Cafe 109 - 2 weeks in and still breathing!

Ok, 2 weeks in to opening Café 109 and I am half a stone lighter, several bags heavier under the eyes, but happy to realise one of my goals! No one said it was going to be easy, in fact my husband said "are you sure you want to do this" about 100 times and each time I said yes, so I just need to disguise the bags and buy some smaller clothes!

In the short two weeks since getting the keys,  Café 109 has catered a marquee event for 80, has provided a fabulous vegetarian buffet for 70, done a dinner party for 8 and managed to keep hold of old customers and gain new ones! The café has transformed the old tired menu, we have given it a new coat of paint, planted new flower pots, had a deep clean and have managed to eliminate the smell of old fat with beautiful fresh flowers. 

I have a fantastic right hand man/girl who is not only great in the shop but a natural with the 3 year old, so both are taken care of in full confidence. In fact my 2 older boys love the fact they now have a place to come for tea, Saturday breaskfast and earn some pocket money! 

 I am avidly planning the future of Café 109, loads of ideas to encourage family dining and give an overhaul to fresh food delivery in the area. Supper nights planned as well as installing WIFI to encourage business meetings in the clean bright coffee shop.

Mondays are activity days for mums and toddlers, offering cake and cookies and a place to meet and play safely and sociably.

Café 109 is also an excellent venue to host my Forever Business presentations, it is amazing how I have already met 5 people who want to improve their life and boost their income by taking a look at Forever.

So all in all, a fabulous hectic couple of weeks, I have enjoyed every minute and so pleased I took the plunge. Anyone recommend a good concealer!!

New Business Premises

Well, long time no blog. Been a very busy few months for BookaCook. Moved house, catered numerous events and parties and bought a cafe to house the BookaCook business.

The purchase of a new cafe happened rather unexpectedly, and rather quickly. I had seen a For Sale sign in the window of the local cafe and thought I should take a look. It seemed perfect for what I needed. Plenty of seating space, functional kitchen, up to date equipment and a fabulous coffee machine. The lady who was selling was closing the next day, I said I wanted it and the deal was done! I had the keys 2 days later and opened for business. Some times when you think too long about an opportunity, you can talk yourself into the reasons why you shouldn't be going for it. With only 2 days to exchange the lease agreement, I only had positive thoughts and looked at how much this could change the way I run my business for the better.

So 1 week in, the cafe is busy, new trade and some old regulars too. The place has been blitzed and little by little change is taking place. Cafe 109 is the place to come for fresh home cooked lunches, delicious cakes and lovely coffee. The cafe is a great meeting place in the village and I hope to encourage old and young customers alike, I have a box of toys in the corner to keep the children happy and have a great healthy children's menu. We also serve free smiles!

BookaCook is set up now to take your party bookings, either in the comfort of your own home or make use of the facilities in the cafe. Its bright, clean and welcoming and can be decorated to create a lovely venue. It seats 20 comfortably.

The Supper club is on its way - a monthly evening 3 course dinner to be held at Cafe 109. BYO - What fun!

Please come along and say Hi, have a cupcake, sit back, relax and enjoy!

            CAFE 109....... THE HIGHWAY.......... NEW INN.......... PONTYPOOL........... NP40PJ

mmmmmmmmmeringues!!!!

My meringues are legendary in our house! I also suggest them to my clients in the summer months for a beautiful and elegant dessert. My love for these little light whipped sugar clouds came from my Dad. He was the master of mini meringues, taking great pride in perfectly icing the soft peaks onto the baking trays and 'cooking' them in the hot cupboard over night. They always came out brilliant white, and his favourite filling would be local cornish clotted cream. If we were really lucky, me may be allowed to have one after the guests had been served, and I would sprinkle in a very 80's way chocolate vermicelli all over mine!

I was asked to make some small ones over the weekend for my friend who was hosting an afternoon tea party for her father's 80th birthday. Here is the method I use for perfect results every time.

4 large egg whites (free range)

8oz caster sugar

1 tsp corn flour

Preheat oven to 110

Whisk the egg whites in a large clean and DRY bowl until stiff peaks form. Don't over whip so it separates.

I use my Kenwood Chef to do the hard work for me. 

I add a table spoon of caster sugar at a time, whisking well in between each spoon. I add the cornflour half way and incorporate.

