Six-Minute Stir-Fry

This stir-fry takes six minutes, from pan to plate. Its super quick, easy, fresh and flavourful. The amount of sauces and spices is flexible, and can be adjusted according to taste.

SIX-MINUTE STIR-FRY
INGREDIENTS:
4-5 nests medium egg noodles
2 peppers (red/green/yellow), cut into strips.
A handful snow peas
A handful sugarsnap peas
A handful of cooked frozen king prawns
Flaked almonds
Sweet chilli sauce
Peri peri sauce
Chinese 5 spice and Thai 7 spice to taste
A handful of chopped coriander

METHOD

1. Heat a dash of olive oil in a pan until very hot. Tip in the sliced peppers, both types of peas, and prawns. Let cook for two minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook the noodles as per package instructions for stir-fry (usually 3-4 minutes).
3. Into the vegetables, add in a dash of both sauces, then season with the Chinese 5 spice and Thai 7 spice according to your tastes. Leave to do for a further two minutes.
4. Stir in the flaked almonds, then drain the noodles and add to the vegetables, tossing to make sure all the noodles are coated. Add in the chopped coriander, stir through, and serve.

Eclairs

An absolute mess. You could call them 'rustic', if you're being kind!

Éclairs! The first time I tried them, they were a bit of a disaster. I went into the kitchen and dug out the baking utensils, imagining crispy fresh choux pastry filled to bursting with rich, smooth vanilla crème, topped with a sinfully decadent glossy chocolate sauce, powdered with icing sugar. What I got was... not that. I was disappointed and temped to throw them away before anyone had the chance to witness my failure. However, guilt and an aversion to waste kept me from doing so. -Well, that, and my mother, who happened to see, and convinced me that they'd taste ok- and they did. They may not have been exactly what I'd been envisioning, (far from it) but they still tasted great! They looked ok too, which was far more than I was expecting.
Recently I tried them again, this time used Sorted's recipe for dark chocolate and ginger éclairs, which you can find here. However, to the crème patisserie I made minor changes. Sorted uses seven egg yolks in their ginger crème patisserie, which I was reluctant to do, simply because I knew the whites would just eventually be disposed of. Seven egg whites is a lot, and aside from making meringue based desserts etc., I couldn't recall many recipes that used egg whites- and I did not want to make macarons again. (Also, two egg whites makes plenty macarons, seven would make enough to feed an army!)
I also topped mine with a glossy ginger-chocolate sauce, rather than melted chocolate, because I prefer my sweet choux desserts to be topped with sauce, rather than chocolate that will set and harden.

Piping skills need work!

DARK CHOCOLATE GINGER ECLAIRS
So here we go; you can find the original recipe here.

GINGER CREME PATISSERIE RECIPE
To be completely honest, you can barely call it a recipe, its more of a simple variation. The recipe belongs very much to SortedFood. All I did was use whole eggs rather than separated, and use custard powder rather than corn flour for that lovely rich colour. You can use corn flour if you don't have custard powder.
INGREDIENTS
500ml Whole milk
1tsp Vanilla extract
1 Piece fresh ginger grated
75g Caster sugar
25g Plain flour
4tsp Custard powder
3 Whole eggs

The method I used is exactly the same, simply use the three whole eggs instead of the seven egg yolks, and substitute the corn flour with custard powder if you have it.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE
100g Dark chocolate
25g Butter
1tbsp Golden syrup
2tbsp Stem ginger syrup

METHOD

1. Place all the ingredients in a pot and heat gently, stirring, until melted. Pour into an icing bag, snip off the end, and drizzle onto the éclairs.
2. Top the éclairs with chopped stem ginger pieces.

Chocolate Orange Pudding

This is a self-saucing pudding, which is basically a sponge cake-like batter into which a sauce is poured- but not mixed in- before baking. During the baking process, the sponge rises and the sauce remains in the bottom of the pan, hence the name. This recipe is a chocolate orange self saucing pudding, a delicious, warming dessert with a light yet rich chocolate orange sponge, and a fabulous chocolate orange sauce. It is best served hot straight from the oven with a dusting of icing sugar, and a side scoop of vanilla ice-cream, which makes it a wonderfully warming and satisfying winter dessert.

