity.  If you don't eat pancetta then you can miss this step, heat some olive oil in the pan and fry the asparagus.  While the eggs are cooking you can sprinkle on some cheese to give it a little more flavour, I would recommend parmesan.

You could even add some Hollandaise

Asparagus also goes well with poached eggs and bacon or with a simple Hollandaise sauce and it is for that reason that it is one of my favourite brunch ingredients.

Brunch also happens to be my favourite meal.  It's perfect for those lazy weekends when you've slept in past breakfast but want something to eat before midday.  Brunch doesn't have to be just a boring fry up and I'm always looking for new ideas to try out, so if there's something that you love cooking for brunch please comment below, I'd love to hear about it!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  In my last post I promised to tell you about my attempts to make some treats in the form of Easter egg cheesecakes!  I came across this idea a week or so ago on a The Londoner and decided to give them a go myself.  Of course Easter wouldn't be complete without a chocolate rabbit (thanks to my family - missing you lots) and hot cross buns which D kindly bought for us from my favourite Cambridge cafe Afternoon Tease (read my review here).

My Easter bunny with his Easter treats

I bought a pack of hollow eggs from M&S, originally designed to be used in an Easter egg hunt, these eggs are a perfect size for the cheesecakes - any larger and they would be too rich and sweet to finish.  The recipe recommends using 6 eggs but I found that there was probably enough mixture left over for around 4 more.  Unfortunately I didn't have any extra eggs (owing to a couple of mishaps when removing the tops) so decided to simply put the rest of the mixture into a couple of ramekins I happened to have.

Oops!

Although not essential I would advise using an electric mixer for this recipe as you will need to whip 150ml whipping cream until it forms soft peaks - you really would need a lot of strength and patience to do this by hand!  Next mix 150g cream cheese with 30g icing sugar, the juice of 1 lemon and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.  Combine with the whipped cream and set aside.

There are two ways to cut the tops off your eggs.  If you want them to look a little more authentic then you can do what I did which is carefully crack the top off with a sharp knife to leave a ragged edge.  If you prefer to play things a little safer then run the knife under warm water first and evenly slice the top off.

Use a teaspoon/the end of a spoon to fill your hollow eggs with the cream cheese mixture, then place them in the fridge while you make the yolk.  If you don't have egg cups then just use the carton the eggs came in to keep them upright.

Passion fruit and chocolate - yum!

Squeeze the juice and pips of 1 passion fruits into a bowl, then sieve into a saucepan, getting as much juice out as possible.  Add a tsp of apricot jam and 1tsp butter (about 15g) and melt over a low heat, stirring to combine.

Once melted remove the eggs from the fridge, use the end of a spoon to make a small well in the centre of each egg and pour a little of the passion fruit mixture into each.  Return to the fridge for at least 15 minutes before eating.

Not your usual box of eggs

Since I had quite a lot of chocolate debris (remember the Easter egg mishaps I mentioned earlier?) I crushed up the leftover chocolate and sprinkled it over the cheesecakes in the ramekins and added a few mini eggs to make them look like nests.

Cheesecake nests

These were great fun to make (if a little fiddly) and are a lovely Easter treat.  I can especially recommend these if you tend to find Cadbury's cream eggs too sweet as the lemon and passionfruit cut through the sweetness of the chocolate slightly to provide a nice balance.  Enjoy the rest of the holiday!

Hot Cross Brunch

I hope you're all having a good Friday and that you haven't already eaten too many hot cross buns, as they feature prominently in today's post and trust me, this is a recipe you're going to want to try for yourself!  I love this time of year and today was perfect.  I woke up to beautiful sunshine and blue skies, the Wisteria in college is in full bloom and spring is definitely in the air!

Hot cross brunch

The Wisteria

Hot cross buns are a staple in my diet around easter but I wanted to make today's extra special, so I present to you french toasted hot cross buns with maple syrup, bacon and scrambled egg.