Continue to whisk until all the sugar is used. You should have a huge bowl of white silky soft peaks. At this stage now you can either make a Pavlova by placing all the mixture onto a large  lined baking tray and spread it into an 10 inch circle, making peaks as you do so.

I like to fill a piping bag with a star shape nozzle and pipe onto a lined baking sheet, making little shapes that resemble white walnut whips. I allow 2 per person.

Place into the oven for about 1 hour, turn off the oven and leave until cold. Remove the meringues and then sandwich together with whipped cream, clotted cream, chocolate ganache or whatever you fancy. I also think lemon curd stirred into whipped cream is delicious. In the summer months, always serve with fresh strawberries!

For a party centre piece I pile them onto a large white round platter, sprinkle with either fresh rose petals or edible sparkle dust and watch them disappear far quicker than the time it took to make them!

The afternoon tea party spread was beautiful, scones with jam and cream,

dainty little triangle sandwiches and a  selection of vintage tea cups, saucers and plates. 

The centre piece was an amazing cake appropriately designed for the garden loving birthday boy & girls (twins). My friend Rachel made the cake, she is mostly self taught and could be up there with Ace of Cakes, it was delicious as well as stunning!

Easiest cake in the world!

Just finished a cookery workshop with a fab group of 5 & 6 year olds in Cheeky Monkeys, Cwmbran. The children loved it - had a great old messy time! The best bit for them was making their own little muffins. I have to share the recipe with you as it is the most simple thing ever. If you don't have a muffin tray, pour the mixture into a lined loaf /cake tin instead.
1 fruity yogurt (  I used Little Stars Strawberry flavour)
1/2 yogurt pot of castor sugar
3 x pots of SR flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 pot of oil
1 x egg
choc chips or dried fruit

Pre heat oven to 170

Empty the contents of the yogurt into a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Spoon into muffin cases  and cook in a muffin tray for about 20 mins. If you are making a cake instead, cook for about 45 mins - 1 hr or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Quick Leftovers Lunch

I am officially on a diet. Only 6 weeks to go until my little sister ties the knot and want to look half decent as one of the bridesmaids! So out with the tea and biscuits, bread and butter and late night chocolate desserts and in with the boring high protein low fat diet we all dread! However, the short time I have been consciously watching my diet, I have actually eaten amazingly well, have not felt like my throat has been cut and surprisingly have managed to abstain from chocolate for over 5 days – and with great results! 

The secret I have found this time round is to fill up on foods that are good for you such as greens in any format be it salad, beans, courgettes, peas, broccoli and cook it is a creative way, serving a lovely tasty portion of protein on the side. I have a new found love of lettuce – not the old boring cold salad lettuce, no,braised iceberg in lemon juice and garlic, with watercress and rocket mixed through.

I have always loved spinach, but I have taken it to new heights with the addition of capers and coriander & lemon zest during the wilting process – no need for butter or oil.  Lemons have become my new best friend!

My favourite dish so far on my ‘green’ diet has to be what I created from the leftovers in the fridge today. Having just finished a punishing gym session, I was in need of some carbs. Never one to waste food (I keep all leftovers!)I opened the fridge and found some cooked pasta, chicken breast left from a Roast and a few cooked runner beans I had made into a salad with Canelloni beans and rocket pesto, all leftovers from the night before. I also found a bulb of fennel, one of my favourite all timers and cut off a few very thin slices.

So, into the pan went the fennel, along with a little veg stock, squeeze of garlic puree and some little cherry tomatoes. This bubbled for about 2 minutes, I then added the pasta, chicken and squeezed the half lemon that was ever so sadly perched in the fridge door, then threw the entire squeezed remains into the pan. With a dash of salt and lots of fresh black pepper, the meal was certainly looking good. With one last addition of the green bean salad, the dish took on a whole new dimension, it looked pretty and it tasted Gorgeous! In little under 10 minutes I had made a very delicious balanced and healthy lunch, and it hadn’t cost a penny as it was almost all leftovers! I sat down to eat and enjoyed every mouthful, shame I had no one to share it with (not!).

Ladies Cooking Class

Last week I held a cookery demo at my place. I have done many cookery demo's, classes and workshops over the years, all in various locations including blustery open fields, churches and schools. My favourite event by far though is to hold evening classes in my own barn kitchen. I have a lovely big kitchen with a large granite island, large enough to seat 10 comfortably. My good old faithful Rangemaster is a dream to work on, with a double oven and 6 hob gas burners.