CHOCOLATE ORANGE PUDDING
INGREDIENTS:
300ml Milk
75g Dark chocolate
1/2tsp Vanilla extract
100g Caster sugar
100g Butter
150g Self-raising flour
2tbsp Cocoa
Grated rind of an orange
Icing sugar, to dust

FOR THE SAUCE:
3tbsp cocoa powder
50g Light muscovado sugar
150ml Freshly squeezed orange juice
150ml Boiling water

METHOD:

1. Lightly grease an 850ml ovenproof dish.
2. Break up the dark chocolate and add into the pan with the milk and orange rind. heat gently, stirring, until the chocolate melts. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
3. Beat together the caster sugar and butter in a pan until pale and fluffy. Sieve in the flour and cocoa powder. Pour in the chocolate milk mixture and beat until smooth, then pour the mixture into the prepared dish.
4. For the sauce, mix together the sugar and coca powder. Add a little boiling water to make a smooth paste, then stir in the rest of the boiling water and orange juice.
5. Carefully pour the sauce over the pudding mixture but do not mix in.
6. Place the dish on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 40 minutes on Gas Mark 4 until the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Leave to stand for approximately 5 minutes, then dust with icing sugar.
7. Serve immediately, with ice-cream if you wish.

VARIATIONS:

• For a chocolate pudding, omit the orange rind, and replace the 150ml of orange juice with 150ml of boiling water.
• For a mocha pudding, add in 1tbsp of instant coffee to the cocoa powder and sugar in step 4, before mixing to a paste with boiling water.

Gingerbread Biscuits

Biscuits are pretty great. Sweet or savoury, biscuits are wonderful to snack on, whether its with your morning cuppa, afternoon coffee, or bedtime hot chocolate. Of all biscuits, gingerbread is a firm favourite of mine. The spice of the ginger with the dark flavour of treacle and the sweet syrup combine to make this deliciously moreish biscuit.

GINGERBREAD BISCUITS
INGREDIENTS:
300g/10oz Self-raising flour
Pinch salt
6tsp Ginger powder
100g/4oz Caster sugar
50g/2oz Butter
2tbsp Golden syrup
2tbsp Black treacle
4tbsp Milk

Glace icing, glace cherries, raisins or chocolate drops to decorate, if one so wishes.

METHOD:

1. Heat oven to Gas Mark 3 (160C/325F)
2. Place flour, salt, and ginger in bowl.
3. Heat sugar, butter, golden syrup and treacle in a pot until melted.
4. Add to the dry ingredients
5. Add milk and mix to a firm consistency. Knead lightly with hands.
6. Roll out dough and cut into shapes. Place on a baking tray. Add decorations if you wish.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes until done.
8. Allow to cool slightly, then place on a wire rack. Biscuits made with syrup are often soft when they come out of the oven, but will crispen on standing.  
9. Decorate with glace icing if you wish.

Chicken And Mushroom Palmiers

Palmiers.

Sweet party bites are great, right? Popcorn balls, little bites of flaky pastry with chocolate fillings, cute little macarons, biscuits, chocolate fingers... yum. But occasionally, all that cloying sweetness feels like its choking you from inside out. And so a mixture of savoury and sweet party bites are the best way to go. Now, I don't know about you, but I always find savoury more difficult to make rather than sweet, and so I prefer easy, simple recipes that are quick and can be made ahead of time. These chicken and mushroom palmiers fit the description perfectly, with their flaky, golden pastry, well seasoned, flavourful filling, and not bad at all to look at. Made with only a handful of ingredients, these are quick and delicious, and even the mushroom haters enjoy them, which really is saying something.
Because I'm lazy (as you all probably know by now) I use ready rolled puff pastry rather than the blocks. These also ensure a more even pastry thickness, and nice neat sides. (I usually roll the ready rolled pastry so its just that bit thinner, because I think its a little thick.) Palmiers can be made ahead, cut, and frozen until the needed time, and so are perfect for last minute snacks, as party sides, or little savoury treats.