Unfortunately I don't have an oven in college so I had to use shop-bought hot cross buns.  However, a couple of weeks ago while I was at home I did take the opportunity to make some, so here's a bit about how that went.  Every month in my GoodFood magazine there's a section called 'Maisie makes' the idea being that these recipes are child-friendly.  As I had never made hot cross buns before, this seemed like a good place to start!

Home-made hot cross buns

In theory the buns are pretty to make: mix flour, dried yeast, sugar, mixed spice, cinnamon, milk, egg, butter and currants/sultanas, knead and leave the dough to rise.  However, the process became a little tricky around the knead section.  I had an incredibly sticky dough and had to add some more flour, except it didn't really help and I was worried about adding too much extra.  So I left the dough as it was and instead of kneading it on a work surface I cheated and used a mixer with a dough hook!  The dough rose well, however, as it was still very sticky I wasn't quite able to roll it into the lovely round buns shown in the recipe.  Instead mine ended up being somewhat misshapen blobs.

Ready for the oven!

Undeterred I left them to rise for a second time while making the paste for the crosses which is just a simple mix of flour, sugar and water.  Once risen I piped the crosses onto the buns and popped them in the oven.  Once baked I glazed them with some apricot jam to give them that lovely sheen.

Just out the oven, ready to glaze

All things considered the buns came out very well.  Aside from the slightly unusual shapes they smelled and tasted exactly like hot cross buns should.  The buns are best eaten warm, not long after they've come out of the oven, with just butter, perfect.

The finished buns nicely glazed

The roundest one of the batch!

Now on to my hot cross brunch.  As I said, I was unable to make my own buns for the occasion, so instead I decided to treat myself to M&S's luxury hot cross buns - definitely worth it!

The ingredients

As I only have one hob I prepared the scrambled egg first.  For two portions I beat 3 eggs with a splash of milk.  I then melted some butter in a frying pan over a very low heat.  I then added my eggs and stirred them continuously as they cooked.  If I'm in a hurry I cook scrambled eggs quickly in a hot saucepan, however they are far better cooked slowly over a low heat.  I've heard that if you season scrambled eggs before cooking them then they can go a little dry because of the salt, so I tend to season mine when they're nearly cooked.  I transferred the eggs from the pan to a bowl just before they'd finished cooking and covered them with a plate.  Since I had to cook the hot cross buns and bacon they were going to sit for a few minutes so the plate was to stop them getting cold and by taking them out of the pan a little early they finished cooking in the bowl from the residual heat and were perfect by the time I got them onto the plate.

Butter the buns and sprinkle with cinnamon

I then made my eggy mixture for the french toast part of my brunch.  I beat two more eggs in a bowl along with 100ml milk (this produced enough mixture for 4-6 hot cross buns).  I cut my hot cross buns in half, lightly buttered each half and sprinkled them with ground cinnamon before putting the halves back together again.  I then dipped the 4 hot cross buns into the egg mixture, making sure they were fully coated and that they had soaked up plenty of the mixture.

After dipping I melted some butter in my frying pan over a medium heat and waited until it was nice and hot before adding the hot cross buns.  They need to be fried for a couple of minutes on each side to heat them through and  to allow the outside to brown nicely.  Once they're done, place them on a plate and quickly return the pan to the heat.

Fry the eggy hot cross buns

I then added the ban immediately and quickly cooked it in the leftover fat from the hot cross buns.  Bacon usually releases a lot of fat when it cooks so you should be fine, if the pan does seem to be getting a little dry just add a bit more butter.  For the last 30 seconds add about a tablespoon of maple syrup to the pan - this will give the bacon a great taste and colour.

Once you've got your hot cross buns, eggs and bacon on a plate pour over some more maple syrup and if you want to try and pretend to be healthy then blueberries go amazingly with the hot cross buns.

And Serve

Needless to say brunch was incredible even if I won't need to eat anything else for a while!  I hope you all have a lovely Easter!  There will be another Easter themed post coming up soon in which I will tell you about my escapades trying to make Easter-themed cheesecakes.