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. 

Tarte Au Citron

Smells delicious.

...Or 'The Lemon Tart'. One of the best tarts ever.
I was reminded of this when I saw Norman (yes, Bake-Off again) making a tarte-au-citron, so I dug out the tart tin and had a go. I was not disappointed. Mmm, the taste of tangy lemon cutting through a sweet creamy custard, set in a rich, buttery pastry. What's not to like about this delicious beauty? (I went easy on the icing sugar though. No golf ball and muslin for me, thank you.)
This recipe is from the DK step-by-step baking book. If you prefer the flavour of lemon to be subtle and less tangy, simple halve the amount of lemons.

TARTE AU CITRON
INGREDIENTS:
175g (6oz) Plain flour
85g (3oz) Chilled butter
45g (1 1/2oz) Caster sugar
1 Egg

FILLING:
5 Eggs
200g (7oz) Caster sugar
Finely grated zest and juice of 4 lemons
250ml (8floz) Double cream
Icing sugar, to dust

Lemon rind, to decorate.

METHOD:

1. To make the pastry, blitz flour, sugar, and butter in a food processor. Tip into a bowl, then add in the egg, and mix until all the ingredients are well mixed, and draw together to form a ball.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to fit into a 24cm / 9 1/2 inch loose bottomed tin. Line the tin, cut off the overhang, and then place into the refrigerator. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
3. For the filling, beat together the eggs and sugar until combined. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest, and then the cream. Chill for an hour.
4. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5. Line the pastry case with baking paper, then tip in baking beans. Bake blind for 10 minutes, then remove the baking beans and baking paper, and bake for a further 5-9 minutes until crisp and lightly golden.
5. Reduce the temperature to Gas mark 2. Place the tart tin on a baking tray. Carefully pour in the filling, taking care to avoid dripping. Do not allow the filling to spill over. Bake for 30 minutes, or until just set.
6. Remove from oven and leave to cool. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with lemon rind. Serve.

Chocolate, Beetroot, & Pine-Nut Gelato

Upon spying a packet of cooked beetroot lying atop the kitchen counter, my thoughts immediately
jumped to 'gelato!' maybe it was bake-off. Maybe it was my sudden craving for chocolate ice cream. Who knows? What I did do is go ahead and make a gelato containing beetroot. And chocolate. And pine nuts for an added texture and crunch. And so the chocolate, beetroot, and pine-nut gelato was born.

I really do not know how to make chocolate ice-cream
look more appetising. I tried. It's brown. 'nuff said.

I used cooked, packaged, whole beetroot for this recipe. The chocolate required should have at least 60% cocoa solids, the more the better. And although the original recipe I adapted calls for a sugar thermometer, I do not own one (yet) so I made do without. Also, if you have an ice cream machine, it would be extremely helpful. I do not, so I had to make do with beaters, and then clean up a lot of mess. (Ah, the joy.)
The original recipe can be found in a book called 'Ices Italia', by Linda Tubby, which is an absolutely amazing book. I love it. You should definitely do yourself a favour and purchase it. It's great, I swear. So, without further ado, here we go:

CHOCOLATE, BEETROOT, AND PINE-NUT GELATO

INGREDIENTS:
175ml Whole milk
65g Caster sugar
2 Eggs
125g Good quality dark chocolate
142ml Whipping cream
3oz Pine nuts, lightly toasted
3 cooked whole beetroots, Pureed.

METHOD:

1. Pour the milk in a saucepan and heat over low heat until bubbles start to appear around the edges.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and sugar together in a heatproof bowl. Pour in the hot milk and stir well.
3. Wash out the pan and pour the mixture back in. Cook over a medium heat with a heat diffuser mat under the pan, whisking constantly, for 8-10 minutes, until the foam begins to disappear from the surface. (if you have a sugar thermometer, let the temperature reach 75oC/167oF. Do not let it get any hotter, otherwise it will curdle. If you do not own a heat thermometer, continue cooking whilst whisking until most of the bubbles disappear from the

   

   Adding in the chocolate.
   Gorgeous colour, isn't it?

Coffee & Pecan Cupcakes

Cupcake!

 So! The Recipe! Well. I packed up all the cupcakes and sent them off... And then I made some more. Because I wanted cupcakes and there were none left. And guess what? This time, I made the coffee chocolate crème before I began with the cupcakes, and it thickened and set beautifully! And these cupcakes were much, much more yummier! For the first batch of cupcakes, I used the step-by-step Butter-and-sugar, then eggs, then flour and flavours method, but for the second batch, I used the all in one method, and I was done so much quicker. Also, For the first batch, because the crème did not set enough (I lack patience), I mixed in extra blitzed nuts. Today, I didn't bother, because there was no need. I did, however, add extra into the cake mixture to balance the coffee, and to make up for the lack of nuts in the crème. I also used a Philadelphia/cream icing for the top today, which is much smoother, and tasted better (I think, anyway), so I'll mention that recipe, however, if you do want to use the mascarpone-cream frosting recipe, head over to my Tiramisu cupcakes post, and you'll find that recipe there.
(Also, the coffee-chocolate crème recipe and idea is shamelessly stolen from the episode of Sweets Made Simple by Kitty Hope and Mark Greenwood) (I have no regrets.)

COFFEE AND PECAN CUPCAKES
Makes approximately 18

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE CAKE:
4oz Baking butter
4oz Caster sugar
4oz Self-Raising Flour
1tsp Baking powder
3oz Pecans, Blitzed
3tsp Instant coffee, dissolved in 2tsp boiling water
2oz Grated dark chocolate
2tsp Vanilla extract

FOR THE COFFEE CREME:
4tbsp Coffee and Chicory essence
3tbsp Cold water
2tbsp Light soft brown sugar
100g Milk chocolate, broken into pieces.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
142ml Double/whipping cream
140g Philadelphia
1tsp Vanilla extract
Icing sugar to sweeten.

