Frogeatstown

Father's Day Chocolate Truffles

2009-07-02T11:48:00.005+01:00

We made these for Fathers Day. They are really easy and we had great fun making them together. Even my neighbour's toddler got stuck in and made some that looked really good. I made the dark chocolate recipe with Lindt chilli chocolate this time, which worked really well, and made the white chocolate ones without alcohol, becuase I was worried about the mixture tasting that would certainly go on! Fill little bowls with cocoa powder, icing sugar, caster sugar and ground almonds and once the mixture has been rolld up, dip them in the mixture. I go tthese recipes from the wheat free recipes website and the waitrose website.
White Chocolate truffles
175 g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
65 g unsalted butter
45 ml double cream
1 tsp liqueur of choice ( cointreau or Grand Marnier is really nice)

1. Put the white chocolate, butter and double cream in a bain marie or bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure that the base of the bowl does not touch the water ( White chocolate will separate if it is melted over too high a heat). Stir until the ingredients are melted and the mix is smooth.

3. Remove from the heat, add the liqueur and mix well.

4. Leave the mixture in the bowl then refrigerate for several hours until set firm.

5. Remove from the fridge and pull off small pieces and roll into balls. Once the truffle mix becomes too soft to work with place it back in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill and set again.

Dark Chocolate Truffles
125g Plain Chocolate, broken into chocolate button-sized pieces
175ml double or whipping cream
Icing sugar,cocoa powder or nuts for rolling
Icing sugar for dusting

1. Place the chocolate in a large mixing bowl at least 1.75 litres in capacity. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a rolling boil and immediately pour over the broken chocolate. Blend thoroughly until all the chocolate is melted.
2. Allow the mixture, called a ganache, to cool, uncovered, completely for 1-1½ hours at room temperature until it is set. (You can speed up the process by placing the bowl in a sink filled with cold water - but don't allow any of the water to come into contact with the ganache.)
3. When the mixture has set, use a teaspoon to spoon out bite-sized pieces. Dust your hands lightly with icing sugar to prevent them sticking and roll the pieces into balls in the palms of your hands.
4. Immediately roll the truffles in sifted cocoa powder, icing sugar or finely chopped nuts

Blancmange with Raspberry Sauce

2009-03-29T17:35:00.008+01:00

This recipe is from BBC's Saturday Kitchen. The original recipe has vodka in it, which I left out as I was making it with our 4 year old. This recipe is not flashy just very simple and comforting. It would be good to give to toddlers too....

NB: For this recipe you will need a jelly mould.
Ingredients

4 tbsp cornflour
600ml/1 pint 1fl oz full-fat milk
1 lemon, zest only
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped out

Raspberry sauce and raspberries to serve with it
300g/11oz fresh raspberries
3 tablespoon orange juice
2 tablespoon sugar

Method

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cornflour and 110ml/4fl oz of the milk until smooth and well combined.

2. Bring the remaining milk, the lemon zest, caster sugar and vanilla pod and seeds to the boil in a saucepan, stirring well to combine.

3. When the mixture is boiling, add the cornflour and milk mixture and stir to combine.

4. Reduce the heat slightly to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring continuously, for 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat, Discard the vanilla pod (it can be washed, stored and re-used in another recipe).

5. Pour the mixture into a jelly mould, then chill in the fridge for two hours, or until set.

6. To serve, dip the jelly mould into a bowl of hot water to loosen the blancmange from the mould, then quickly turn it out into the centre of a serving plate. Sprinkle some raspberries around the edge of the plate.

7. To make the raspberry sauce, heat 100g raspberries in a pan with the orange juice and sugar. Mash together with a potato masher, reduce a little if necessary and strain the seeds out with a sieve. Serve the sauce round the blancmange. To make pink blancmange, you need to make this sauce earlier and stir a little in to the milk mixture. A rabbit shaped mould is essential if you are on a nostalgia kick!

St Clement's Surprise Pudding

2008-04-15T09:40:00.004+01:00

Looking over the web, versions of this recipe have a bad press. Just get lots of air into it and you should be fine. These are obviousy great hot, but when cold it goes to a kind of egg custard which is also very nice. I made some of the mixture intoa big puddding and the rest in to little puddings in ramakins. I adpated the recipe from the bbc website.

Ingredients
1 orange
2 lemons
100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
200g/6oz vanilla sugar or plain caster sugar
4 medium free-range eggs, separated
75g/3oz plain flour
500ml/17fl oz milk
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Butter a 2 litre/3½ pint shallow ovenproof dish.

3. Grate the zest from one of the lemons and the orange, then squeeze the juice of all three.

4. Cream the butter with the sugar and lemon and orange zest. Beat in the egg yolks one by one. Do not panic if the mixture curdles.

5. Next beat in the flour a spoonful at a time, alternating with slurps of milk and orange and lemon juice.

6. Once that is all in, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and fold lightly into the batter.

7. Pour the mixture into the baking dish, then stand the dish in a roasting tin.

8. Pour enough boiling water around the dish to come about halfway up the sides.

9. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the pudding is golden brown.

10. Serve hot or warm, with or without cream.

Shed Cake

2008-03-26T20:35:00.000Z

Don't ask me how or why!

Cherry and Almond Cake

2008-03-21T09:27:00.003Z

This cake is just divine. Its an ideal present cake for Easter or Christmas. It looks fantastic. I got the recipe from the Good Food Magazine.

200g butter, at room temperature
200g caster sugar
4 eggs beaten
200g self-raising flour
200g glacé cherries, chopped
100g ground almonds
3 drops almond extract
250g marzipan
50g blanched almonds, halved lengthways
1 tsp icing sugar, for dusting
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas 3. Grease a deep 20cm round cake tin and line the base and sides with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy, 2-3 minutes. Pour in the eggs a little at a time and beat well after each addition. Mix in the flour one third at a time.
3. Fold in the cherries, ground almonds and almond extract until evenly mixed. Spoon half the mixture into the tin.
4. Roll out the marzipan to a 19cm circle. Lay this on top of the cake mixture in the tin, then cover with the rest of the mixture. Level with the back of a spoon and scatter the almonds on top.
5. Bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours, covering with foil after 1 hour if it shows signs of burning. The cake is done when it shrinks away from the side of the tin and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Oatmeal raisin cookies

2007-12-12T11:46:00.000Z

I had a craving for oatmeal raisin cookies - and I found this recipe on http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Raisin-Cookies-I/Detail.aspx. It turned out really well, really moist.

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/3 cups and 1 tablespoon rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool slightly, remove from sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Carbonade Flamande

2007-11-19T11:00:00.000Z

After a fantastic trip to Lille, i was inspired to try this typical Lillois dish. I googled various recipes and came up from this one.
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2005/03/carbonades_flamandes.php

It is my first Clothilde recipe, so i was intrigued to see how I liked her style. The answer is, very much! I just used standard jamaican ginger cake that is very easy to get here in the UK, and I cooked it in the oven at 130C for the first two hours before reducing on the hob for the last hour. I served it with jacket potatoes, and I must admit to adding so carrotso the casserole, along with everything else at the beginning.

1.6 kg beef for stew, cut in chunks
3 large carrots
1 Tbsp (20 g) butter
5 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1.5 L amber beer (There are choice of several french amber beers in most big supermarkets)0.75 L boiling water
4 Tbsp brown sugar
- 6 slices (130 g) Jamaica ginger cake
400 g onions (5 small ones), finely chopped
a few leaves of bay and a few sprigs of thyme 3 cloves
salt
Melt butter in large cooking pan or casserole dish. Brown meat on all sides for 8 minutes over medium heat. Sprinkle with a little salt, add in the flour and onions, stir, and cook for 5 minutes. Pour in vinegar and scrape at the bottom of the pan to detach any bit that may have stuck. Pour in the beer and water, stir again.
At the first simmer add in the sugar, pain d'épice torn in small pieces, chopped carrots, thyme, bay and cloves. Lower the heat and cook in the oven for 2 hours at 130C, the simmer on the hob on a low heat for an hour..
Serve directly from pan

Leek and Potato Soup

2007-11-04T08:20:00.000Z

This a soup that I made to use up excess vegetables from the box.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons Butter or margarine
1 clove grated Garlic
two good sized Leeks( about 500g)
Potatoes (about 500g)
900 mls hot water with two chicken stock cubes
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon black Pepper
1/2 pint Milk or cream

1. First, clean and chop the leeks. Melt the butter / margarine in a pan and add the chopped leeks and garlic. Fry them over a low to medium heat until the leeks are soft. This will take about ten minutes. Stir frequently so that none of the ingredients brown.
2. Peel the potatoes and chop them into cubes. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan with the exception of the milk / cream.
3. Bring the soup to the boil and then let it simmer (just barely boiling) for the remaining cooking time.
4. If you want the potato to stay chunky, cook for 15 to 17 minutes until the potato is soft. If you want to blend the soup, cook for about 20 minutes.
5. Blend the soup till smooth if thats the way you like it.
Just before serving, pour the milk / cream into the soup and stir well. If you plan to freeze some of the soup, don't add the milk / cream to the pan, instead add three tablespoons of milk / cream to each soup bowl.

Curd Cheesecake

2007-09-01T20:46:00.000+01:00

Cheap curd cheese in waitrose and memories of my polish friend's mother's cheesecake inspired me to make this recipe. I found the recipe on http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2006/05/cheesecake-with-curd-cheese-and-lots.html . If you only have one set of beaters for your hand whisk, beat the egg whites first off, its a real job to clean the cheese mixture off the beaters, and for beating egg whites, they need to be really squeaky clean. The end result was really tasty - but not the same as the one I remember - the quest continues....!

150 grams butter, softened
175 grams caster sugar
2 to 3 juicy lemons (depending on your taste), juiced and zested
3 medium eggs
250 grams low-fat milk curd cheese or ricotta
125 grams plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Cream the soft butter with caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, whisking thoroughly each time.Mix in lemon juice, grated zest and curd cheese. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix the dough until combined.Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold into the dough, little by little.Pour the dough into a buttered and floured 20 cm cake tin.Bake in the middle of 180C oven for 40-50 minutes, until the cake has risen and is lovely golden brown.Let it cool for an hour in the tin before cutting into pieces and serving.

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

2007-07-30T14:15:00.000+01:00

I had a jar of lemon curd to use up so I made up this recipe. Makes 20
100g Self raising flour
100g caster sugar
2 large eggs
100g butter
250g lemon curd
150g blueberries
200g mascarpone
Preheat oven 180C
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and smooth. Alternatively sift the flour and crack the egg in to the mixture and beat until smooth. Stir 100g lemon curd in to the mixture and 100g of the blueberries. You need to make sure you have 40 blueberries left to decorate the cakes. . Spoon the mixture in to cake cases and bake for about 15 minutes and golden brown.. While the cakes are cooling, mix together the mascarpone and the rest of the lemon curd. You want it to be marlbed so you can still see a swirl of lemon curd. Spread or pipe the mascarpone on to the cakes and put two blueberries on top of each one.