CHICKEN & MUSHROOM PALMIERS.

INGREDIENTS:
2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry, defrosted.
500g chicken breast.
1/2 inch piece fresh ginger.
1 large clove garlic.
1-2 green chillies.
1 onion.
6-7 mild peppadews.
Handful of jalapenos in brine.
5-6 medium sized button mushrooms.
Chinese 5-spice and dried parsley to season.
2tsp fresh mustard.

METHOD:

1. Finely dice the chicken, mushrooms, onions, peppadews, drained jalapenos, ginger, garlic, and green chillies.
2. Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan. Add in ginger, garlic, and green chilli, and the chicken. Cook until the chicken is done through and the water has burnt away. Add in the onion, mushroom, jalapenos and peppadews, and cook though.
3. Stir in the mustard, and then season to taste with 5spice and dried parsley. Leave aside to cool.
4. Unroll the pastry. Spread a generous amount of filling on the outer 1/3rd's of the pastry, leaving the middle third empty. Roll both ends inwards so that they meet in the middle. brush with a little milk to help seal.
5. Cut into slices, and place on a baking tray, leaving space between each palmier. brush with milk, then bake at Gas Mark 7 for 12-15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and cooked through.

Crazy Days

Whoa! Its been a crazy two weeks! Where do I even start?!
Well, my mother (who was extremely ill) was hospitalised for two weeks, so, being the eldest around, all duties fell to me. and let me tell ya, being a mother is NOT easy. Add to that hospital runs, and studies, ungodly early mornings, and terrifyingly late nights... Blehh. I've barely had a moment to sit, let alone type up anything. For the first time in my life, I found myself watching Bake Off through half-closed eyes at 3am, thinking, 'when's this gonna end...' and counting down the minutes. Which is sad, because the last two episodes were darn interesting!
On the plus side, having to do majority of the cooking chores means I have heaps of recipes to share. On the negative, I've not had time to bake much. BUT, due to the celebration of Eid, I did make a delicious blueberry cheesecake, and a coffee-chocolate cheesecake, both of which were a hit. So those recipes are going to be coming up. There's also a cucumber, lime, and mint sorbette, which is refreshingly cool and summery, and vanilla Victoria sponge cake slices which looked 'rustic' (think: absolute mess) but tasted yummy. (I finally purchased vanilla bean paste, and let me tell you, the buttercream icing is absolutely DREAMY!) There's chocolate éclairs, a chocolate orange pudding which was delicious, chocolate orange cupcakes which were a disaster, though the mousse topping was delicious... Yeah, I think that's all. But for now, here's me dropping off in front of the screen, so I'm off to bed.

Oh, look! Its only half past one in the morning! An early night for a change. That is surprising!