METHOD:
FOR THE COFFEE CREME:

1. Place coffee and chicory in a small saucepan. Add in the water and sugar and bring to a boil, stirring. lower the heat and let simmer for 1 minute.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate, whisking until melted and well combined.
3. Let it cool slightly, and then place into the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, until thickened and set slightly.

FOR THE CAKE:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, chocolate and pecans. Add in butter, eggs, vanilla extract and coffee, and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes, until well combined.
2. Divide into cupcake cases, putting in enough batter so that they're 3/4 full.
3. Bake on Gas Mark 5 (Moderately hot) for 15-18 minutes, until they have risen well and the skewer comes out clean.
4. Leave to cool.
5. Once cooled, carefully cut a circle into the top of each cake. Lift out gently and place a spoonful of crème into each, replacing with the cut out cake. Press in gently. (It may ooze out a little, but that doesn't matter, it'll get covered with the frosting.)

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir gently until combined. Whisk in medium/high speed until thickened. It will still have a slightly soft consistency. Do not over whip, as it may split.
2. Place in a piping bag with a star nozzle, and pipe over each cupcake.
3. Decorate cupcakes with whole pecans, dust with cocoa, or leave plain. It's up to you, really, whatever suits your fancy.

This process may seem slightly lengthy, but its worth it, I swear. The whole process, took me two hours- more or less- from start to finish, including clean up, breakfast, and various other chores. Making the frosting whilst the cakes are cooking saves time, and the best thing is, you don't need to let the cakes cool completely before filling them with the crème, and by the time you're done doing that, they're cooled enough for the frosting, because the crème is chilled enough to cool the cupcake.
I think cupcakes make such wonderful wedding favours, don't you?

They remind me of 99p flake ice-cream cones for some reason.

(My blogger is messing up again. It's not letting me add any pictures. I'll try again later. However, you can find picures on my Instagram page, @emmyjay19 , and on my twitter page, @MyraJay7 if you wish.)
EDIT: Ok, pictures working again.

Cupcakes...

My father requested that I make cupcakes for him to share with his work colleagues. Well, of course I jumped at the opportunity to try out a new recipe... but then I was stumped. What flavours should I go for? What should go in the middle? What should they be topped with? I don't want to do something dull and boring, because, to be honest, baking generic, dull things is tedious and mind-numbingly boring, and extremely off putting. If I want to make something, I want it to be exciting! It has to be original, new, different, wonderful!... otherwise what's the point?
... I think I'm going to go with coffee and pecan.
Yes, yes, that's quite generic and so normal, quite a classic, I know, I know. But I have to take into consideration the recipients of said cupcakes, while they're not old, shrivelled up dried prunes that enjoy nothing more that looking down their noses at all thing experimental and new, they're probably not going to appreciate something crazy such as black pepper and honey, or earl grey and orange. And my father finds the colour of red velvet absolutely repulsive. same goes for blue velvet, purple, or green. He's not a fan of strange, or vibrant coloured food. (He once told me that the brown colour of chocolate ice-cream was off-putting, and therefore made it look unpalatable. I was left bemused and temporarily speechless.) But. Generic though the flavour combinations may be, I guarantee you my cupcakes will be opposite. (Fingers firmly crossed!)
I plan on making them tomorrow. For the cupcakes, I intend to loosely follow the recipe for the tiramisu cupcakes, adding into it ground pecans. After the cakes are done, I shall cut of some of the top and add a filling of coffee and chocolate crème. And as for the topping, well, I've not decided yet. Maybe I'll go for a mascarpone frosting, or a white chocolate frosting with a dash of coffee, topped with the classic pecan half? hmm. I don't want to add so much coffee so as to overbalance the taste of pecan, but then again, if its a coffee cupcake, it should really taste of coffee. I don't know. I'll wing it when the time comes!
So hopes on line for tomorrow! I shall post my results. And pictures...

UPDATE:
I decided to get an early start today; make the cakes, then pop to Asda while they cool for mascarpone and cream... so I prepped my ingredients, and put the butter and sugar in the Kenwood to cream... and then discovered I had no cupcake cases left, except garish pink ones with hearts and heels that are truly an eyesore. So a trip to Asda for five ingredients turned into an hour long trip that resulted in us coming back with half the week's shopping, and many other things besides.
Anyway, the cakes are done and cool, (and taste yummy according to my mother) and I'm just waiting for the crème to chill and set slightly, so I can finish filling and decorating the cupcakes. I'm sorely tempted to put the damn thing in the quick freeze, it's taking that long. I knew I should have done that first!
Aw hell, I'm putting it in the quick freeze. Fingers crossed it doesn't form ice crystals and turn into a gelato-sorbette hybrid.


UPDATE (LATER STILL..)
Whooooo they taste great! And they look pretty darn good too. I made 20 for my father's colleagues, as requested, and there were a few extra besides, which are all gone now. (Majority were scoffed by my younger siblings as soon as they returned from school.) All that's left to do is pack them up into individual cupcake boxes to be sent off tomorrow, but I've left that bit for morning, because I find that the cupcakes tend to absorb the smell of cardboard if left in the boxes too long.
Overall, they're a pretty darn good take on the classic coffee and walnut cake, if the reactions (and empty plates) are anything to go by. My momma has already requested that I make more so she can 'enjoy them with her cuppa.' I shall post the recipe tomorrow. Or whenever I can. Which will hopefully be soon...