Raspberry Lemonade Cordial

2007-07-02T16:45:00.000+01:00

I got this recipe from a the Sainsbury's magazine. It tastes divine - so summery and the colour is perfect pink. it makes about 500ml.

200g caster sugar
Juice of 3-4 and finely pared peel of 2 unwaxed lemons ( about 175ml juice)
150g raspberries
2 tbsp sifted icing sugar

Puter the caster sugar in a pan with 200ml water and the lemon peel. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and boil vigourously for 2 minutes without stirring. Set aside to cool. Mix in the lemon jjuice and strain in to a large bottle or jug. Whiz the raspberries with the icing sugar in a blender and strain in to the lemon mixture, discarding the seeds. Stir together and chill. To serve, dilute to taste with chilled still or sparkling water.

Malteser Tray Bake

2007-06-15T13:39:00.000+01:00

This is definitely not healthy but a lovely treat. I made it to take away on our holiday, with a big group of friends! I found it on the Nigella website.

100g butter
200g milk chocolate
3 tablesp golden syrup
225g finely crushed digestive biscuits
225g maltesers

Melt together the butter, chocolate and syrup then add the crushed biscuits and the maltesers. Mix together quickly then pour into a lined swiss roll tin and chill til set. For a special occasion drizzle with some melted white chocolate.

Spicy Barley Salad with Aubergine and Pepper

2007-06-08T15:27:00.000+01:00

I found this recipe at http://lucullian.blogspot.com/2007/06/spicy-barley-salad-with-eggplant-bell.html and though it sounded really interesting as I'd never come accross a salad with barley before, and its really nice to have a different carb! It was really tasty with the chewy texture of the barley and the warm tastes of the veg. I cooked the onion this time. I served it with pork steaks that had been marinated in lemon and rosemary. Served 4

Cooked pearl barley about 150g ( will take about 40 minutes to cook, follow packet instructions)
1 Aubergine
1 Red pepper
1 Onion
Handful Fresh basil
tea spoon Cumin seeds
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Dice the aubergine with skin on and sauté it until golden together with the cumin seeds, not too much, it doesn't have to be too dominant a flavour. Add the chopped onion

Cut the pepper into quite small pieces mix with the barley.

Add the aubergine and onion, take care to add the cumin seeds as well, the basil torn into small pieces, salt and olive oil.

Mix well and serve!

Rainbow Chard Pesto

2007-06-01T19:20:00.000+01:00

I got this recipe from http://vegbox-recipes.co.uk. Its a great way to use up lots of chard - which was starting to be bit familar in my kitchen after 3 veg box weeks of it!

2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
Bunch of chard (about 500g) - any variety
Handful (about 50g) pine nuts
100g fresh parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated
Handful of fresh fresh leaf parsley or basil leaves

Method
1.Wash the chard thoroughly and shake to dry.
2. Put the olive oil in a saucepan
3.Chop the chard stems and add them to the pan. Stir and then cook, covered, for 5 minutes.
4.Press the garlic and add to pan,Roughly chop the chard leaves and add them to the pan. Cook for another 3 minutes until wilted,
5.Toast the pine nuts for a couple of minutes (either under a pre-heated grill or in a dry pan)
6.Turn off the heat under the chard. Add the parsley leaves, pine nuts and parmesan. Taste and season.
7.Puree the mixture until it looks like pesto.

Elderflower Cupcakes

2007-05-28T17:20:00.000+01:00

Elderflower is everywhere round by us at the moment, and in our ever present rainy weather you get a lovely scent when you walk past it. I decided to try making some elderflower cupcakes using the elderflower cordial I made the other day. I tried two different types of icing, glace icing and butter icing. I prefered the glace icing as the elderflower flavour came through better.

The Cakes

2 eggs

the weight of the two eggs of :

Caster sugar

Butter

Self raising flour

Elderflower cordial to taste.( you can buy this in most supermarkets if you haven't made it)

Glace icing

100g icing sugar

about 2 tablespoons elderflower cordial

Butter icing

100g icing sugar

100g butter

2 tablespoons elderflower cordial

To decorate - washed and debugged elderflowers ( or silver balls or sugar flowers would be good if you can't get hold of elderflowers)

Preheat the oven to 180C

Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and creamy. Add one egg and half the flour, mix well, then add the rest of the flour and the other egg and mix until smooth. Add the elderflower cordial a tablespoon at a time, until you can get a faint taste from the batter, this will be a matter of personal taste. Spoon in to cake cases ( about 24) and cook for 15 mins or until risen and golden.

When cooled make the icing. For the glace icing sieve the icing sugar and add elderflower cordial a tea spoon at a time until you get a smooth paste. Colour as desired. For the butter icing, cream the sieved icing sugar and butter together, then add elderflower cordial to taste and beat until smooth.

Pull the little flowers off the stalks of the elderflower, checking for bugs, and sprinkle over the icing.

I've been tagged

2007-05-25T16:20:00.000+01:00

I've been tagged by Sparx . I have to think of 10 interesting things about myself. I can't think of 10, so 5 will have to do.
1. I like the colour green
2. I'm a bit mad on cupcakes
3. I'm lefthanded so very clumsy
4. I love France
5. My favourite song in In my Life by the Beatles...

I tag: Anne, Estelle, Charlotte, Michelle and Helen....All who write blogs I really enjoy.

Elderflower Cordial

2007-05-25T16:15:00.000+01:00

This is a Lesley Waters recipe, which i looked up after walking back from a birthday party today and seeing, then picking lots of elderflowers... If i try all the ideas at the bottom, I'm not going to have any left to drink!

Ingredients
20 heads of elderflower
1.8kg granulated sugar, or caster sugar
1.2 litres water
2 unwaxed lemon
75g citric acid
Method
1. Shake the elderflowers to expel any lingering insects, and then place in a large bowl.
2. Put the sugar into a pan with the water and bring up to the boil, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved.
3. While the sugar syrup is heating, pare the zest of the lemons off in wide strips and toss into the bowl with the elderflowers. Slice the lemons, discard the ends, and add the slices to the bowl. Pour over the boiling syrup, and then stir in the citric acid. Cover with a cloth and then leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
4. Next day, strain the cordial through a sieve lined with muslin (or a new j-cloth rinsed out in boiling water), and pour into thoroughly cleaned glass or plastic bottles. Screw on the lids and pop into the cupboard ready to use.
Cook's Notes: To serve Elderflower Cordial: Dilute the elderflower cordial to taste with fizzy water, and serve over ice with a slice or two of lemon, or a sprig of mint floating on top.
For something a touch more sprightly, add a shot of gin or vodka and a lemon slice, or add it to white wine and sparkling water to make an elderflower spritzer.
You might even try adding it to a marinade for chicken breasts. Try it in sorbets, or ice-creams, or just spooned over scoops of vanilla ice-cream, or use it to sweeten and flavour the fruit for a crumble.

Spicy Fish Stew

2007-05-16T20:16:00.000+01:00

This is so quick and so easy! Low in calories too. A great midweeker! I am steadily working my way through the May Good Food Magazine, and this recipe is from there.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
½tsp paprika
200g can chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper, deseeded, cut into chunks
450g white fish fillets, cut into chunks ( I used coley)
handful coriander,
roughly chopped 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Heat oil in a saucepan. Tip in the garlic, cumin and paprika and cook for 1 min. Add 100ml water and the tomatoes. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat. Add the pepper, simmer for 5 mins. Add the fish, simmer for 5 mins. Serve with coriander and a wedge of lemon

Brioche Breadmaker Recipe

2007-05-13T16:55:00.000+01:00

This is fantastic - it tastes really good. It is from "The Ultimate Breadmaker Recipe Book" by Jennie Shapter. I would even be tempted to cook it in the breadmaker too - I might try it next time.

2 tbsp milk
2 eggs
225g white bread flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
50g butter melted
1 ½ tsp easy blend dried yeast

Pour the milk and the eggs in to the bread machine pan.
Spinkle over the flour, ensuring that it covers the liquid. Add the salt, sugar and butter then add the yeast in top.
Set the bread machine to the dough setting and press start.
Grease a loaf tin or small tins
When the dough is ready put in your chosen mould and spread a glaze of egg yolk and milk on top and bake in the oven at 220C.

Hot Harissa Lamb with Couscous

2007-05-10T11:58:00.000+01:00

I got this from the Good Food magazine, and have typed it in mostly so that I don't lose it! It really was quite delicious, though quite spicy. I served it with some chopped, fried red pepper too, and put some finely chopped fresh mint in the couscous.

4 tbsp Harissa paste
300g couscous
120g bag herb salad
4 lamb leg steaks
2tbsp demerara sugar
1. Spoon 1 tbsp harissa in to a jug, fill with 400ml boiling water, then pour over the couscous in a large serving bowl. Cover and stand for 5 minutes. Fluff up with fork, then empty the salad on top.
2. Heat a frying pan. Season lamb, then fry for 1 min each side. Mix sugar and remaining harissa, then spread over the lamb. Cook for 2 more mins each side, remove from pan and rest for 5 mins. Add a splash of water to the pan then boil to make a sauce. Slice lamb and serve on top of the salad with the sauce drizzled over.

Breadmaker Naan Bread

2007-05-07T19:32:00.000+01:00

This is the best breadmaker recipe I've found for naan. I've tried several! Its adapted from "The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook" by Jennie Shapter. I served it with a chicken and lentil curry.

100ml water
60ml natural yoghurt
280g white bread flour
5ml cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
2 tsp runny honey
1 tbsp melted butter, and extra for brushing
1 tsp dried yeast

Pour the water and yoghurt in to the bread machine pan.
Sprinkle over the flour ensuring that covers the liquid completely. Add half the cumin seeds
Add the salt, honey and the tbsp melted butter, then add the dried yeast.
Set the bread maker to the dough setting and start.
When the cycle has finished, preheat your oven to the highest setting and place 3 baking trays in the oven to heat up. Remove the dough from the bread machine and place on a lightly floured surface.
Knock down the dough. Dived the dough in to 3 equal pieces.
Shape each piece in to a ball then roll out. A teardrop shape looks authentic. Sprinkle the rest of the cumin seeds on top.
preheat the grill to its highest setting. Place the naan on a the preheated baking sheets and bake the naan for 4-5 minutes until puffed up. Place the naans under the grill for a minute until the naans starts to brown and blister.
Brush the naan with melted butter and serve warm.

