Savoury muffins with zucchini, basil, pine nut and parmesan

As I’ve said many times before, muffins are my weakness. I love both the savoury and sweet varieties (sans chocolate!). I have made these muffins on two occasions, most recently for my sister’s baby shower and always found the flavour combination works really well. The zucchini makes them lovely and moist, the pine nuts give a nice texture and the parmesan adds a salty goodness. As with all muffins, it’s a matter of combining wet and dry ingredients. These take a little preparation, but as zucchini is so much easer to grate than carrot you can knock it over it no time.

Remember: the key to muffins is not over working the batter, so fold gently! I use a ¼ measuring cup to scoop my muffins into their cases. An ice-cream scoop would also work.

This recipe is from the English River Cottage host Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who makes great, flavour packed, simple dishes. He also has a recipe for red onion, cheddar and bacon muffins which I’m keen to try.

Ingredients: 200g plain flour, 40g jumbo oats, 2 tspn baking powder, ½ teaspoon bicarb soda, 1 teaspoon sea salt, black pepper, 8 large basil leaves shredded, 60g parmesan grated, 2 eggs, 250g full fat yoghurt, 4 tablespoons olive oil, 200g zucchini grated & 40g pine nuts toasted.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line a muffin tin with 12 cases.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, bicarb soda, baking powder, salt, pepper, basil and parmesan.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, yoghurt and oil. Pour this over the dry ingredients and mix. Add the zucchini and toasted pine nuts. Remember not to over mix!
4. Scoop batter into the muffin tins and grate over a little extra parmesan. The original recipe called for 18 mins in the oven but mine definitely needed 25 minutes until a skewer came out clean.
5. Allow to cool before tucking in!

NB. These also freeze really well.

Enjoy!

Bri x

Prawn arrabiata with fusilli

This recipe is dead simple and super tasty. The Italian word “arrabiata” translates to mean “angry” in Italian; however, I like to describe this dish as fiery. I used about ¾ of a large chili as I like it quite spicy, but you can use as much or as little as you like to suit your taste buds. As well as being totally delicious, it’s super quick to whip up; in the time it takes to cook the pasta it’s a cinch to have the sauce ready to go as well! Served with a simple cos lettuce and parmesan salad with a mustard vinaigrette, it’s a meal I’ll be making again in the summer months.

Ingredients (serves two with leftovers): Extra virgin olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, 1 brown onion diced, 1 tin of tomatoes, ¾ red chili diced, large handful of flat leaf parsley, ½ cup frozen peas, 250g green prawns & 250g penne or fusilli.

Method:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook pasta as per instructions.
2. Sauté the onion, garlic and chili in olive oil and cook until the onion is translucent.
3. Add in the tin of chopped tomatoes and mix well to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Toss in the prawns and peas and cook until the prawns turn lovely and pink.
5. Drain the pasta and tip into the sauce and stir to combine. Garnish with parsley to serve.

Enjoy!

Bri x