Battered Chicken Strips With Roast Veg

Dinner yesterday was lazy dinner of fried battered chicken strips, roast veg, and salad (read: lettuce). Except it wasn't, because who knew frying chicken could take so long- and make so much mess? Well, yes, I guess that if you're baking two things at once that need to be kept-a-close-eye-on, frying chicken, putting away the shopping, and setting the table at once, it is going turn into a long- and messy- process. For some reason I always end up doing things like that. I could win awards for multi-tasking. (And mess-making, but let's just ignore that.)
Anyhow, when all was said and done, dinner was quite delicious. And easy too, if you stick to one thing at a time.

BATTERED CHICKEN STRIPS WITH ROAST VEG

INGREDIENTS:
For the chicken:
500g Boneless chicken
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt
Freshly ground white pepper
For the batter
3 Cups plain flour
2 Eggs
3 Cups soda water
3tsp dried sage, crushed
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

1. Cut the chicken into strips.
2. In a bowl, mix together the garlic, salt and pepper, and then add in the chicken strips. Mix thoroughly, and then set aside for approximately an hour.
3. Mix all the ingredients together to form a smooth batter. You may need to add in more soda water if the mixture is too thick.
4. Dip the chicken pieces in plain flour, then dip in batter. Fry in batches  on low heat until the chicken is cooked through, and the batter is crisp and golden. Place on a kitchen towel to drain.

Roast veg:
1 Butternut, peeled, deseeded, and cut into chunks
7-8 Shallots, peeled and cut into quarters

 METHOD:


1. Boil butternut and shallots separately until just softened. Drain and place into small roasting tins.
2. Into the butternut, add butter, salt, sugar, a sprinkle of chilli flakes, rosemary, and a drizzle of lemon juice. Toss until mixed.
3. For the shallots, place olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon, rosemary, honey, chilli flakes, and red wine vinegar in a bowl. Stir thoroughly until combined, then drizzle over the shallots and toss until coated evenly.
4. Place both trays into the oven, and bake until cooked through and slightly crisp at the edges.

Serve chicken strips with roast vegetables and salad.

"Pass The Scones, Please!"

Absolutely delicious.

Yep, you guessed it. It's a scone recipe. The perfect British cliché, scones slathered with strawberry jam and lashings
of cream, perfect with a hot cuppa for afternoon tea. This scone recipe produces the unhealthiest, yummiest, lightest and most delicious scones I've tasted. And I've tasted a LOT of scones.
To achieve light, soft scones, avoid handling the scone dough too much. You can add whatever you wish into the mixture at step 3, be it chocolate chips, candied peel or dried fruit. The recipe says three cups of flour, but more or less may be needed, depending on the consistency of the dough.

INGREDIENTS:
2tbsp Clarified or unsalted butter
3tbsp Caster sugar
1 Egg
1 Cup double cream
1tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Salt
2tsp Baking powder
3 Cups plain flour

METHOD:

1. Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy
2. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat well.
3. Stir in double cream. do not beat.
4. Mix together the dry ingredients, then sift into the cream mixture and fold in until it forms a soft dough.
5. Roll out dough and cut into rounds.
6. Place on a baking sheet and brush with milk. Bake at gas mark 7 until the scones crack slightly, then lower the temperature to 5, and bake until golden.
7. Remove from oven, sandwich with generous amounts of cream and jam, and enjoy.

Impatiently waiting for scones to cool!

Baked Fish Fillets In A Tomato & Basil Sauce

This is a recipe for fish fillets in a tomato sauce flavoured with basil with added tang from the pepperdews, jalapenos and olives. It makes quite a yummy meal altogether, served with crusty bread, or plain boiled rice. Go easy on the pepper when seasoning the fish fillets, (although I'm sure you don't need to be reminded) (I do need to be reminded) I added far too much pepper to the fish fillets, so overall the dish packed quite a punch, runny noses and all!
You can use fresh or frozen fish fillets. Fresh is better, and better tasting too, but I had to make do with frozen. It still tasted wonderful, though!

BAKED FISH FILLETS IN A TOMATO AND BASIL SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:
2 Large fish fillets (cod or haddock)
2-4 Cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 Medium red chilli
1 Tin chopped tomatoes, plus 2 fresh tomatoes, pureed
1 Green pepper
4 Pepperdews, chopped
4 Sundried tomatoes, chopped
Handful jalapenos, chopped
2 large bunches fresh basil
Crushed sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Generous amount green or black olives.

METHOD:

1. Heat a little olive oil in a pot. Add in garlic and red chilli, slit so it does not pop, and cook until garlic has softened, but not browned.
2. Pour in the pureed tomato. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat slightly. Chop the green pepper into large squares, add into the sauce, and simmer until the sauce is mostly reduced and the peppers are slightly softened.
3. Add in the sundried tomatoes, jalapenos, pepperdews. Roughly tear up the basil, and add into the sauce, retaining some to sprinkle on top.
4. Simmer until the sauce is completely reduced. add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Wash and pat dry fish fillets. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
6. Pour the sauce into an ovenproof dish. place the fish fillets on top. Sprinkle with sliced olives, then scatter the torn retained basil leaves on top.
7. Bake in a moderate oven until the fish is cooked through and breaks easily, but is not dried out.
8. Serve with crusty bread, or salted boiled rice.

Done!

Paprika, Parsley & Cheese Chilli Plaited Loaf

 

There it is, all finished now.