Garlic and coriander naan- add chopped garlic to dough before making, then layer fresh coriander in when kneading

Peshwari naan – sprinkle coconut and raisins on top before cooking then spread with butter.

Moroccan Chicken.

2007-05-01T12:45:00.000+01:00

This is a quick chicken dish with Moroccan flavours - its not claiming to be a full blown, slow cooked tagine, but is great to get a North African Flavour in to your midweek! You can also make this in the oven, browning the whole chicken pieces,on the hob first. I tried it in the oven with whole legs of chicken and it was fantastic.
Serves 2

2 tbsp olive oil
2 skinned chicken breast, diced
1 leek, finely chopped, ( if you don't have a leek, use an onion)
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp tomato purée
75ml white wine
30g/1oz dried apricots
3tbsp fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped. ( parsley leaves work as well)
Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.
2. Add the chicken pieces and brown on all sides.
3. Add the leek and fry for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add all the other ingredients, except the coriander and stir well.
Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
5. To serve, pour into a bowl and garnish with the coriander.

To make a couscous that goes well with this, in the pan you cooked the chicken in, put some couscous ( use packet instructions for portion size), and add 1 and half times as much in volume boiling chicken stock. When the couscous is cooked, stir in the juice of a lemon, lots of chopped parsley or coriander, black pepper and chopped roasted veg ( peppers, aubergine, courgette).

Nigella's Chocohotopots

2007-04-16T12:17:00.000+01:00

These are meant to be a kids dessert but they are great for adults too. They are very easy and look very impressive...

125g Unsalted butter
125G dark Chocolate
2 eggs
150g caster sugar
3 tbsp plain flour

You will need four 150ml ramekins. Perheat oven to gas mark 6 (200C). Butter four ramekins. Melt the butter and the dark chocolate, then set aside to cool. In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar and flour. Then beat in the cooled butter/chocolate mix. Pour into four buttered ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and place in the oven, and bake for about 20 minutes. The tops should be cooked (and cracked) like a macaroon and the cent gurengy and gooey. Serve while hot. This is very quick. You can make them up ahead of time and set aside. Just pop them in as you sit down to your main meal (or just after).

Butternut Squash Risotto with parma ham and thyme.

2007-04-12T12:16:00.000+01:00

This was inspired by a recipe i got from the BBC website, but I changed the herbs and cheese used.

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling..( truffle oil?)
about 5 stalks of thyme leaves, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 1 knobs of butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 small leek
handful green beans
400g/14oz arborio or other Italian risotto rice
2 glasses white wine or vermouth
1 litre/1¾ pint hot chicken or vegetable stock
good handful of freshly grated comte or gruyere cheese, plus extra to serve
75g/3oz pinenuts, to serve
100g parma ham, to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut the butternut squash inhalf lengthways, remove the seeds and place on a roasting tray. drizzle with olive oil. 2.
Roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes until softened and becoming golden in colour.
3. Once the squash has cooked, cool slightly, then scrape the soft flesh away from the skin into a bowl. Lightly mash with a fork or potato masher keeping it fairly chunky. Stir in lots of black pepper, a little salt, and truffle oil if you have it.
4. Heat the olive oil and a good knob of butter in a deep, frying pan or saute pan.
5. Gently fry the onion and chopped leek until softened. Add the rice and stir for about a minute until the grains are coated with the oil and butter.
6.Pour in the vermouth/ wine and stir continuously until it has cooked into the rice.
7.Add a good ladle of hot stock and the chopped thyme and season well with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down so the stock is simmering gently. Keep adding ladles of stock as it cooks into the rice, stirring and moving the rice around in the pan. After about 15-20 minutes the rice should be soft but still have a bit of bite left in it. The texture of the risotto should be thick and creamy, but not too loose. Add extra stock if necessary.
8. With about 5 minutes to go, add the topped and tailed green beans to cook lightly in the juices.
9. Remove the pan from the heat and gently stir the roasted butternut squash into the risotto with the comte, the remaining butter and seasoning to taste. Add any extra stock if the risotto seems particularly thick.
10.During this time, place the pinenuts in a fairly hot frying pan and toss until golden.
11. rip the parma ham in to little pieces
Spoon the risotto into warmed bowls and scatter with the pinenuts and extra comte and the ham.

Mascarpone Lemon Mousse

2007-03-29T13:23:00.000+01:00

This is very light and fluffy, I try to have a standby pot of mascarpone in the fridge. It is very quick and easy.
8oz/250g Mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup caster sugar + 1/8 cup caster sugar for the egg whites
2 lemons
2 eggs, separated
serves 4

1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale.
2. Beat in the mascarpone cheese, the lemon juice and the lemon zest from one of the lemons until smooth.
3. In a clean bowl, with a clean whisk, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form.
4. Add the 1/8 cup of sugar into the whites and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
5. Gently fold the whites into the mascarpone/lemon mixture until no streaks remain.
6. Divide among 4 ramekins and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

Orange Ricotta and Almond cake

2007-03-16T17:47:00.000Z

250g butter
250g caster sugar
75g ground almonds
100g plain flour
1 pinch baking powder
4 large eggs, beaten
100g ricotta
the grated zest and the juice of unwaxed 2 oranges. ( I used blood oranges)
icing sugar
a shallow 23cm-9inch cake tin, greased and lined, or a similar silicon mould..
Preheat the oven to 180C

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Mix the almonds and flour together.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between. Add the orange zest from one of the oranges and a third of the almonds and flour, then beat slowly until the dry ingredients are incorporated, then add the second, and then the third batch of almonds and flour, It is important to do this gradually, so that the cake is light.
Lastly, slowly mix in the juice of one of the oranges and the ricotta . Transfer the mixture with a rubber spatula to the lined cake tin and bake for 35 minutes. Run a palette knife around the edge of the tin and turn out on to a plate. Make up a runny icing with the juice and zest of the other orange, adding icing sugar until you get a consistancy you are happy with. My icing was an interesting day -glow pink from the bloody orange. Pour over the cake whilst still warm, making little holes with a fork so that it soaks in, then leave to cool.

Red Pepper Slice

2007-03-16T17:37:00.000Z

I adapted this recipe from http://ecupcake.blogspot.com/2007/03/baby-shower-zucchini-slice-my-plate-of.html. When I looked in the fridge, I didn't have any courgette, so I used a red pepper instead. It was lovely, but really needs to be eaten the same day, preferably warm. I used a silicon mould, but you could make it in a deep baking tray as well.

1 red pepper, finely chopped.
1 rasher of bacon, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup self raising flour, sifted
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
a few leaves of fresh basil, chopped

salt and pepper to taste
1. Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.
2. Pour mixture into a greased baking tray or silicon mould.
3. Bake in a moderate oven (180C / 350F) for 30-40 minutes until golden brown on top.
4. Remove from tin. Cut into slices. It is nicest served warm. Double quantities if desired.

Quatre-quarts Cake

2007-03-13T17:40:00.000Z

This is a traditional french cake from Brittany. I just wanted to simple cake without any flavouring or rich icing. The recipe is from http://myfrenchcuisine.blogspot.com . I think I'm going to be trying a lot of these recipes. The cake turned out really authentic...

Take 3 large eggs and weigh them. They should weigh about 2 oz. each (60 grams).
Weigh the same amount of self raising flour: 6 oz. (180 grams) or 1 1/4 cups
Weigh the same amount of sugar: 6 oz. (180 grams) or 3/4 cup
Weigh the same amount of butter: 6 oz. (180 grams) or 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks).You can use unsalted and salted butter (50-50), or unsalted butter alone with a good amount of salt (up to 1 teaspoon).

Pour the sugar in a large bowl. Pour the melted butter and blend it in with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Set the whites aside.
Add the egg yolks to the sugar-butter mix. Stir well (with the wooden spoon). The more energetically you beat, the fluffier the cake.
Slowly add the sifted flour and incorporate it gradually as it falls on the batter.
Add some salt (up to a whole teaspoon). This isn't needed if you are using salted butter.
Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat until stiff peaks.
Incorporate the egg whites to the batter, one big spoonful at a time, very delicately, making under-and-over motions until evenly blended. The foam (air bubble) shouldn't "break". This is also a very important step in getting a fluffy cake.
Pour the batter in a buttered cake tin - I used a flower shaped silicon mould, which looked really pretty.
Bake at 350F (180C) for about 45 minutes or until baked (if you stick a knife in the center of the cake it should come out dry).

Rhubarb Meringue Puddings

2007-02-16T13:16:00.000Z

This is a good midweek pudding, which could be made with most fruit.
Serves 2

230-55g/1-2oz sugar
4 sticks rhubarb, diced
1 orange
2 tbsp icing sugar
2 egg whites

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.2. Gently heat the rhubarb and sugar in a pan with the juice of half the orange and the zest of the whole orange until the mixture is soft and starting to go syrupy. Taste and sweeten more as necessary.
2. Pour the stewed rhubarb into two ovenproof ramkins.
3. Place the egg whites and icing sugar into a large clean bowl and whisk together to form soft peaks.
4. Spoon the meringue on top of the rhubarb and then bake in the oven for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Serve.

Chicken in Saffron sauce - Gallina en Pepitoria

2007-02-16T13:02:00.000Z

This recipe is from "The complete spanish cookbook" by Jacki Passmore. It is good to cook for 4-8 people, and could be served with rice.

to serve 4:

1.5kg chicken
salt and pepper
90g plain flour
90ml olive oil
2 large onions
4 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
250ml dry white wine
450ml chicken stock
80g ground almonds
10 threads saffron
chopped parsley

1. Cut chicken into serving portions ( or get your butcher to), season with salt and pepper and coat lightly with flour.
2. Fry in the oil for about 10 mins until well coloured, then remove and pour off most of the oil.
3. Fry the onions until golden and soft;add garlic and bay leaves and fry briefly.
4. Add wine, stock, ground almonds and chicken, cover and cook over low heat for about 20 mins, stirring occasionally to keep the sauce from sticking to the pan.
5. Wrap saffron in a small square of aluminum foil and tast for 2 mins in a dry pan.
6. Grind in a mortar then add 2-3 tablespoons boiling water, stir well and pour over the dish.
7. Cook a further 15 minutes
8. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with parsley.

Valentine's chocolate truffles

2007-02-13T10:50:00.000Z

I made these today....I made the white ones with Grand Marnier, and the dark chocolate ones with calvados....

