Pear Tarte Tatin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Spiced Apple Muffins - ( with Dairy Free conversion)

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

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

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

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!)

Roast Pumpkin Soup

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

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

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

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!