I love bread. Whenever I go to the supermarket, I always spend ages at the bread counter, looking at, and gaining inspiration from all the flavours of the rolls and twists and buns. Mmm. More than that, I love making bread at home, experimenting with sweet and savoury flavours. The only thing about bread is that it is quite time consuming; not the individual parts of the process, but the process as a whole, the waiting, mainly. So I don't make it as often as I'd like. But after all the hype about bread this week, yes, I am talking about Bake-off, I really wanted to make bread. And so I did. Paprika, parsley and cheese chilli bread. The lovely smell permeates the house, and it tastes absolutely wonderful. I realised, when I was watching Bake-off, that I do the exact thing I accuse my mother of doing, which is just throwing in amounts of ingredients, seemingly at random. It's like those old fashioned cookbooks, before the concept of standardised measuring cups and spoons was brought about courtesy of Fannie Farmer (yes, I watch far too many repeats of QI); 'take a goodly pinch of spice...', But I do the exact same thing when I'm cooking or baking a recipe I am familiar with. So today, when making this bread, I endeavoured to measure the amounts of ingredients so that I may write up this recipe accurately.  I ran out of parsley though, fresh and dried, which was irksome. And then there wasn't enough mature cheddar, so I used some Red Leicester as well. And also, I think it still needed more chilli, although last time I made it, it was far too chilli, (and the taste of chilli develops with each passing day) to the point that on the third day, you could not warm it without the scent of chilli permeating the air, making your throat itch and your eyes sting, and giving you a raw cough for the rest of the day... anyway. I use Paul Hollywood's basic bloomer recipe (I always feel a bit weird typing 'Paul Hollywood's Bloomer' into Google...), adjusting it to suit whichever bread I want to make. So here we go: (The name's a bit of a mouthful, sorry, I'm working on it) (or not. It's going to stick once this thing is published...)

PAPRIKA, PARSLEY AND CHEESE CHILLI PLAITED LOAF:

Mise.

(Makes two loaves)
INGREDIENTS
500g Strong white bread flour
7g Instant yeast
10g Crushed sea salt
320ml Warm water
40ml Olive oil
150g Grated mature cheddar
2tsp Paprika
1tsp Ground red chilli flakes, or alternatively, 2tsp chilli grind
1tsp Freshly ground black pepper
Large handful fresh cleaned parsley, chopped

METHOD

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with 4tsp sugar. Cover and set aside until doubled in size.
2. Mix together the rest of the ingredients. Pour in the water/yeast mixture and mix until you get a soft, sticky dough.
3. Flour a clean work surface. Tip out dough and knead until it becomes stretchy, smooth, and elastic. Alternatively, you can place all the ingredients in an electric mixer with the dough hook attachment, and let it do for 7-10 minutes on a medium speed. (That's what I did. I'm lazy.)
4. Place in a well oiled bowl, Clingfilm, and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
5. Once doubled, knock back, tip onto a floured surface, and split into two. Split each half into three. Roll the pieces of dough to make plait strands, then plait, and place onto an oiled and floured baking tray, making sure to tuck both ends underneath. Brush with milk, sprinkle with sea salt and chilli flakes, then cover lightly and leave to prove once again until doubled in size.
6. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5. Place a tray filled with boiling water on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake bread on the middle shelf of the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes until almost done, then turn up the heat, and bake until the top is golden brown. Remove from oven, transfer onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool slightly before cutting.

Slightly messy plaiting, but that's allowed when its just for
home, right?

Proved and ready to bake.

 (Sorry for the messy layout. The editing on this thing, plus sketchy wifi, is driving me crazy.)

Vegetable Soup With Spinach

It's so cold today. I'm currently sat huddled up under blankets, my fingers and the tip of my nose are icy cold. I don't know if its the weather, or just my piss poor circulation.  What I do know is that the perfect thing for cold days is lots of hot drinks. Soup counts as a hot drink. Mmm. Soup. Vats of vegetable soup and lots of lapsang, and that's me set for the winter!
This recipe for veg soup is one of the best yet, quick and easy, thick and smooth, and tasty. It's simple, and rewarding. You can omit the chicken for a vegetarian option. The choice of spices is up to you, I usually add in an OXO Italian spice cube, salt, and pepper, and nothing else. Here's how to do it:

Topped with croutons, served with herby garlic flatbread.

VEGETABLE SOUP
YOU WILL NEED:
500g chicken breast, cubed
1 Tomato
1 Pepper
1 Carrot
1 Potato
2 Medium onions
1 Chicken/ vegetable stock cube
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 Inch piece ginger, finely diced.
1-2 Green Chillies, diced finely.
Salt and pepper, and your choice of spices (e.g. OXO Italian Spice cube) to taste.
Handful spinach, chopped.

METHOD:

1. Roughly chop the tomato, carrot. pepper, potato and one onion. Boil until softened and cooked, then add in the stock cube and liquidise.
2. Meanwhile, dice the other onion finely. Braise in butter until soft. Add in the ginger, garlic and green chilli. 
3. Add in the chicken and spices, and let it cook until the chicken is cooked through and the water has burnt away.
4. Add the liquidised mixture to the chicken, adding in more water if needed.
5. For a vegetarian option: Boil the vegetables, then add in the stock cube and liquidise. Lightly cook the ginger, garlic and chilli in a little oil, then add in the liquidised mixture. Add in the spices, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for five-ten minutes, adding more water if needed.
6. Lightly braise the spinach in butter until just wilted and warmed through. add into the soup, pour into bowls (or cups!) and serve, alone or with crusty, or flat bread.

On a side note, the best thing to do with stale bread is turn it into croutons. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with a choice of dried hers, and slow bake or grill on low heat, tossing occasionally, until crisp. They taste really good with soups and salads, or even on their own as a snack!

Three Ways With Afghani Pilau

This is a recipe for Afghani pilau. It's sweet, fragrant, spicy, and absolutely delicious, and the best thing is, it tastes even better the next day. I've made this three times in the past month and a half, and it tastes incredible every time. The rice is originally a completely vegetarian dish, and I've made it as such, alone, but I've also made it with chicken, and with lamb mince stuffed peppers (yesterday). The recipe of the rice does not vary, but when I made it with the chicken, I cooked the rice in the chicken stock, and it was delicious with the added flavours of the ginger and garlic from the stock. You absolutely have to try this dish. It's incredibly good, I promise. I will put up the original recipe first, and then add the variations with the chicken, and the lamb stuffed peppers. The pilau, the recipe of which is a mix of the three pilau recipes I originally found here, is a rice dish with julienned carrots, almonds and raisins, flavoured with orange, and a dash of salt. I (naturally) tweaked the recipe to add a bit of extra oomph, so you can check out the original recipes, or use my modified version.