175g white/dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
65g unsalted butter
45 ml double cream
1 tsp liqueur of choice

1. Put the chocolate, butter and double cream in a bain marie or bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure that the base of the bowl does not touch the water . White chocolate will separate if it is melted over too high a heat. Stir until the ingredients are melted and the mix is smooth.
2. Remove from the heat, add the liqueur and mix well.
3. Refrigerate bowl for several hours until set firm.
4. Remove from the fridge and pull off small pieces and roll into balls. Once the truffle mix becomes too soft to work with place it back in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill and set again.
5. Once the truffles are formed then they are ready to have the coating applied. Put the icing sugar onto a plate and then gently roll each truffle in it, alternatively lightly dust the chocolate truffles with sieved icing sugar.

Mango, raspberry and orange smoothie

2007-02-11T14:58:00.000Z

I got a free bag of frozen mango chunks with a supermarket promotion. I wouldn't usually buy them, but they proved ideal for smoothies, as they cool the drink down without having to use extra ice. The smoothie is a really pretty sunset orange colour

1 bag of frozen mango chunks
1 orange ( I used a blood orange)
1 handful of raspberries

Peel the orange and blitz in a blender with the other ingredients until smooth. Enjoy!

The Best Brownies

2007-02-11T14:48:00.000Z

These are the best brownies. They are so easy, and have just the right chewy consistancy...

150g Butter, Chopped
125 Dark chocolate, broken in to small pieces
3 eggs
375g sugar
1 tea spoon vanilla essence
125g plain flour
30g cocoa powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm square tin with oil, then line with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the butter and chocolate in a pyrez bowl and heat over a pan of water until melted and smooth. Don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
3. Use a whisk to beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl. Add the chocolate-butter mixture and whisk together. Stir in the combined sifted flour and cocoa. DO not over mix. Pour in to the tin and bake for 40mins until slightly risen and firm, but still squidgy in the middle.

Night and Day Cupcakes

2007-02-06T21:25:00.000Z

I didn't have any icing sugar, so I had to improvise...luckily I had some mascarpone and white chocolate, and it all turned out fine....

6oz Butter/marg
6oz sugar
3 eggs
6oz self raising flour
50g dark chocolate
vanilla essence

100g white chocolate
250g marscarpone
100g/ml yoghurt

decorations ( I had some cute chocolates from a christmas hamper, minstrels or choclate buttons would look great too)

1. Cream together the butter and sugar
2. Add the eggs and sieved flours alternately , mixing in between, then add the vanilla essence.
3. put the half the mixture in to cake cases in cupcake tines, half filling each case...
4. Melt the chocolate, and mix with the remaining mixture
5. Top the cake cases with the chocolate mixture, making sure no vanilla mixture is peeping through
6. Bake at 180C for 15 mins or until a knife comes away clean when put in the middle of the cake
7. Leave to cool.
8. To make the icing, mix the mascarpone with a little yoghurt to loosen, then melt the white chocolate and stir in quickly and beat with a whisk until soft. it might become a little grainy, but this should smooth out when put on the cupcake.
9. put on the cupcake with a palette knife, keep dipping the knife in boiling water to keep the application smooth.
10. Decorate according to your whim ;-)

Soda Bread

2007-02-04T20:29:00.000Z

This recipe is the best, I tried a different one this evening and it wasn't nearly as good...I found it on the bbc website

225g whole wheat plain flour
225g white flour
10mL bicarbonate of soda
300mL (one half pint) natural yoghurt
150mL (one quarter pint) warm filtered water
1 pinch salt
This will make two small loaves or one large one.
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F or Gas mark 6). Sift the flour (it's important to do this, as the bread can be a bit heavy) and mix in the raising agent, then stir in the yoghurt and warm water. Mix together well, then coat the mixture with more flour and liberally flour your work-surface. No kneading is necessary.
If making small loaves, divide the dough into two parts and make them into fairly flat oval shapes. Cut a cross on the top of each loaf. Place the dough on a floured tray and bake for 30 minutes, then turn down to 180°C (350°F or Gas mark 4) for another 20 minutes. To test if the bread is ready, tap the bottom of the loaf and it should sound hollow. Leave the loaf or loaves to cool on a wire rack.

Cassis Cupcakes

2007-01-30T13:46:00.000Z

I got this recipe from the Cupcake Queen at 52 cupcakes.....

http://www.accordingtolayla.com/pdfs/wk42kirroyalecupcakes.pdf

I missed out the champagne, and just topped them with normal buttercream - they turned out really pretty, with a delicate blackcurrant flavour...

Orange Ginger Muffins

2007-01-28T18:51:00.000Z

This recipe was adapted from an allrecipes recipe I found...If you haven't got american cup measurements - you so need to get some! they are really easy to cook with...

2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
2/3 cup orange juice
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/4 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger
DIRECTIONS
Combine flour, baking powder, bicarbonate, salt, white sugar and grated orange peel. Stir in orange juice, 1/2 cup melted butter, eggs
Pour into 12 muffin cups.
Blend 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ginger and sprinkle on top of each muffin. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.

Creme Egg Cupcakes

2007-01-23T11:01:00.000Z

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1 packet of mini creme eggs

2 real eggs

4oz sugar

4oz butter

4oz SR flour

2oz cocoa

4oz icing sugar

yellow food colouring

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until soft.

2. Add the 2 eggs

3. Sieve the flour and cocoa in to the bowl and mix it all together

4. Spoon one teaspoon in to a paper cup, lie an unwrapped creme egg on top , then spoon another teaspoon on top.

5. Bake at 180C for 15 mins

6. When cooled, make up icing with the icing sugar and enough water for a fairly thick consistancy. Dye 1/3 of the icing yellow. Put a dollop of white on top of each cake, then a little drop of yellow on top to resemble an egg...

Mustard Chicken

2007-01-23T10:05:00.000Z

This was something I made up, from store cupboard stuff, as I had only 2 chicken breasts to feed 31/2 people! It would be nice with diced pork too. I served it with whole grain rice, but it would work with mash too. Have some veg of choice with it too.

Feeds 3
olive oil
2 Chicken breasts or diced chicken
1 onion or a couple of shallots
1/2 pint chicken stock
1 glass white wine
2 teaspoons mustard ( whole grain or dijon, a mixture of both is nice)
100ml cream ( single, creme fraiche or double)

1. Chop the onions finely and fry in the oil until soft and a little brown.
2. Dice the chicken and brown off until cooked through.
3. add the glass of wine and reduce off
4. add a little stock at a time, then when that has reduced off, add some more.
5. add the mustard and stir in. Add black pepper too.
6. When is all the stock is used and reduced off, so you still have some liquid in the pain, take off the heat and add the cream. heat through until a little thickened.
7. Serve up ;-)

Red and Blue Muffins

2007-01-15T12:39:00.000Z

I adapted these from a blueberry muffin recipe, they have bran in so you can pretend they're healthy!

75g butter
200g plain flour
75g wheatgerm
1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
75g caster sugar
100g yoghurt
100ml semiskimmed milk
1 large egg
100g blueberries
100g cranberries
2 tbsp maple syrup

Melt the butter and leave to cool. Preheat oven to 200 C.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and in a measuring jug beat together the yoghurt, milk, egg and melted butter. Cook the cranberries over a low heat with the maple syrup for 10 minutes or until the cranberries start to go a little soft. Using a wodden spoon, pour the wit ingredients in to the dry and mix gently to combine. Don't worry about lumps, the important thing with muffins is that the mixture isn't over worked. Fold in the cranberries and maple syrup, and the blue berries. You can add orange zest here as well. The mixture should be quite sloppy, loosen with a little milk of orange juice if it is too claggy. Spooon in to muffin cases, overfilling more than for fairy cakes so they puff up over the top of the cake case.Sprinkle with a little of a mixture of caster sugar and wheatgerm in desired. Bake for 15-20mins until golden.

Cheese and courgette muffins

2007-01-12T14:42:00.000Z

These are fantastic for toddler lunches, my daughter loves making them too...

300g (10oz) Self-raising Flour
3 Tsps Baking powder
75g (3oz) Grated Cheese
1 Courgette about 200g
150ml (5floz) Natural yoghurt
3 Tablespoons Oil
3 eggs
3 tbsp Milk
1/2tsp mustard (optional)
a few leaves of basil (optional)
black pepper (optional)

Preheat oven 220C (gas 6)
Put flour, baking powder and cheese in a mixing bowl. Grate Courgette and add to bowl along with yoghurt, oil, eggs, milk and optional ingredients ( if desired). Fork together until just mixed.Spoon in to paper muffin cases, two-thirds full. Put a little grated cheese on top. Bake for 15 mins until golden.

Cheese scones - adapted from Nigella's Lily's Scones recipe

2007-01-09T13:55:00.000Z

These are great - once you've made scones with cream of tartar you will never not again! My little girl loves these for lunch.

500g Plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarb
4 and a half teaspoons cream of tartar
75g salted butter diced
300ml milk
150g cheese
round cutter
baking tray

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C
Sift the flour, bicarb and cream of tartar into a large bowl.Rub in the butter til it goes like damp sand. Add milk all at once and100g of the grated cheese,mix briefly and then turn out on to a floured surface and knead lightly to form a dough. Roll out to about 3cm thickness. Stamp out the scones with the cutter. Place on a greased baking sheet, egg wash if you want, sprinkle with the rest of the grated cheese and bake for about 10 minutes uptil risen and golden.

Andalusian Pork

2006-12-30T18:33:00.000Z

This has some great flavours and the meat is kept really moist from the dried fruit. It would be really nice with a saffron rice, but the people I made it for wouldn't have gone for that, so we had it with potatoes and veg...I got the recipe from the bbc website, its one by James Martin

Serves 6

Ingredients
3 medium to large pork fillet (800g)
4oz prunes, chopped
40z soft dried apricots,
handful chopped parsley,
3 tbsp paprika
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried or fresh chopped thyme
2 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp coarse salt
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
Method
1. Cut the pork open with a sharp knife and open the fillet out along its length, being careful not to cut all the way through the fillet.
2. In a bowl, mix together the prunes, apricots and parsley and insert along the length of the fillet. Season well.
3. Roll the fillet up and securely fasten with string.4. Mix up the paprika, the remaining herbs, the garlic, the salt and the oil to make a thick paste. Spread over the surface of the meat, and leave it in the fridge, ideally overnight, but don't worry if you don't have time, 1/2 hour was delicious too
5. Preheat the oven to 200C/400C/Gas
6. Season the meat and sear on all sides in a heavy pan. Place in the oven for 25 minutes.
6. Rest the meat before serving with lemon wedges.

Beef Wellington, prepare in advance method..

2006-12-27T18:55:00.000Z

I found this method by Luiska on the BBC forum website, it worked a treat and led to a lot less stressful Christmas day! I had served it with chunky ovenbaked chips, which I guess some people would see a travesty, but it was yum! I used onions instead of mushrooms as I'm allergic to mushrooms...