The brief for the evening was simple seasonal suppers with a fish theme. The lovely group of ladies attending were part of Abergavenny Ladies Business Group, so the evening was both for networking and socialising. 

Upon arrival, each guest was given a glass of wine and canapes. I had decided to go for Stuffed Mushrooms with Herbs, Garlic and Mozzarella and Figs on Crostini topped with Warm Brie. As the class didn't start until 7.30pm, these all went down a storm - I knew I had to get some more food on the table quick to keep these hungry ladies happy!

I had to plan the dishes well as amongst the group we had a vegetarian (non fish eating) so all dishes had to be adapted so everyone was happy. 

I started with a brief introduction of me to the guests. The lady sat to the right of my workstation then announced that she too had over 30 years experience in the kitchen (that's 15 yrs more than me!) and had worked as a cookery teacher and demo chef - well, the challenge was on - not too much pressure then! Cooking then commenced, starting the Fish parcels, Salmon cooked with Fennel & Lemon, Fresh Green Bean & Cannelloni Bean salad with a Rocket pesto, Marinated Mackerel with Horseradish Potato Salad plus a few others. Ready Steady Cook comes to mind!!!

Each dish was cooked and delivered to the table for all my guests to tuck into. In a little over an hour I had cooked 6 main supper dishes and a dessert. (rhubarb compote with Cinnamon French Toasts mmmmmm!) I even surprise myself sometimes at what I can achieve in such a short space of time!

My guests had a wonderful time. A unique experience for many of them. A chance to dine out, learning how to cook at the same time - using fresh delicious seasonal ingredients. In fact so impressed were some of the ladies, the recipes have already been recreated at home in their own kitchens less than a week later!

My right hand guest with many more years experience than me was Super Impressed, so much so she wants me to cater a large family bash! The night was a great success, full tummies, inspired minds and 8 happy customers leaving my home all spreading the word of a their new dining out experience. And of course, a success for me doing my favourite thing in my favourite place - I love my job!

This is the recipe of the night...so simple yet utterly delicious. Can be made using chicken or fish or just with vegetables. Once you have had this, regular curries won't come close!

Asian Prawns in Coconut & Squash Broth

• Bag of raw king Prawns
• 1 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
• 1 onion, chopped

• 4 tsp Thai red curry paste or homemade paste
• medium butternut squash (about 500g/1lb 2oz) peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
• ½ x 400ml can reduced-fat coconut milk
• 200ml vegetable stock
• 140g green beans or broccoli stems
• coriander leaves, chopped, and leaves to garnish

METHOD

Heat the oil in a wok or pan. Fry the onion for 5 mins until softened. Stir in the red curry paste, then add the squash, coconut milk and stock. Simmer for 10-15 mins until the squash is tender. After 10 mins cooking, tip in the green beans/broccoli and prawns and cook until prawns are pink.

Sprinkle with the coriander leaves and serve the curry in bowls with noodles or rice.

Curry paste recipe :

2 cloves garlic, peeled

Thumb size piece of ginger, peeled

1 stick lemon grass

1 small red chilli deseeded

1 red pepper deseeded and chopped

Handful of chopped fresh coriander

Juice and zest of half a lime

Take all the ingredients and blitz in a small food processor until it forms a smooth paste. Store in an icecube tray or small plastic pots and freeze. Use from frozen.

Sausage Supper

                                                                    
Just a quick one to let you in on a yummy quick supper for the children, straight from the store cupboard, only takes 25 minutes


Take one pack of real Butchers Sausages - I used Edwards of Conwy, reduced fat Classic Leek recipe
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 small onion diced
pinch of dried basil and oregano
Squeeze of tomato puree
2 cups of Pasta (fresh or dried)
fresh veg such as courgette, peas, broccoli just cooked

Pre heat the oven to180, place the sausages on a baking tray and cook for about 20 mins until nicely coloured and cooked through.
Fry off the onion, add the herbs fresh or dry, pour in the tomatoes and the puree. Stir well and simmer for until the sausages are cooked.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta until just aldente
Chop up the sausages into chunks, add them to the tomato sauce, drain the pasta and add to the sauce with the veg. Stir through and make sure it is all piping hot.
Serve sprinkled with cheese with a side of Garlic bread

Left overs will go in Rohans packed lunch tomorrow, he loves cold pasta salads!