AFGHANI PILAU
INGREDIENTS:
50g butter
1 & 1/2 cups rice
3 Carrots, julienned
1/2 cup raisins/ sultanas (I used green raisins, because I prefer the taste of those)
1/2 cup almonds, slivered
Zest and juice of one orange
1/2tsp turmeric powder
3tsp dark brown sugar
2 dried red chillies, or alternately, 1/2tsp red chilli flakes
Salt to taste (approximately 1 & 1/2tsp)
1 pint chicken or vegetable stock (optional)

METHOD:

1. Melt butter in a heavy based pan. Add carrots and cook for 3-5 minutes.
2. Add in the orange zest, orange juice, almonds and raisins, and cook for a further two minutes. Add in the

   

   Carrots, almonds, raisins, and orange.

   turmeric.
3. Rinse and drain rice. Add into the pot with the chilli, and cook for a further two minutes until the rice has taken on the colour of the turmeric.
4. Pour over stock (if using) and pour over enough water until it covers the rice completely. Add in salt and sugar, stir gently. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover and simmer gently until the water is absorbed, and the rice is almost done. Place the rice in an oven proof dish, fluff gently with a fork, cover with foil, and bake until completely done, approximately 25-30 minutes, at Gas Mark 4. Remove from oven, plate, and serve.

AFGHANI PILAU WITH CHICKEN


Afghani pilau with spiced chicken,
& sweet roasted potato & butternut.

This is my favourite version. It's absolutely delicious; sweet, with the spicy warmth from the chilli and cinnamon. Using the stock from the chicken gives the rice extra flavour, and ties the dish together nicely. As always, this recipe is tweaked according to my preferences. you can experiments with flavours, and increase and lessen amounts of spices and ingredients to suit your tastes. You can use boneless chicken (I prefer that), but using a whole chicken, pieced, will give the stock extra flavour. I made this with a side of butternut and potato, sliced, partly boiled, then roasted with butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and garlic, which tasted wonderful too.

INGREDIENTS:
500g chicken
1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
3 cloves garlic,  peeled and crushed
1 large onion, cubed
2 pints water
2oz ginger powder
Salt and pepper to taste.
1/2tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp nutmeg
5-6 cloves, crushed
5-6 cardamom pods, crushed
1tsp chilli flakes.

METHOD:

1. Cook onion, garlic, and ginger in a little butter until the onion is softened and slightly browned
2. Dip the chicken pieces in a mixture of ginger powder, salt, and pepper.
3. Add to the onions, and cook until almost cooked through.
4. Pour in water, cover, and bring to a boil. Simmer for approximately 15 minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked through. 
5. Drain the chicken, and retain the stock. Return the onion to the chicken. You can discard the ginger pieces if you wish. 
6. Cook the rice as per above ingredients, adding in the retained chicken stock, and extra water if needed.
7. Place the rice in an ovenproof dish. top with chicken pieces.
8. Combine the cinnamon, nutmeg, crushed cloves, crushed cardamom, and chilli flakes. Sprinkle liberally over the chicken. Cover tightly with foil and bake until the rice is completely done, and the flavours have infused.
9. Remove from oven, plate, and serve.

AFGHANI PILAU WITH LAMB-STUFFED PEPPERS
This is a... well, almost an Indian-middle-eastern fusion sort of dish. The lamb was courtesy of my mother. I made the rice and finished putting together the separate compartments of the dish. The lamb is very fragrant and flavourful, and goes well with the sweetness of the carrots and the orange in the rice. As always, feel free to increase/decrease/omit ingredients according to your preferences. I know I can never stick to original recipes!
INGREDIENTS

Yes, that's a chemical burn on the wood...

500g Lamb mince
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2inch piece of ginger, finely diced.
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp cumin, ground
1tsp black peppercorn, ground
1tsp paprika
1tsp turmeric
1tsp red chilli powder
2 cinnamon sticks
2-3 cloves
Salt, to taste
Small bunch fresh coriander, chopped
2 potatoes, cubed
3 fresh tomatoes, blended to a puree
3 whole peppers, halved lengthways, and deseeded.

METHOD:

1. Cook onions, ginger, and garlic in oil until browned. Add in the mince.
2. Add in all the spices (ground coriander, cinnamon sticks, cumin, pepper, paprika, turmeric, cloves and salt), and the cubed potatoes. Lower the heat, cover, and cook until the lamb is cooked through and the water has burned away.
3. Pour in the tomato puree, and let it do until it had reduced.

   

   Time to layer up.

4. Remove from heat, and stir in the chopped coriander.
5.  Boil the halved and deseeded peppers in salted water for approximately 5 minutes, until they have softened slightly, but still hold their shape.
6. Drain, and then stuff generously with lamb mince.
7. Cook rice as per above ingredients, adding extra chilli if you wish. (Using lamb or vegetable stock for the rice will give it added flavour, which is always good.)
8. Place the rice in an oven proof dish, place the stuffed peppers on top. Cover tightly with foil, and bake until rice is cooked, and mince has browned slightly.

Time to plate up...