Fillet or sirloin beef
2 chopped onions
200g pate
2 packets ready made puff pastry..

Fry up the onions until caramelised, and when cold ( this is really important for food hygiene)., mix with the pate. then follow the method below...
Sear the outside of the beef & then put it on a rack to cool and drain. Roll puff pastry, cut a piece somewhat bigger than fillet, prick with fork and bake until crisp & golden. Cool. Spread cooked pastry with half paté-onion mix, top with fillet spread with remainder, cut off excess cooked pastry corners & cover with raw pastry sheet, tucking edges underneath, making sure that the tuck-in is fairly minimal or it gets stodgy. Decorate with pastry strips or leaves or whatever, but don't glaze. Refrigerate overnight. Bring to room temp somewhere dry, make a couple of steam holes, then glaze with egg wash and bake.

Christmas baked ham

2006-12-27T18:48:00.000Z

I used this recipe for our baked ham for Christmas Eve, which I found on the bbc website, but which I modified a little. It was delicious. I got all our Christmas meat from Harveys, the organic butcher in Norwich...http://www.puremeat.org.uk/. It was just as good, hot as cold..

Ingredients
4.5-5.5kg/10-12lb gammon joint - unsmoked
1 pint of dry cider
2 carrots, chopped into chunky pieces
2 onions, peeled and studded with cloves
4 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp brown sugar
12 peppercorns
1 orange, cut in half
For the glaze:
cloves for spiking
8 tbsp shredless orange marmalade
juice of half a lemon
Method
1. Soak the gammon joint overnight.
2. Drain and discard the water and pat the gammon dry. Place the gammon in a large pan and then pour over the cider and enough water to cover the joint.
3. Add all the other ingredients to the pan. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and gently simmer for 3 - 3 ½ hours. Skim off any scum during the cooking.
4. When cooked, remove the ham from the pan and place in a roasting tin. Let it cool slightly and then peel away the skin.
5. Preheat the oven 190C/375 F / Gas 5.
6. Score diamond shapes on the fat and stud each diamond with a clove.
7. Heat the marmalade and lemon juice in a pan for a few minutes until it thickens to a sticky glaze. Brush the marmalade glaze over the surface of the ham.
8. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the glaze has set.

Christmas gingerbread biscuits

2006-12-14T17:22:00.000Z

125g soft butter
100g firmly packed brown sugar
75 ml runny honey or golden syrup
50ml black treacle ( substitute for honey or golden syrup if you don't have any, or prefer a lighter taste)
1 egg yolk
375g plain flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
silver balls and /or edible glitter

Royal Icing:Royal icing sugar is very good and easy to use...
METHOD
Beat butter and sugar in small bowl until light and fluffy;
beat in treacle golden syrup/honey and egg yolk.
Transfer mixture to large bowl, stir in sifted dry ingredients.
Knead dough on lightly floured surface until smooth; wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate 30 minutes.Roll dough until about 5mm think.
Cut shapes from dough using Christmas cutter.
Cut a small hole in shapes for hanging, if desired.
Place shapes 3cm apart on greased oven trays.
Bake at 180C for 10 minutes or until lightly browned (time depends on the size of the shapes). Transfer shapes to wire racks to cool.
Spread or pipe royal icing onto shapes, and decorate with silver balls and/ or edible glitter...

Risotto Tricolore

2006-12-06T09:47:00.000Z

This is a simple risotto, with the colours of the italian flag, hence the cheesy name ;-). You can make the base for the risotto with celery, which is more authentic, but i didn't have any last night...The basic risotto recipe is Jamie's but the additions are made up by me!

Feeds 2
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 onion
150g risotto rice
butter
oliver oil
10 cherry tomatoes ( I used the baby plum ones)
garlic
1 glass of white wine
1/2 packet of watercress, rocket, and spinach salad
a few sprigs thyme
100g taleggio cheese ( you could try brie or camembert)
50g grated parmesan

Make the stock up with boiling water , or heat up ready made stock
Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the onion, and fry gently for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the rice to the pan and turn up the heat. Cook for a minute or so, stirring constantly, until the rice looks slightly translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring - any alcohol flavours will evaporate.Once the wine has been absorbed by the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of pepper and the thyme leaves. Turn the heat down to a simmer so the rice doesn't cook too quickly on the outside. Add the stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next, until the rice is cooked but still holds its shape - this takes about 15 minutes.

While you are doing this, fry the cut in half tomatoes and 1 crushed clove of garlic together until the tomatoes are soft and brown.

Cut up the salad and when the risotto is ready stir in until wilted. Add the tomatoes and taleggio, and stir until you see the taleggio start to melt. Serve in bowls, with the parmesan sprinkled on top...

Pear Tarte Tatin

2006-11-20T12:19:00.000Z

I made this for the inlaws on Saturday night... It was fantastic. You will need a dish you can move from hob to oven. I have a le creuset tatin 10" dish...
Sweet shortcrust pastry
200g (7oz) plain flour
Pinch salt
125g (4 1/2oz) butter
50g (2oz) caster sugar
1 egg yolk
Tablespoon cold water
3 large pears
about 2oz Butter
3 heaped tbsp soft brown sugar
cinnamon

Make the pastry by sifting the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the butter, cut into small pieces and rub in with fingertips til it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, mix in and add the egg yolk and enough cold water to make a stiff dough.
Melt the butter in the bottom of the pan and add the sugar. Heat gently and allow the sugar to melt. Peel, core and cut the pears into quarters and lay across the bottom of the pan and sprinkle the cinnamon over. The pears don't need to cook at this point as they are soft enough to cook in the oven, and you don't want them too mushy. Roll the pastry out into a circle that is slightly bigger than the pan, to cover the pears. Lay it over the top and allow the edges to turn up the side of the pan. Be careful, the pan will still be hot. Put into a hot oven 200°C/390°F/gas 6 for about half an hour, or until the pastry is golden. Serve warm with crean or ice cream. Even better the next day for breakfast ;-)

Lamb Pilaf type thing

2006-11-16T10:24:00.000Z

I made this up to use up the last of a shoulder of lamb we had at the weekend. Its kind of a pilaf thing - but in no way authentic - it is just quick, easy and tastes quite good!

Some shredded lamb left over from a roast
1 Pomegranate
1/2 handful chopped mint
1 handful chopped spinach
1 lemon
brown basmati rice
garlic
vegetable stock

Put the rice to cook following packer instructions, cooking in vegetable stock reather than plain water.

Warm the lamb up in a saucepan with 1 crushed clove of garlic. if it is a bit fatty, fry it off so it is crispy...
get the seeds out of the pomegrante by cutting it in half and hitting the skin with a wooden spoon.
When the rice is ready, drain, and rinse. Put back in the saucepan and stir in the lamb, pomegranate seeds, spinach and mint and the juice of the lemon. Add a little black pepper.

Serve in bowls bowls with a little chopped mint on top.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2006-11-16T10:16:00.000Z

I made these yesterday for friends coming round. I decorated the icing with Chocolate chips. I now have some amercian cup measurers so I don't have to convert the recipes any more. This recipe does seem to use the maximum bowls and untensils possible but is very nice. Apprently you can get the red colour from beetroot powder - so I will get some of that next time, as I don't like using too much food colouring. I was inspired to try them after tasting Red Velvet Cake at the magnolia Bakery in NYC last year. They told me the colour was a reaction from the cider vinegar though - Fibbers! I got the recipe from http://www.cupcakeblog.com/

Cupcakes
makes 36 cupcakes / 350 degree oven
3-3/4 cups cake flour
1/4 cups cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder or 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
3 teaspoons cider vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla essance
2 teaspoons red food colouring
2-1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups butter
3 eggs
preheat oven to 350°F
sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder (or cream of tarter), and salt into medium bowl
whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and food colouring in small bowl to blend
beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well fluffy, 3 minutes
add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition, about 30 seconds
beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions
scoop into cupcake tins
bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes
cool in pans 10 minutes
cool completely on racks

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
12 ounces or 1-1/2 packages of Philly cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
3 cups sifted icing sugar
seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
bring cheese and butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours
sift powdered sugar into a bowl or onto parchment
beat butter and cheese at medium speed until creamy
add 4 cups of the sugar and beat until combined
add vanillas and beat until combined
add more sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like

Easy Bolognese

2006-11-14T12:01:00.000Z

Stock pot on hob. Fry 1 Onion until soft. in same pot fry up one cut up rasher of bacon per two people until crispy. Brown mince in sauce pan. Add a little red wine until mostly burnt off. add chopped rosemary, passata, black pepper. put a lid on and simmer for as long as you can, min 30mins.

Paprika Pork

2006-11-09T13:36:00.000Z

This is a great easy meal, that makes a change from the all the ragu sauce variations...
Serves 2
1 onion chopped
1 red pepper
300g diced pork or pork fillet, in medallions
1/2 carton passata
2 tsp ground paprika
sour cream
egg pasta ( papperelle is best)

1. Fry the onion in a little olive oil until soft and golden
2. brown the pork in the same saucepan, until its cooked through.
3. In the same saucepan add the pepper, cut in to rough diamond shapes
4. When the pepper has soften a little, pour in the passata, stirring in with the other ingredients, then stir in the paprika and black pepper to taste.
5. Add a lid to the saucpan, then simmer on a very low heat for 20 mins
6. Cook the pasta ( about 5-7 mins)
7. Serve the pasta under the sauce in bowls, with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Pasta with Smoked trout and sour cream

2006-11-08T12:27:00.000Z

This is a great mid week meal - very quick and healthy, especially for kids as the trout is high in omega 3.... The measurements don't need to be that accurate, just what looks right...

serves 3-4

300g egg tagliatelle or papperelle
a small packet of smoked trout or smoked salmon ( lidl's is good quality and good value)
3-4 florets broccoli or purple sprouting per person
1/2 a packet of watercress, rocket and spinach salad
100ml sour cream
15mls vodka ( optional)
1 lemon
1/2 a packet fresh dill

1. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions, and start to cook or steam the broccoli for 7 minutes
2. cut up the trout and salad roughly
3.chop the dill finely
When the pasta is ready, drain, saving a little of the cooking water. put the pasta back in the saucepan with the broccoli, dill, chopped salad and trout. Stir in the juice of the lemon and the sour cream and heat gently. Season well with black pepper ( it should be salty enough from the fish). Add the vodka if desired and stir in. The vodka is not appropiate if this is cooked for children as unlike a lot of recipes it won't have a chance to burn off. You could however take out the childen's portions before you add it.

serve with a litle chopped dill sprinkled on top.

