(Swiss) rolling, rolling, rolling

An variation with a matcha sponge and strawberry whipped cream.

I love a good swiss roll! It’s one of my favourite desserts to make and eat (a convenient and dangerous combination). It’s light, not too sweet, versatile, and pretty quick to make. Better still, it’s proven to be quite popular with both of our families.

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Basic CrΓͺpe Batter Recipe

Nutella Strawberry Crepes made by my students (Amreet and Laibah)

Often enough, the recipes that the kids try don’t quite turn out, crepes are a great example. This is no fault of the students, since they are just following recipes that they found online. But more than half of the time, the result is a thick, gummy pancake that someone has had the gaul to call a crepe (rude). To me, crepes should be very thin, almost see-through with some caramelized brown spots. I remember my pastry chef and mentor used bring a newspaper on crepe day, if you were able to read the paper through the crepe, then you’d done a good job.

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Date Cake

I love a good sticky toffee pudding, don’t you? This date cake evolved from a sticky toffee pudding with a few substitutions. This is a recipe that we have worked on since our last family get-together (Family supper club). It is wonderfully moist and spongey with a familiar toffee flavour. We like it best served warm with vanilla ice cream, but it’s also great served plain as an afternoon treat for coffee (or tea) time. Feel free to omit the asian inclusions if you don’t have them on hand, but we thought they made a really nice pairing.

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Pasta “Carbonara” with Onions, Peas and Mushrooms

The word Carbonara is in quotations here because I don’t want any nonnas or pasta aficionados coming after me. We know it’s not authentic – an actual carbonara pasta, would have guanciale, two types of cheese (pecorino romano and parmigiano reggiano), eggs and pepper…But we wanted to make something similar, with ingredients that can be easily found in any supermarket.

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Our Go-To Meatballs

Spaghetti and meatballs

When Nicholas started eating solids, (and I mean real food, not the purees that I had been making him), one of the first things I wanted to make him was spaghetti and meatballs. It was one of my favourite comfort foods when I was younger and I still really enjoy it.

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