Spiced Vanilla Apple Jam & A Chocolate Vanilla Traybake

In terms of creativity in the kitchen, today was definitely a successful day. There were wonderful smells seeping from the cracks under the kitchen door, through the gaps of the passing window, circling out through the back door and in through the front windows: cooking apples heavy with cinnamon, vanilla, and lemon, sweet spicy flavours of almonds and carrots from an Afghani pilau, the rich smells of flavourful lamb and peppers, and then, for a special, simple, and tasty tea time treat, the heavenly smells of chocolate melting and sugar cooking... yep, it was quite a day.
Upon entering the kitchen today, I saw a packet of lamb mince defrosting in a bowl on the worktop. I gave it a passing glance and headed straight out of the back door to collect a small box of garden apples, intending to make a warming, deliciously comforting apple crumble. It really was the day for it, frightfully nippy, with a bitingly cold wind that seeped through the cracks and through the walls, under your skin and through your bones, as though by osmosis. Unfortunately, I was to be deprived of my small bit of comfort; almost all the apples were rotten through! Crawling with those tiny worms, or completely and terribly bruised, one even had a layer of fungi. After salvaging what I could, I ended up with a woefully small amount of apples. I decided to turn them into a jam, and so the vanilla apple jam was born. It's quite delicious too.

Mine is quite dark because I added a lot of cinnamon.

 Spiced with star anise, cloves, and cinnamon, flavoured with lemon and orange and vanilla, it'll go wonderfully with a number of desserts and sweet treats, and also, as I've mentioned before, taste wonderful with battered, ovened prawns...
I've put rather a lot of cinnamon in mine, because I absolutely love cinnamon, so mine is quite dark in colour. I also used dark sugar because I was too lazy to dig the caster sugar out of the pantry. (I had to anyway, because it ran out...)
 Anyway, here's the recipe: (I'll put the savoury recipes in a separate post, and add the sweet ones here.)

SPICED VANILLA APPLE JAM
INGREDIENTS
5-6 cooking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2tsp ground cinnamon (or alternately, you could use 2 cinnamon sticks)
1 Star anise
5-6 Cloves
Seeds from one vanilla pod (or alternately, 1tsp vanilla essence)
Juice and rind of one orange
Juice and rind of one lemon
Caster sugar

METHOD

1. Place apples in a heavy based pot with the cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and juice and rind of orange and lemon.
2. Add in enough water to cover the apples, bring to boil until the apples are completely soft, cooked through, and mushy.
3. Sieve (strain) through a meshed sieve. Discard the pulp. Weigh the amount of sieved mixture, and for every pound, add 300g of caster sugar.
4. Place in pot with the caster sugar and vanilla, and cook on low heat until it reaches setting point. You can test this by putting a thin layer on a chilled plate/saucer, and pulling your finger through it. If the jam runs, its not ready. If it stays, its ready. Alternately, put a spoonful on a chilled plate, and leave for a minute or so to set. Lightly poke the jam, If the top wrinkles, its ready.
5. Place in a sterilised jar, Clingfilm, and cover with lid. Leave in a cool place to set completely before serving. Refrigerate once the jam has cooled.

I'll also add the other sweet recipe over here. This was courtesy of my mother, who was craving 'plain and simple' cake. So plain and simple cake it was. I was lingering in the kitchen whilst she was making this, complaining about boring flavours, and offering outrageous suggestions. She did, simply put, swat me and tell me to get lost. Tasting it, I had to admit, she had the right idea. Sometimes simple treats are the best. So here it is, chocolate vanilla tray bake.

CHOCOLATE VANILLA TRAYBAKE
INGREDIENTS
4oz butter, softened
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
4oz plain flour
1tsp vanilla essence/extract
2oz dark chocolate chips
1tsp baking powder

METHOD

1. Beat butter, vanilla and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Add in eggs, one at a time, with a spoonful of flour.
3. Fold in flour and baking powder. do not over beat.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Spoon into a lined baking tray. Bake at Gas Mark 4 for approximately 15-20 minutes until golden, and pulling away at the sides.
6. Cut into slices, and enjoy warm with a cuppa.

I've been making this cake ever since I can remember. The amounts of ingredients are easy to remember, and you can substitute the chocolate drops for whatever you wish. Maybe almonds, or chopped dates? What about walnuts, or candied peel? Maybe glace cherries? You can also experiments with adding cocoa powder, or stirring in melted chocolate, or substituting sugar with honey, and chocolate for pine nuts, and add a bit of orange zest for a lovely tasting, healthier alternative? It's up to you really, don't stop at the simple flavours!

Chicken Pot Pie With Herb Scone Topping

Fragrant, warming, and flavoursome.

Cold days demand warm and hearty dishes, such as this one; a chicken pot pie with a herby scone topping. The filling is made of chunks of vegetables and chicken pieces smothered with a fragrant cream sauce, covered with a delicious scone topping flavoured with herbs. Its relatively simple, albeit a slightly lengthy process, so maybe it would be best not to make it when one is in a rush, such as I did. The recipe can be originally found in the DK step-by-step baking book, although I changed it slightly, as is my wont. I cannot stop tampering with things, it is my one weakness...
If you want a vegetarian version of this recipe, simply omit the chicken. You can also experiment with herbs and spices that you prefer. The original recipe calls for parsley, but I found that I had run out, so I used basil instead, and it still tasted lovely.
As always, this recipe serves approximately 6-8, so if you're cooking for less, simply cut down the ingredients. This recipe can be made in individual ramekins if one so wishes. I used a casserole dish, because with a large family, that is easier. If you do decide to use ramekins, simply mix the chicken, vegetables, and cream sauce in a separate mixing bowl, and then spoon into ramekin dishes before topping with scones. I cooked the chicken in crushed ginger and garlic, and green chillies before adding it to the vegetables. You can cook it however you wish.