Apple Caramel Sponge

2006-11-05T15:57:00.000Z

I had some cooking apples to use up and couldn’t face another crumble…
You will need
A 10 inch flan dish or tatin dish. I use a le creuset tatin dish
1 large cooking apple or 2 medium size
½ jar dulce de leche or condensed milk caramel
2 large eggs
4oz (125g) self raising flour
4oz (125g) sugar and a little extra for stewing the apples
4oz (125g) butter
Vanilla extract
1. Peel, core and cut up in to chunks the apples and stew in a saucepan on a low heat with sugar to taste until they are soften but still holding their shape.
2. While the apple is stewing, make up the sponge mixture with the eggs, flour, sugar and butter, mixing them together until a smooth mixture is formed.
3. Grease the flan dish.
4. Spread the apple chunks over the bottom of the dish evenly. Don’t worry if there are gaps.
5. In the gaps, pur spoonfuls of the caramel or dulce de leche, so there is some in every slice
6. Pour the sponge mixture over the top evenly.
7. Bake in the over at 180C for 15-20 minutes until the the top is golden and the sponge is cooked all the way through ( check with a skewer, it should come out clean).
8. Serve with ice-cream or cream…

Yoghurt Cake

2006-11-04T21:13:00.000Z

This is a fanastic cake to make with a toddler - it has no butter or marg, so you can pretend its healthy too!
One 125g pot of yoghurt, either plain or flavoured
Two eggs
One pot of sugar
Three pots of sef raising flour
3/4 pot of vegetable oil
A few drops of vanilla essence (optional)
2 table spoons cocoa (optional - if you want chocolate cake)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 celcius, and then grease a tin or some fairy cake tins for the mixture.
Pour the yoghurt into a large bowl and then wash out the yoghurt pot. Measure out a pot of sugar.
Fill 3/4 the pot with oil and add this to the bowl.
Add the pot of sugar, flour, cocoa,eggs and the baking powder. Mix it all up.
Now pour the mix into the container(s) of your choice and bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until a light golden brown
Eat...

Lemon Cheesecake

2006-10-10T16:16:00.000+01:00

This is a great one to make with toddlers - my sister in law gave me the recipe.

200g digestive biscuits
55g butter
250g mascarpone cheese
175ml tin condensed milk
2 juicy lemons
fresh fruits or grated chocolate to decorate

20cm shallow loose bottomed tin
Put biscuits in to a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin until they look like breadcrumbs

Tip into mixing bowl
Melt butter in a smalll suacepan and pour over the biscuit crumbs and mix
Press evenly in to the tin and leave to rest in the fridge for 1hr
Put the mascarpone and condensed milk into a large bowl. Carefully grate the lemon skin and add the zest then squeeze in the juice as well.
Beat everything together until the mixture is smooth then spread it over the biscuit base and chill in fridge for at least an hour. Decorate just before serving.

Rabbit stew with lentils

2006-10-08T19:56:00.000+01:00

This sounds a bit worthy but is actually really great - big strong flavours- perfect for autumn. People who won't eat rabbit can use chicken pieces instead...Double all the ingredients apart from the rabbit if its for 3 or more people. You could put in turnip, buttersquah,swede or mushrooms in this too

a sectioned piece of rabbit ( leg, shoulder) per person
2 tbsp flour
500ml vegetable stock
several sprigs of thyme
1 bayleaf
1 large onion
2 carrots
1 clove garlic
250ml red wine maybe a merlot?
3 tablespoons creme fraiche
60g green lentils per person

Method
1.Chop the onion in to small pieces and cook in a little oil until softened in a large casserole dish or saucepan with a lid. cook the crushed garlic for a minute
2.Peel and roughly chop carrot
3. Lightly brown the rabbit all over in the same pan as the onion.
4.Add the stock and red wine into the pan and leave to simmer.
5. Add the carrot and herbs to the pan.
6.Stir in the flour until most of the lumps have gone. Dont worry about the rest - they will go when cooked
7. Cook at a barely simmer on the hob top for 1hr- 1hr and a half, until the rabbit is cooked through and the sauce has thickened. Alternatively You could also cook it at 130C in the oven for 2hrs.
8.After 1/2 hour start cooking the lentils by boiling them in water. when they are cooked ( still firm but not hard) rinse them and add them to the casserole dish.
9. Just before serving take the casserole off the heat and add the cream and stir in.
9. Serve a rabbit piece per person, with lots of the sauce and the carrots and lentils and the the same red wine you used in the casserole.

2006-10-08T19:51:00.000+01:00

Spiced Apple Muffins - ( with Dairy Free conversion)

2006-09-28T12:13:00.000+01:00

You will need:
200g plain flour
15ml baking powder
7.5ml ground all spice
Pinch of salt
1 large apple
55ml oil - corn or vegetable
55g light soft brown sugar
1 medium egg (beaten)
200ml milk ( or water for dairy free)
Preheat oven to 200OC/400OF/Gas6. Combine flour, baking powder, mixed spice and salt in a large bowl.
Peel core and chop apple. Fold apple into flour mixture.
Mix oil , sugar, egg and milk in another bowl, then pour over flour mixture. Fold ingredients together, be careful not to over mix as this will result in heavy muffins.
Spoon mixture evenly into muffin cases. Bake for 20 minutes or until risen and golden.
Serve warm or cold.

Hot Blackberry and Apple Souffles

2006-09-26T16:37:00.000+01:00

This is from the Farmer's Market Cookbook by Ysanne Spevack. Again its quite a difficult recipe, and as with most souffles, you need to get it to the table as soon as it gets out of the oven. It tastes completely fab, and is a really pretty pink colour.....

Makes 6
Butter for greasing
150g/ 5oz cater sugar
350g/ 120z blackberries
1 large cooking apple peeled and diced
grated zest and juice of one orange
3 egg whites
icing sugar for dusting

1. preheat the oven to 200C. Generously grease six 150ml ramikins with butter and dust with caster sugar, shaking out the excess sugar.
2. Put a beking sheet in the oven to heat. Cook the blackberries, apple, and orange zest and juice in a pan for about 10 minutes or until the apple has pulped down well. Pres through a sieve into a bowl. You can keep what is left in the sieve to stir in to yoghurt or have with icecream. Stir in 50g of the caster sugar in to the liquid. Set aside to cool.
3.Put a spoonful of the fruit puree in to each ramakin and spread evenly. Put these dishes to one side.
4. Place the egg whites in a grease- free bowl and whisk to stiff peaks. Gradually whisk in the remaining caster sugar to make a stiff, glossy meringue mixture.
5. Fold in the remaining fruit puree and sppon the flavoured meringue into the prepared dishes. Level the tops with a paette knife and run a table knife around the edge of each dish.
6. Place the dishes on the hot baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until the souffles have risen well and are lightly browned. Dust the tops with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Jamie Oliver's Rioja poached fillet steak with potato and swede mash

2006-09-26T16:35:00.000+01:00

Jamie Oliver did this in his book "jamie's kitcten" with barolo instead of rioja and celeriac mash instead of sede and potato....I find this book one of his most difficult and it is definately not a recipe for everyday, but I cooked it for a speical occasion for a sympathetic audiance ( becaue the sause did split at the end) and they loved it. I served it with green beans too.
Serves 41/2 swede3 large potatoes sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 4 x 150gr / fillet steaks, preferably organic and well marbled 570ml / 1 pint chicken stock 1/2 bottle Rioja5 cloves garlic, peeled and kept whole 1 small bunch fresh thyme 6 whole peppercorns 100gr / 3 1/2oz butter
First peel the swede and potato. Cut into rough 2cm/1 inch dice. Half fill a large saucepan with salted water and bring to the boil. Take another pan which will snugly fit your 4 steaks later, and add your chicken stock, wine, garlic, bunch of thyme, peppercorns and a pinch of salt. Bring this to the boil then lower the heat to a gentle simmer. By this time your pan of boiling water should be ready so add your celeriac, cover with a lid and boil fast for 15 to 20 minutes until it's tender.
Place your 4 steaks side by side into the simmering wine and stock, making sure they are well covered by the liquid. Add a little water if needed, but if the pan is nice and snug the steaks should be well covered. As soon as they are in the pan, it generally takes about 6 minutes to cook rare, 8 minutes for medium and 10 minutes for medium to well done. Depending on the thickness of the steaks and how cold they were when you put them in, there's always a bit of leeway in the timing, so the best thing to do is give them a little pinch to check how soft they are in the middle. Cover the pan with a lid, half on,
When cooked to your liking remove them to a warm plate, cover and leave them to rest for a couple of minutes while you drain your cooked vegin a colander. Place it back in the pan adding half the butter. Mash to a smooth puree and season well to taste.
To make a light sauce all you need is 2 wineglasses full of the poaching liquor - you can freeze the rest. Bring this to a fast boil, then remove the thyme and peppercorns, and mash up the garlic which will be soft and sweet. Allow to boil for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat, season to taste and add the rest of the butter. Shake the pan lightly so the melted butter dissolves into the wine - this will make it a shiny lightly thickened sauce. Do not reboil as it will split. Serve each steak with a bit of mash and a little sauce. any leftover cooking liquor can be sieved and kept in the freezer to use again to make gravy from the goodness left in the roasting tray.
Enjoy!!!

Cherry cupcakes

2006-09-26T16:18:00.000+01:00

4oz butter or margarine
4oz sugar
4 oz self raising flour
2 eggs
4oz icing sugar
1/2 pot glace cherries
cherry jam ( I like St Dalfour or Bonne Maman)
vanilla essence
heat the oven to 180C

Mix the butter, sugar flour and eggs in a bowl until you have a smooth creamy mixture. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and 3 tablespoon cherry jam. Mix the jam and essance in so it marbles through the mixture without blending in.

Spoon the mixture into little cake cases, and bake for 15mins or until golden brown. When cool make a thick icing with the sieved icing sugar and a little water ( try a teaspoon at a time) and decorate with a half glace cheery. ( Just call me Mr Kipling!)

2006-09-25T12:40:00.000+01:00

Roast Pumpkin Soup

2006-09-19T22:07:00.000+01:00

4 lunch portions, 6 starter portions

A pumpkin ( the one I used was about 6inch diameter)
2 leeks
1 onion
1 stick celery
a few sprigs thyme
milk
1 pint of vegetable stock
olive oil
butter
sea salt
black pepper
1 clove garlic

Chop the pumpkin flesh in to chunks and bake with a little olive oil in the oven at 180 C for about 40 minutes. While this happening cook the chopped up leek, onion and celery in a little butter and olive oil in a lidded suacepan on a low heat till soft and slightly caramelised. add the crushed garlic, chopped thyme and roast pumpkin in the saucepan and cook lightly for 5 minutes. Blend until an even texture with a blender, then add 200ml milk. make up 1 pint of vegetable stock and stir in slowly until the soup is your desired consistancy.. season to taste.

