Nectarine Scones

"Nectarines?" I hear you ask.

They are a slightly random fruit to pop into a scone I know. I saw them on the Food Network, obviously, but I couldn't find a recipe so I just improvised and they turned out pretty great!

I find that scones can be pretty heavy and carby sometimes but the nectarines really added a freshness. Really lovely for breakfast or to take to work for your coffee break (like I did)

Heres how you go about making them...

What you need:

70g butter at room temp

250g plain flour

50g caster sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

125 ml milk

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

A little egg or milk for glazing

A punnet of nectarines

What you need to do:

Preheat the oven to 220 C and then lightly grease a baking tin and line with baking paper.

In a nice big bowl, mix up the dry ingredients and then using your hands crumble the butter into the mixture until it looks like sand. Now still using your hands fold in the milk, eggs and vanilla extract.

Do not mix too much! It takes the air out. You've been warned.

Now sprinkle in your chopped up nectarines (skin on). Pop in as many as you like, depending on how much fruit you like.

Once its all mixed up, separate the mixture into balls and place on the baking paper. Leave a little room between them for when they expand.

Now brush them with a little milk or a beaten egg to give them a nice shine.

Now bake in the oven for 15-18 mins until golden brown.

Serve them warm...mmmmm

Enjoy!

The basic scone recipe was from the lovely Angel Adore
You can buy her book too, The Vintage Tea Party. Its great.

Cajun Corn Pudding & Peach Salsa

Yes, you guessed it, another southern recipe! Cajun Corn Pudding this time. It sounds a bit gross, the word pudding and all, but I promise it really isn't. It's meaty, a little spicy and a little sweet, it real comfort food. Well obviously as it is souther.

This recipe is from Diners, Drive ins and Dives and I came across it on The Food Network and you can find it here 

We had a little BBQ, even though it was pretty cold and windy, for Dan's mum and dad the other week and these are two little side dishes I knocked up. Any excuse for me to test some new recipes.

What your going to need:

Butter for the baking dish

1/4 cup fine breadcrumbs

4 ears of sweet corn (or a can of sweet corn)

2 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

6 slices of bacon, chopped

3/4 cup diced onions

3/4 cup diced bell pepper

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

5 eggs

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

What you need to do:

Firstly preheat the oven to 190 C and butter the bottom and sides of a baking dish, sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly to coat the bottom and sides of the dish. 

Cut the corn off the cob or just empty a can of corn like I did (cheat!) Heat some olive oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the corn, 1 1/2 tsps salt and cayenne and saute for 2-3 mins. Add the bacon and cook until crisp. Now add onions and bell peppers and cook them until they are a little soft, not too soft though. Leave a little crunch. Remove it all from the heat.

In a medium bowl whisk the cream, milk, eggs, parmesan, cornmeal, sugar, pepper and nutmeg until frothy. Add the corn mixture from the pan and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake for 35-40 mins until firm. Serve it hot from the oven!

It is seriously yummy! My mum was doubtful when I handed her a huge bowl but she loved it and asked for more.

I also made a little peach salsa to go with the BBQ'd mackerel. It was pretty spicy but the peaches added a nice sweetness.

What I used:

1 can of peach slices

2 tomatoes

1/2 a lime

1/4 white onion

1 yellow pepper 

1 green jalapeno

1 tbsp sugar

What you need to do:

Chop everything up into the same sized pieces and pop them into a bowl, I only added a few of the seeds from the jalapeno. If your brave, add them all.

Squeeze over the lime juice and sprinkle over the sugar. Give it a good mix up and pop it in the fridge to cool a bit.

We served it with mackerel from the BBQ but you could add it to tacos or with a salad maybe.

Try out the recipes and let me know what you think in the comments section below. I'd love to hear from you.