CHICKEN POT PIE WITH HERB SCONE TOPPING
INGREDIENTS
1 litre chicken/ vegetable stock
3 Carrots, sliced into thick chunks
4-5 large potatoes, diced into large chunks
3 celery sticks, diced
175g peas
500g cooked boneless chicken, diced.
60g butter
1 onion, diced finely
30g Plain flour
175ml Double cream
Whole nutmeg, for grating
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.
Leaves from one small bunch parsley, chopped

METHOD:

1. Bring stock to boil in a pot. Add the vegetables, and simmer until tender. Drain vegetables, and retain the stock.
2. Place the vegetables in an oven proof casserole dish. (Alternatively, if making  in individual ramekins, place the vegetables and chicken in a large mixing bowl or dish.)
3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, add onion and cook over medium heat until tender. Stir in the flour and let do for two minutes. Add in the retained stock, stir, and bring to boil. Simmer gently until thickened, then stir in cream, and bring to boil again, and let thicken. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

   

   My star cutter was the closest on
   hand, so stars it was!

   remove from heat and stir in the fresh chopped parsley, or herb of your choice. Combine with the vegetable mixture.
4. Top with scones, then bake at gas mark 7 in a preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to gas mark 4, and bake for a further 10 minutes until the scones are golden and the mixture is bubbling. Serve immediately.

HERB SCONE TOPPING
INGREDIENTS:
250g Plain flour
1tbsp Baking powder
1tsp Salt
60g butter
parsley, chopped
150ml milk.

METHOD:

1. Mix plain flour, baking powder, salt, and herbs in a bowl.
2. Rub in butter, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in milk until it comes together. The mixture will be quite sticky.
4. Turn onto a floured surface ands knead until smooth. Pat dough out to a thickness of 1cm. Cut out circles (or shape of your choice) and place on top of the filling.
5. Brush scones with milk.

Warm and hearty chicken pot pie.

Smoked Salmon & Horseradish Ciabatta Bites

Aesthetically pleasing; smoked salmon on ciabatta with
 horseradish, dill, and paprika

Feeling rather peckish today afternoon, I went into the kitchen with the intention of making a cup of tea and maybe snacking on some chilli crackers. Upon opening the fridge, however, a packet of Scottish smoked salmon
promptly fell out onto my fuzzy polka dotted socked feet. It was almost like fate telling me I would snack on smoked salmon and horseradish ciabatta instead of chilli crackers. And I certainly wasn't complaining! The smokey-salted taste of salmon, combined with the lemony tangy horseradish mixture on crunchy ciabatta, with a sprinkling of fresh dill and paprika is truly a treat for the taste buds. It's incredibly simple and quick to make, and the pale pink of the salmon on a white paste, combined with the green and red of dill and paprika makes it an aesthetically pleasing dish to look at.
I used olive ciabatta, because that is what I had on hand at the time. However you can use plain, olive, or whatever flavour you desire. Take care not to make the horseradish mixture too strong, as it will overpower the wonderful smokey taste of the salmon. Because you need quite a small amount of philadelphia, I buy the mini tubs, that contain 35g each. They're SO much handier! I prefer the smoked salmon lightly grilled, however you can use it straight from the packet if you prefer.

SMOKED SALMON AND HORSERADISH CIABATTA BITES
INGREDIENTS:
120g smoked salmon
55g light Philadelphia
3/4tsp horseradish
1tsp fresh lemon juice
Dill and paprika to garnish
3 mini ciabatta loaves, halved and quartered.

METHOD:

1. Lightly grill smoked salmon under a medium grill for two minutes. It should not go dry. Remove from heat immediately, and tear into pieces.
2. In a bowl, combine philadelphia, horseradish, and lemon juice.
3. Grill cut ciabatta under a medium grill on both sides until crispy. Place on a serving board.
4. Spread horseradish mixture on each ciabatta slice.
5. Top with shredded smoked salmon, sprinkle with dill and paprika, and serve.

Delicious, quick, and easy afternoon snack.



Grilled Steak with a Mushroom Sauce & Avocado Pasta Salad

Dinner today is grilled steak with a mushroom sauce, avocado and pasta salad, and chips. This sounds like quite a

Grilled steak with mushroom sauce, salad, & 'healthy' chips.

lengthy process, however, it is not. In fact, it was chosen because I felt particularly lazy, and so I didn't bother cooking earlier, and therefore needed to throw together something quick and delicious for dinner. The steak should be marinated one hour prior to cooking time to allow the flavours to infuse. (My mother always tells me that when making a marinade for steak, vinegar and pepper are essential.) Grilling the steak rather than frying, and cooking the chips in a health fryer ensures that this recipe makes for a somewhat healthy meal (discounting the sauce). On a side note, Aromat is a season-all that is incredibly salty. if you do not own it, simply replace Aromat with salt. you may need slightly more salt though, because, as I have mentioned, Aromat is incredibly salty. The chipotle spice mix can be brought at your local Asda store.

INGREDIENTS


L-R: Vinegar, Aromat, Chipotle,
Mixed peppercorns, Worcester sauce

500g Steak fillet, thinly sliced

FOR THE STEAK MARINADE:
3-4 Cloves garlic, crushed with a garlic crush
3tbsp Malt Vinegar
1tsp Chipotle chilli spice mix, finely ground
1tsp Aromat
1tsp Freshly ground peppercorns
Olive oil
Salt to taste

METHOD

1. Marinate the steak in a marinade of the above ingredients for at least 1 hour.
2. Grill until done to your preferred level.
3. Serve with mushroom sauce, grilled chips, and avocado and pasta salad.
4. For the avocado and pasta salad, simply add approximately 85g pasta, (cooked to al-dente in salted water) to the salad (recipe here), and omit the dressing.

FOR THE MUSHROOM SAUCE
1 1/2tbsp plain flour
1 1/2tbsp butter
100ml water
284ml/10floz single cream
1 1/2tbsp Worcester sauce/Soy sauce (Optional)
2tsp freshly ground black pepper
Aromat, or salt to taste.
300g fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced.