Lemon, Basil & Chilli Sorbette

I made a lemon, basil and chilli sorbette. The flavours go particularly well together, so why not whip them up into a sorbette? (That's my reasoning anyway!) For the base recipe I used the lemon sorbette recipe from Linda Tubby's Ices Italia, adding into it shredded basil leaves and chilli flakes. Start with the sugar syrup, one and a half cups of water to 1 cup sugar, add to it rind of 4 lemons, and heat until the sugar dissolves completely, about 3 minutes on high. I then added it into the juice of four lemons (I would've liked more lemon, but four lemons was all I had. (I found, later, that it was enough, the scant 1/2 pint that four lemons yielded) The chilli was a bit of a last minute light bulb- I opened the spice cupboard and saw a bottle of chilli flakes, and so proceeded to toss into the warm mixture approximately a teaspoonful. I left that to cool, then sieved out the bits of lemon, and rind. Of course, that removed the chilli flakes, so I tossed into it anther spoonful along with 26 leaves of chopped up basil. That was done the wrong way 'round, the ideal method would be to sieve out the bits when it was hot, add in the basil leaves so they infuse, let it cool, and then add in the chilli so that there are wonderful bursts of hot chilli in every spoonful, along with the crisp zing of lemon and minty bites of basil. (That's the way it'll be done next time, then.) All that went through the process of chilling, freezing, mixing, freezing, until it was time to blend the sorbette before the final freeze. I tasted it and decided it needed more basil, so into a food processor  went 18 more leaves of basil, along with the sorbette, and that was blitzed until the sorbette was fluffy and churned, ice crystals broken up, and speckled with green flecks of the basil and red of chilli flakes. It looks lovely, but i'm not going to lie, if one didn't know what it was, one would think it was parsley sauce.
But the taste! Oh, I think it tastes wonderful. The fresh burst of lemon, the heat of chilli, the minty flavour that the basil lends to it, it tastes fizzy on the tongue, and the gorgeous combination dances in your month and makes you laugh a little crazy. Its true, I was standing at the kitchen counter eating spoonful after not-so-frozen spoonful from the tub, grinning like a loon at the explosion of flavour and the burn of chilli on my lips, and my brother walked in, took one look at me, and proclaimed that I was quite mad. Mad though I may be for liking it, it really does taste all that explosively wonderful.
To be honest, its nowhere near a perfect sorbette, and i'm sure some may not like it. Certainly if you do not like strong flavours, or cannot handle chilli, or find basil absolutely repulsive, or intensely dislike lemon, you're obviously not going to like it. My little brother tried it and pronounced it yuck on the account of it being 'too citrus-ey' (the lemon), 'too chilli' (the chilli flakes) and 'too minty' (the basil)... Well! Yes, the balance of flavours does need adjusting, as I added a little too much chilli, so that does pack quite a punch, but I do have a hypothetically correct recipe, which i'll leave here, until I get round to re-trying it.

LEMON, BASIL, AND CHILLI SORBETTE 

(Keep in mind this is not a tried and tested perfect recipe.)

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 Cups cold water
1 cup caster/ granulated sugar
rind of 4 lemons
juice of 4 lemons (approx, 1/2 pint)
35-40 (medium sized) basil leaves, shredded.
1tsp chilli flakes, lightly toasted

METHOD:

1. In a small pan, place the water, sugar and lemon rind. Bring to boil, then simmer for approximately three minutes, stirring once, until all the sugar granules have dissolved.
2. Juice four lemons, place in heatproof bowl or jug. (Don't worry about getting lemon flesh or seeds in it, it'll be sieved out later) Pour into it the sugar syrup mixture. Leave to cool slightly, it should be very hot, but not steaming. 
3. Strain the mixture into a bowl, or directly into a freezer-proof container. Add into it the basil leaves, stir, and leave to cool.
4. When sufficiently cool, stir in the chilli flakes, and place the container uncovered into the coldest part of the freezer. Freeze for two hours, checking after one and a half hour. With a fork, scoop the frozen outer edges into the middle, smushing it until it is more or less combined. Return to the freezer. repeat again after another one and a half hour, then return to the freezer until it has frozen through, but not completely solid. 
5. Remove  from freezer, break up, and place into a food processor. Process until smooth and fluffy, then return to the container, cover, and freeze until you wish to serve. You may need to taste it after processing it, if you wish to add more basil or chill, return to the processor with the added ingredients, and process until combined. 
6. If the sorbette is frozen solid, remove from the freezer approximately 20 minutes before serving. 

This is the hypothetically correct recipe. I think I would lightly toast the chilli flakes before adding them into the sorbette, taking care not to burn them, as that releases the fresh, lovely smell of the chilli, rather than not toasted. This sorbette tastes lovely added to a glass of ginger ale, or lemonade, or a melon fizz smoothie. Hell, I tried it with the chocolate gelato I made previously, and that tasted good too. (That surprised me) Try it with whatever you wish, or on its own, that tastes lovely too.