Jamie Oliver's Summer Tray-Baked Fish

2006-09-19T21:52:00.000+01:00

This is really great and really nutritious as nothing is too over cooked, and minumum of fat to cook it...
Serves 4
700g new potatoes, scrubbed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A large handful of runner beans, sliced into 5cm pieces
A large handful of green beans, tops trimmed
2 handfuls of frozen peas
55g butter
Extra virgin olive oil
2 lemons, zested and halved
A handful of fresh basil
A handful of fresh fennel tops or dill
4 fillets of sea bass, scaled, filleted and boned
Preheat the oven to 230C. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the new potatoes and cook for 10 -12 minutes until they are nearly done. Add all the bens to the pan and cook for another 4 minutes. Then drain the potatoes and beans in a colander. Put the in an appropriately sized roasting tray and add your peas, the butter a little drizzle of oil and the zest and juice of lemons. Season lightly with salt and the pepper and toss together while still warm so the flavours are absorbed.
Chop up half the herbs and add to the tray. Score the sea bass fillets lightly on the skin. Rub each fillet with black pepper and a little olive oil, and stuff the scores with the remaining herbs. Lay the fish flesh side down on the veg. Put in the preheated oven and cook for about 10-15 mins until the fish is just cooked and the veg is soft. Don’t forget the juices at the bottle of the tray - it makes a really nice sa uce poured over the rest.

Courgette, Ham and Cheese tart

2006-09-19T13:59:00.000+01:00

I made up this tart using Delia's pastry recipe. It was a really nice light dinner.
Pastry
Makes 6 oz (175 g) finished weight of pastry – enough to line a 7 or 8 inch (18 or 20 cm) flan or quiche tin
Ingredients4 oz (110 g) plain flour
pinch of salt
2 oz (50 g) softened butterBegin by sifting the flour and pinch of salt into a large bowl, holding the sieve as high as possible, so that they get a really good airing before you begin. Now add the lard and butter, cut into smallish lumps, then take a knife and begin to cut the fat into the flour. Go on doing this until it looks fairly evenly blended, then begin to rub the fat into the flour using your fingertips only and being as light as possible. As you gently rub the fat into the flour, lift it up high and let it fall back into the bowl, which again means that all the time air is being incorporated, but do this just long enough to make the mixture crumbly with a few odd lumps here and there.
Now sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water in, then, with a knife, start bringing the dough together, using the knife to make it cling. Then discard the knife and, finally, bring it together with your fingertips. When enough liquid is added, the pastry should leave the bowl fairly clean. If this hasn't happened, then add a spot more water. Now place the pastry in a polythene bag and leave it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to rest.

Tart
Pastry from above
A Courgette
3 slices of ham
100g Cheese - I used a mixture of cheddar and pecarino
2 eggs
75ml milk
Preheat the oven to 180 C
Roll out the pastry in to a flan tin, prick it and brush with beaten egg, and bake the tart blind until it is a very light gold. (About 10 minutes)While the tart is baking beat together two eggs, 100g of Cheese and 75ml milk. Cut half a courgette in to ribbons with a potato peeler. arrange the ribbons in the pastry case, and arrange some ham over the top in strips. Then pour the egg mixture over the top. Bake until the tart has set and the flling turns golden. Serve with a salad.

Nigel Slater's Roast Chicken Legs with Honey and Orange

2006-09-13T18:45:00.000+01:00

Serves 2
2 Chicken Legs
olive or groundnut oil
2 heaped tbsps honey
2 medium sized oranges
Instructions...
Preheat the oven to 200 C, Gas 6.
Put the chicken drumsticks into a roasting tin and drizzle over a little oil- just enough to moisten them and form a thin flim on the bottom of the pan.
Add the honey. Cut one of the oranges in half and slice the other thickly. Squeeze the halved orange over the drumsticks , then tuck the slices and the empty orange shells under the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in an oven preheated to 200 C Gas 6 for 50 minutes to an hour, turning once or twice during cooking, until thoroughly sticky.
I'm going to serve this with rice rice, green eans and courgettes tonight!

Jamie Oliver's Slow-cooked Shoulder of Lamb with Roasted Vegetables

2006-09-11T15:34:00.000+01:00

This recipe is from Jamie's Dinners. Its meant to serve 6-8, so you can easily have enough for a sunday lunch - ( we had it with mash, which soaked up all the juices, just great) and then make other things with the rest of the meat for one and two meals. I made it yesterday with a smaller shoulder than in the recipe, so we have enough to make in to a curry ( with the liquid and veg from the same dish) tonight. I will just added some curry powder probably, as the gravy already has a lot of flavour, maybe some spinach too though...

2 1/4 kg lamb shoulder
olive oil
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
1 head garlic, broken into clove
fresh rosemary sprigs
2 red onions, peeled and quartered
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 sticks celery, cut into pieces
1 large leek, trimmed and cut
800 g tinned whole tomatoes
2 bay leaves
fresh thyme sprigs
4 ripe tomatoes, quartered
375 ml red wine
Preheat oven to 200 Degrees C (400 Degrees F).
Rub leg with oil, salt and pepper.
Put into roasting tray.
Using a sharp knife make small incisions all over the lamb and poke rosemary leaves and quartered gralic cloves in.
Add rest of garlic cloves, onions, carrots, celery, leeks and fresh tomatoes to the tray.
Tuck remaining herbs under the meat.
Pour tinned tomatoes over the top, followed by the wine. Cover tray tightly with double layer of foil.
Put into oven, turning down temperature to 170 Degrees C (300 Degrees F). Cook 3.5 to 4 hours.

To serve pull bits of meat of the bone, and serv e in bowls with the veg and mash...yum yum

Ciabatta breadmaker recipe

2006-09-10T12:39:00.000+01:00

Ciabatta breadmaker recipe
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 1/4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
Place ingredients into the pan of the bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select the Dough cycle, and Start.Dough will be quite sticky and wet once cycle is completed, resist the temptation to add more flour.arrange on an oiled baking sheet, and cook for 20 minutes or until golden in a very hot oven (230C)
Part of the fun witht his bread is making different flavours - here are a few of my favourites...
Lavender Bread - sprinkle lavender flowers and rock salt on top
Thyme Bread - sprinkle thyme leaves and rock salt on top, can be done with rosemary and other herbs too.
Pesto bread - spread pesto thickly over a half height loaf, then cover completely with some more dough so it doesnt burn.
Cheese bread - sprinkle grate cheese on top
sundried tomato bread - add chopped up sundried tomato to the dough

Pork and Apple casserole

2006-09-10T12:26:00.000+01:00

I made this for friends last night. Its delicous, and the kind of recipe you can stick in and forget about. I served it with a thyme and a lavender bread made from a ciabatta recipe ( listed above).

1 tbsp olive oil
450g/1lb pork, diced
2 cloves of garlic,
chopped1 onion,
2 carrots roughly chopped
6 salad potatoes cut in half
teaspoon dijon mustard
sliced2 eating apples, chopped
1 tbsp plain flour
290ml/½ pint apple juice
290ml/½ pint vegetable stock
pinch of sage
salt and pepper
Method
1. Heat the oil in an ovenproof dish, add the diced pork and brown lightly. Add the garlic and onion to the pork and cook for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the apples, carrots, potatoes and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, then add the apple juice, vegetable stock and mustard. Keep stirring until thick and then add the sage, salt and pepper.
4. Place the dish in the oven at 150C/300F/Gas 2 for 2½ hours.

Quesadilla Recipe

2006-09-09T13:32:00.000+01:00

We made these fab, very simple quesadillas for lunch...Babyfrog loved them too, and she was able to help make them
2 tortillas per person
passata
grated cheddar cheese

Paint the passata on the tortillas with a pastry brush, sprinkle cheese over one side, the fold the tortilla in half. Heat a heavy bottomed frying pan, then heat the folded tortilla on both sides til crispy....no oil is needed if you have a non stick pan.

Apparently you can do these with lots of things, I'm going to try guacamole next time!

white chocolate mousse

2006-09-08T21:30:00.000+01:00

a great white chocolate mousse recipe is
1/2 a pint pot double cream1/2 a pint pot greek yoghurt1 bar of white chocolate.
whip up the cream til stiff peaks, fod in in the yoghurt, melt the white chocolate, and stir in then chill...so yummy!
I've not tried it with dark chocolate - let me know if you do...if you are feeling fancy you can make some caramel and arrange it in jagged edges on the top...

Damson Gin/ Damson Vodka

2006-09-04T11:36:00.000+01:00

There were some damsons in my local farm shop this week, so we made this....for christmas presents! YUM YUM - just buy the cheaperst gin to make it - or you can use vodka too

Take a litre bottle of gin, and drink half a litre
Cut or prick the damsons and drop into the half-empty bottle so that they displace the remaining gin to near the top.
Add one wine goblet of sugar (approx 150g).
All you have to do now is turn or agitate the bottle daily for a week, then weekly for a month or two ... by which time it will be ready to drink (but it is really best kept until the next winter).

Magnolia cupcake recipe - converted to brit measurements

2006-09-03T20:29:00.000+01:00

The Magnolia Bakery Cupcake Recipe Preheat Oven: 350 degrees 180 C

F Cupcake Ingredients 8oz 225g unsalted butter, softened.
8oz 225g sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
6oz 180g self-rising flour
6oz 180g all-purpose flour
8fl oz 250ml Whole Milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing Ingredients 8oz 225g unsalted butter, softened
800g confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)
4floz 125mlWhole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

TIPS: If you have a stand mixer (like a Bosch, or Kitchen Aid) this recipe is much quicker to make. Using whole milk makes the taste of the cupcakes and icing much smoother. I tried using Skim milk and whipping cream just to test it out and whole milk makes a much better flavor. Cupcake Directions 1. Whip butter until very smooth in texture 2. Add sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth in texture 3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating very well between each addition 4. In separate bowl, mix the 2 flours together 5. In separate bowl, mix Milk and Vanilla 6. Add flour mixture and milk mixture 1 cup at a time to Butter mixture. Beating very well between each addition. 7. Spoon into lined cupcake pan (approx. ¼ c batter per cupcake) 8. Bake for 20-22 minutes in pre heated over (350 degrees F) Cool cupcakes before frosting (or else the frosting will fall off) You can also make 3 – 9” rounds with cupcake batter. Just make sure you grease and flour each pan. Icing Directions 1. Whip butter until smooth 2. Add ½ of sugar (4 cups), 1 cup at a time. Beating well between each addition. 3. Add Milk, and Vanilla 4. Add remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time. Beating well between each addition. 5. Add a few drops of food coloring to icing 6. Beat icing well, until good spreading consistency. 7. Over-beating is hard to do with this icing. Frost the cupcakes and then sprinkle them with sprinkles.