METHOD

1. In a heavy-based saucepan, cook the flour over a low heat until browned slightly.
2. Add in the butter, and stir thoroughly. the mixture may form lumps.
3. Whisk in water until the lumps break up and the mixture is smooth and lump-free.
4. Add in the cream, salt, pepper and Worcester sauce, and cook until the sauce thickens.
5. Remove from heat and stir in chopped mushrooms. If the sauce becomes too thick, simply add more water.
6. Serve with the steak.

Here you go! Quick, easy, flavourful, and appetizing! The steak can also be used as sandwich filling, which too is very tasty. On a side note, did you know that 'marinade' technically means 'a mixture of oil, wine, spices, or similar ingredients, in which meat, fish, or other food is soaked before cooking in order to flavour or soften it', whilst 'marinate' means 'soak (meat, fish, or other food) in a marinade.' So technically, you would say 'marinate the steak in the marinade.' Well. I learnt something new today. Or well, clarified something I was unsure about but lets not be picky about details.

Vanilla...

An incredible spice called Vanilla...
Vanilla is plain. Vanilla is boring. Nobody wants just plain vanilla. If you were out of time for dessert at a dinner

Vanilla: Plain and boring,
Or wonderfully intriguing?

party you were hosting, and all you had was vanilla ice-cream, you'd run for something to serve it with. Maybe strawberries or raspberries? Maybe some white chocolate curls, or dark chocolate sprinkles. Maybe you'd grab some butter, sugar, and cream and whip up a deliciously thick and rich caramel toffee sauce? Maybe candied apple slices, pretty and crisp with red outer skins, or a sprig of mint to garnish? Nobody wants plain vanilla. Not special enough, not tasty enough, nothing catches ones attention. Certainly nothing, that holds ones attention firmly in its grasp, nothing that compels you to sit up and take notice. No one describes the flavour as a 'burst of vanilla', or calls out its richness, or its warmth. It is just there, plain, simple, basic, the base, a background flavour that quietly complements all other flavours, boosting them, emphasising them. The truth is, Vanilla IS the base, it's all-important in its lovely rich subtlety. It is needed to complete a dish, to complement it, to embellish it, or even to offer a comparison against. Truth is, Vanilla is all-important, because without it, we would be deprived of the notability of all the rest. 

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE VANILLA

1.       Vanilla is tropical orchid.

2.       Vanilla is native to Mexico and Central America. The interdependent nature of vanilla and its natural pollinator, the Melipona bee, which is native to Mexico, so it was difficult to cultivate it outside of its native places until hand pollination was discovered.

3.       The process of the cultivation to the harvest of vanilla is long and labour intensive. It must be hand-pollinated and nurtured, and needs a long drying time. That's why it's so highly prized- and highly priced!

4.       It is the second most expensive spice after saffron.

5.       Vanilla is widely used: in commercial and domestic baking, in manufacturing perfumes and oils, and in aromatherapy.

6.       The first cultivators of vanilla were the Totonac people. According to Totonac mythology, the tropical orchid was born when Princess Xanat, who was forbidden by her father from marrying a mortal, fled to the forest with her lover, where they were captured and beheaded. The places where their blood touched the ground, the vine of the tropical orchid grew.

7.       The selling price of vanilla rose in the 1970's after a tropical cyclone destroyed main croplands, and remained high through the early 1980's before dropping 70% until April 2000.

8.       After tropical cyclone Hudah struck Mexico in April 2000, prices rose from US$20 per kilo to US$500 per kilo in 2004. A good crop, coupled with decreased demand caused by the production of imitation vanilla, pushed the market price down to the US$40 per kilogram range in the middle of 2005. By 2010, prices were down to US$20/per kilo.

9.       The vanilla flower only lasts about one day, sometimes less! Therefore, farmers have to inspect their plantations every day for open flowers on the vanilla plants.

10.   Vanilla has always incredibly valuable, so naturally it has a long history of robbery.In Madagascar, vanilla rustling was a major problem for many years. Growers branded the individual beans when they were green and the markings remained after they were dried. Whenever someone suspected their beans were stolen, they could determine by their distinctive tattoo whether or not the beans were theirs.

11.   As I mentioned before, vanilla is the world's most labour-intensive agricultural crop. It takes up to three years after the vines are planted before the first flowers appear. The fruits, which resemble big green beans, must remain on the vine for nine months in order to completely develop their signature aroma. However, when the beans are harvested, they have neither flavour nor fragrance. They develop these distinctive properties during the curing process.

The history and production of vanilla is incredibly interesting. It becomes apparent that vanilla is, indeed, not plain and boring, but a mysterious, delicate and intriguing little plant with a long history. In fact, it’s obvious to see the reason why vanilla is so expensive! I own a bottle of vanilla beans that's resting somewhere in the dark recesses of my pantry shelves, not even realising what a treasure I possess. Author Frederic Rosengarten Jr. describes it in The Book of Spices as "pure, spicy, and delicate"; he called its complex floral aroma a "peculiar bouquet". And he's right. Vanilla is an underappreciated spice, easily dismissed for other flavours and flavour combinations we deem more exotic or original or strange. The next time I go to get a gelato or sorbetto, I'll go for vanilla, if only to appreciate the complexity and intrigue of this wonderful tropical cactus (providing I don't get distracted by something sharp and zingy! What can I say? I love lemon!) So here's to Vanilla, The wonderful, under appreciated flavour of it, the amount of toil that goes into it, and the beautiful warmth and richness of it. Lets never call it 'plain' again! 

For more interesting facts or information, or to learn how to prepare vanilla, visit these sites:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/vanilla
http://vanilla.servolux.nl/vanilla_facts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla