Bring a Plate

Normally, I am queen of Bring a Plate.  I spend a week - or more - carefully considering the eaters.  Will some be pregnant?  Vegan?  Will there be children?  Of course, bringing a sweet plate is even easier - whip up a cake, a slice, a batch of biscuits, some fresh muffins, a trifle.

The only time I hate Bring a Plate is when OOPS I forgot!  I have a full day Australian Breastfeeding Association training day tomorrow, and I just noticed we are supposed to bring something to share for lunch.  It's too late at night for me to feel motivated to duck out the the shops. I thought I could grab some sushi on the way, in the morning, to put on a platter - but the workshop starts too early for the shops to be open.

So I have a spare apricot cake from my mad baking yesterday, and I have some chocolate hedgehog in the fridge.  But I know I ought to bring something savoury.

In case you ever get stuck with Bring a Plate at the last minute, here are the ideas I managed to come up with, based on my pantry and fridge, without needing a shopping trip.  I hope one day this helps!

• Eggs are your friend.  Hard boil a whole heap of eggs - either make deviled eggs (cut them in half, scoop out the boiled yolks, mash them all up with some mayonnaise and any/all of the following:  curry powder, dijon or seeded mustard, fresh herbs, cayenne powder);

• Alternitively, mash up the eggs with lots of mayonnaise, salt, pepper and either some curry powder or fresh herbs, and make lots of egg sandwiches.  Cut off the crusts, cut them into triangles, and arrange on a plate.  If you happen to have two types of bread (e.g. wholegrain and white), you can make quite a fancy looking plate of egg sandwiches;

• I happen to keep mini tartlet cases in the cupboard (they are cheaper to buy in bulk, and they keep well in tupperware).  You can caramalise some red onions, and put a little onion, topped with some feta (Persian or otherwise), and a couple of bright green slivered pistachios (again, I always have these in the cupboard) if you have them to hand.  Pop them in an oven for ten minutes to serve;

• I tend to have mini toasts / Melba toasts in a container.  A smear of cream cheese, and a tiny sliver of smoked salmon on each is very delicious.  One small packed of smoked salmon will stretch to a couple of dozen of these;

• Hummus.  If you have a can of chickpeas, pop it in the food processor with 2 cloves of garlic, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1.5 tablespoons tahini, 2 tablespoons of oil and half a teaspoon of salt.  Blast until smooth. Scoop into a bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of cayenne (optional), and pop on a plate with some crackers and cut up carrots;

• Salmon dip - mix well, together, a drained tin of salmon, a package of cream cheese, half a cup of sour cream, a few tablespons of softened butter, a tablespoon of finely chopped onion, some chopped fresh herbs (if you have them), some cayenne to taste, and salt and pepper;

• Savoury scones are an easy one - add a good handful of grated cheese, and some chopped fresh herbs (chives are nice), to a plain scone mixture.

• Of course, depending on what else you have in the house (leftover roast chicken, a chicken breast to poach and shred with mayonnaise and herbs, a couple of zucchinis to make zucchini slice etc.), there are dozens of other easy, lazy things to make without leaving the house.  And if you DO have enough time before the event, it's easy to stop at a Sushi Sushi and buy a dozen handrolls to cut into small pieces on a platter.

Tonight, I am completely exhausted (super busy day).  So I am opting for the very easiest choice - egg sandwiches!  I will also take along the apricot cake and the hedgehog.

Big Baking Day

Big baking day!  Lemon Poppyseed Cake, 60 of Granny Boyd's Biscuits, an Apple Cinnamon Shortcake, an Apricot Shortcake (both shortcakes are basically this recipe, but with stewed apple or poached apricots), and 48 pieces of Chocolate Hedgehog (a batch with milk chocolate topping, and a batch with dark chocolate topping)

It's hard baking with a mobile baby around - our oven, like many people's, is below the bench.  This means that it's a giant, shiny, reflective, scalding hot wall.  Tabitha touched it once while it was preheating, and even the gentle heat was enough to upset her.

The options are:  keep the baby OUT of the kitchen (with a baby gate, or appealing pile of safe toys in the next room.  Or a pile of safe, but 'forbidden' objects, like a few old CDs or a pile of washing); you can also try popping the baby safely wrapped on your back - this works well if the baby is in the right mood.  I would love to have a wall-mounted oven, but they just aren't popular anymore, particularly in the 90cm size.


What I tend to do is this:  For 'interesting' cooking, with lots of chopping and colours, I pop her high on my back, so she can watch the cooking (and maybe learn to cook one day!).  For baking, which involves more visually boring processes like measuring, stiring and creaming, I leave her on the floor with interesting toys (the tupperware draw is good!). 


If she gets bored, I stop what I'm doing and we go play for a bit, then come back to the baking.  So something simple like a Lemon Poppyseed Cake can take a long time!  We measure, then play.  We cream, then play.  We juice and zest, then play.  We prepare the pan, then play.  We make the mixture, pour it into the pan, then into the oven and off we go.

I love this chocolate hedgehog recipe.  It originates from a good family friend, Geof - he is known for his hedgehog, and generally has a tray in the fridge at his house.  He also does a brilliant lemon cordial, as well as a lemon delicious pudding.

Chocolate Hedgehog

In a medium saucepan, melt together 115g butter, 2 tablespoons of cocoa, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of dessicated coconut.  Set aside to cool a little, then add a lightly beaten egg, and stir to combine.

Add one packet of crushed Marie biscuits (you don't need quite a full packet - so feel free to eat two or three of them as you go!).  Stir well.

Press the mixture into a lightly greased sandwich tin (or 20cm x 20cm square tin).  Put in the fridge to cool.  When cool, melt together 150g dark chocolate with 50g butter (you can also use milk chocolate if you have someone in the house who prefers it - but the dark is infinitely better, so I do a batch of each).  Spread this over the top of the hedgehog, and put back in the fridge to set.  When nearly set, you can sprinkle some more dessicated coconut over the top, if you like.

Cut into 4cm squares, and store in the fridge in an airtight tin.  Will easily keep for a few days or so.

Here is my Lemon Poppyseed Cake recipe.  It's based on a Madeira Cake from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess, with the caster sugar topping and dense, moist crumb.  It's quite lemony, and I don't use too many poppyseeds - though of course you add how many you think look right.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.  Grease, flour and line the base of a heavy loaf tin (roughly 22cmx13cmx8cm, I think mine is).

Cream together quite thoroughly 240g softened unsalted butter with 200g caster sugar (I use vanilla caster sugar, as usual).

Add the zest of one lemon (unwaxed organic or off a backyard tree, if you can).

Sift together 210g self raising flour and 90g plain flour, set aside.

Add three eggs to the creamed mixture, one at a time, with a spoonful of the flour with each.

Then, gently but thoroughly, mix through the rest of the flour, then pour in the juice of 1.5 - 2 lemons (depending on the size of the lemons).  Add a couple of tablespoonfuls of poppyseeds, stir through, then spread the mixture into the loaf tin.

Sprinkle the top generously with caster sugar - a tablespoon or two.

Bake for around 50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Here are the fruits of my day's labour.  From top to bottom, Lemon Poppyseed, Granny Boyd's Biscuits, Apple Cinnamon Shortcake, Apricot Shortcake, Chocolate Hedgehog.  People often ask me if I eat everything I bake - I do try everything, but with the exception of freshly baked bread and chocolate cake, I am satisfied with a taste.  I have, on occasion, eaten an entire loaf of fresh bread, or an entire chocolate cake, by myself over the course of a day and evening!