I'd just like to add to the post below that these were worth the extra faff from the usual fairy cake recipe, and that half the icing amount stated is ample!

Jamie Oliver - Beef stew

2006-09-03T18:48:00.000+01:00

I cooked this tonight - we had people round for dinner. Its one of our favourites - it so easy, just stick it in and ignore it. Our 2 year old loves it too. I added some couscous at the end tonight instead of the potatoes
Jools's Favorite Beef Stew
(Serves 4) Olive oil
A knob of butter
1 onion, peeled and chopped
A handful of fresh sage leaves
1-3/4 lb stewing steak or beef skirt, cut into 2 inch pieces
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flour, to dust
2 parsnips, peeled and quartered
4 carrots, peeled and halved
1/2 a butternut squash, halved, deseeded and roughly diced
Optional: a handful of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and halved
1 lb small potatoes
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1/2 a bottle of red wine
1-1/4 cups beef or vegetable stock
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
A handful of rosemary, leaves picked
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Put a little oil and your knob of butter into an appropriately sized pt or casserole pan. Add your onion and all the sage leaves and fry for 3 or 4 minutes. Toss the meat in a little seasoned flour, then add it to the pan with all the vegetables, the tomato purée, wine and stock, and gently stir together. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper and just a little salt. Bring to the boil, place a lid on top, then cook in the preheated oven until the meat is tender. Sometimes this takes 3 hours, sometimes 4--it depends on what cut of meat you're using and how fresh it is. The only way to test is to mash up a piece of meat and if it falls apart easily it's ready. Once it's cooked, you can turn the oven down to about 225°F and just hold it there until you're ready to eat it.
The best way to serve this is by ladling big spoonfuls into bowls, accompanied by a glass of French red wine and some really fresh warmed bread. Mix the lemon zest, chopped rosemary and garlic together and sprinkle over the stew before eating. Just the smallest amount will make a world of difference--as soon as it hits the hot stew it will release an amazing fragrance

Nigella's cream cheese brownies

2006-09-03T18:37:00.000+01:00

I made these on friday, they were so delicious and moist I'd definately recommend them! The cream cheese isnt as weird as it sounds, and once they were cool, you couldn't really taste it...
125g dark chocolate
125g unsalted butter
2 large eggs
200g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g plain flour
pinch of salt
200g *cold* Philadelphia cream cheese
23cm square tin, 4cm deep, greased and lined
preheat oven to 180/gas 4
melt chocolate and butter over low heat in a heavy based pan. Beat the eggs with sugar and vanilla. Measure the flour into another bowl and add salt. When the chocolate has all but completely melted, take the pan off the heat - the residual heat in the mixture will finish it off. Leave for a bit to cool slightly before beating in the eggs and sugar. Finally add the flour, and beat till smooth.pour half the mixture into the tin, slice the Philly as thinly as you can and put it on the mixture in the tin, pour the remaining mixture over the top. Smooth the mix so that all the cream cheese is covered.bake for about 20 minutes - the top should be slightly paled and dry, but a skewer should reveal a slightly sticky centre. Cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into little squares.the first slice out will almost certainly be botched - so look on it as the cook's treat!

Pizza dough breadmaker recipe

2006-03-26T17:54:00.000+01:00

I made this recipe Friday Night, it turned out really well. Its from the recipezaar website. I tripled the recipe, and it still turned out fine. The cup measurement is 150g/mls
1 cup water, room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
6-8 servings
42 minutes 20 mins prep

Layer in bread pan according to manufacturer's recommendations.
Select'dough' setting.
When dough cycle is done, pat dough into greased 12x15-inch jelly roll pan.
Prick dough with fork.
Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 7 minutes.
Remove from oven and add desired toppings.
Baste crust edges with butter.
Return to oven for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is done

I made two pizzas, Both with onions and mozzarella, then one with salami, red pepper and ham and a bit of grated cheddar and the other with ham, pesto and red pepper.

Rhubarb and blood orange crumble

2006-03-20T17:07:00.001Z

I made this for lunch with some friends - it was yummy. Feeds 8
7 sticks of rhubarb, trimmed and cut in to chunks
2 oranges ( i used blood oranges)
2 tsp ground ginger
100g sugar
250g plain flour
200g soft brown sugar
200g butter or marg

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the rhubarb in a pan with the sugar and the juice of one of the oranges, and cover and simmer for a few minutes. Spoon in to a deep overproof dish.
2. Put the flour, brown sugar, ginger and the zest of both oranges in a bowl, add the butter and rub in with your finger tips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
3. Add the flesh of the other orange cut up in to small pieces to the rhubarb. Sprinkle the crumble over the stewed rhubarb and bake for 25mins or until the topping is golden brown.
4. Serve with cream, ice cream or custard.

Lemon Risotto

2006-03-18T21:21:00.000Z

As you made have guessed I have an excess of lemons at the moment! I made this today, adapted from Nigella Lawson's "Nigella bites" book

I onion
I leek
60 g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
400 g arborio rice
1.5 - 2 litres vegetable stock
zest of 1 lemon and juice of a half
2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
4 tablespoons grated parmesan
4 tablespoons (60ml) double cream
I egg yolk
Maldon salt to taste
a grating of pepper, preferably white
1 handful of spinach
I handful of broccoli
Finely chop the leek and the onion, then heat with the oil and half the butter in a large saucepan, and cook to soften about 5 minutes. Mix in the rice, stirring to give it a good coating of oil and butter. Meanwhile, heat the stock in another saucepan and keep it at simmering point.
Pour a ladleful of the stock into the rice and keep stirring until the stock is absorbed. Then add another ladleful and stir again. Continue. When you have used half the stock, add the broccoli cut in to florets/
Mix the lemon zest and rosemary into the risotto, and stir in the spinach and in a small bowl beat the lemon juice, egg yolk parmesan, cream and pepper. When the risotto is ready - the rice is no longer chalky, but still has some bite - take it off the heat and add the bowl of lemony mixture, and the remaining butter and salt to taste. Serve at once with more grated parmesan if you wish.
Serves 4.

Lemon Chicken and Ricotta Pasta

2006-03-16T12:27:00.001Z

I made this up last night to use up the last of a roast guinea-fowl we had the other night. I'm sure it would work with Chicken just as well, and it was surprising lovely for little effort.

Served 3 but could be stretched to 6 with more pasta

Cooked chicken strips
White wine
2 Lemons
1/2 tub ricotta
I clove of garlic
2 Handfuls of spinach
1 handful of basil
Pasta ( i used penne)
Parmesan or Pecerino

1.Fry the chicken with the crushed garlic in a bit of Olive oil.
2.When the garlic starts to smell good, add the zest of the two lemons and the juice of one of them to the pan.
3.Start to cook the pasta
4. When the lemon juice has reduced down add a glass of white wine and reduce.
5. steam the broccoli to taste
6. When the pasta has cooked add to the pan with the chiken, the spinach, broccoli, ricotta and the juice from the other leomn. Cook on a low heat until the spinach has wilted, the add the torn basil.
7. Served with black pepper and grated cheese on top. Drink the same wine with the meal.

Restaurants in Lagos and Luz, Algarve, Portugal

2006-03-16T12:11:00.000Z

I've just got back from a holiday in the Algarve. Ate out in some fab and not so fab restaurants while I was there...

1. 1st place has to go to the restaurant above the fish market in Lagos. When you sit down they come up to the table with a tray of fresh fish from the market that day, and ask you which you would like, of course all the fish has been caught in the last 24 hrs and is regional and seasonal. We shared a whole golden bream. It was cooked really simply, charcoal grilled with olive oil and herbs and lemon, served with salad, steamed vegetables and potatoes. It had to be the best fish I have ever tasted, and total proof that with really fresh produce, it doesnt need any fancy flavours or sauces... The service was really friendly too, and by the look of it they had good facilities for kids too, though we were on a night release from childcare so didnt have to test it out for ourselves

2. We went for a birthday meal to La Fortaleza in Luz. We sat in their terrace overlooking the beach. There were 8 of us for lunch including Baby Frog. We started with some really delicious olives and warm bread, then for main courses I had the Iberian black pig, which was again cooked really simply, charcoal grilled, and Mr Frog had John Dory. The lamb casserole also looked delicious, cooked a long time until the meat was really tender and the juices were all dark and syrupy. There was also enought to feed three people in one portion!

3. The Lime Tree, Luz. This restaurant was brit run I think. The food was really good, but too rich really for a holiday environment, and quite expensive by portuguese standards. I ate the Chicken au poivre. The two elelements were seperately well done but really didnt go together too well.

4. The Dolphin, Luz. The service here wasnt great, The had no highchairs. It is a South African- Prtuguese restaurant. I had the Fillet steak. The steak was really tender, but the chips tasted as if they were out of a packet, and both meals were served with a sweet potato mash which was really heavy, and a disgusting green bean puree which didnt go with the other food at all.

Oasis and Pinocchios

2006-03-16T12:09:00.001Z

We ate out twice! this weekend. Friday Nights was Oasis, Queens Road, Norwich. This is a fairly new curry house in Norwich. It is in a converted chapel, open up to the ceiling with a gallery bar round the edge on the second floor. Decor is modern. We had two chicken dishes of course! I will try and remember their names in future now I am writing a blog! Was a bit more expensive than the usual curry house, but the athmosphere was great and was a good setting for a more romantic curry! Definately recommend it!
Pinocchio's, St Benedicts, Norwich used to be a bit pants before its fire, but they have so upped their game... don't know whether they have a new chef, but it has to be one of the best italians I've been to in the UK. I had artichokes in tempera, whic was actually a bit more like noraml batter, so a bit greasy. Mr. Frog had the antipasti plate, which was fabulous with about 4 different kinds of meats, various roast veg, cheese and ciabatta. For mains I had the lamb ragu papperdrelle, which had so much flavourr and was so tender, and Mr. Frog had the Wild boar. I've had it before - it is so yummy. You get this massive hunk of meat, with really caramelly roast veg on the side and smooth mash on the side. Dessert was hazelnut semifreddo to share - Jamie Oliver tastic. The caramel sauce was so delicious - and semifreddo is a hassle to make so its just the thing to have out, especially when it is as yummy as this. With a bottle of wine between us, it came to about £60. hAS TO BE MY NEW FAVOURITE RESTAURANT! They do really cheap lunchtine pasta and pizza too

Welcome to my blog!

2006-03-16T12:07:00.000Z

Welcome to my blog. I have decided to start a blog, talking about cooking I do and restaurants I go to....I love food! I live in Norwich UK, and Live with Mr Frog and Baby Frog. I used to like eating out a lot, but since the arrival of Baby Frog, we cook more.