Tuesday 16 January 2024

salted peanut chocolate crunch

Ingredients
200g/7oz dark chocolate
100g/3.5oz milk chocolate
125g/4.4oz butter
3 tbsp golden syrup
250g/8.8oz salted peanuts
six handfuls of crunchy cereal
1 baking or foil tray, approximately 30 x 20 x 5 cm. (if using a baking tray, line with parchment or greaseproof paper)

method

  • prepare oblong tin, 20x30cm, lining with baking parchment (crumple up the parchment so it goes into the corners more easily)
  • in quite large pan (jug if you're microwaving) melt chocolate, butter and golden syrup gently on gas or in microwave, stirring occasionally
  • stir cereal and peanuts together
  • add peanut mixture to the melted chocolate mixture and stir to combine
  • pour mixture into lined tin and smooth to one level
  • leave to cool several hours in cool place
  • slice to suit your taste




Tuesday 19 December 2023

Spicy non-mayo by itsu

When I'm out and about in London I like getting lunch at Itsu, now fully automated. I like it so much that I bought the Itsu cook book and found this spicy sauce recipe. It is vegan and siple to prepare. I haven't experimented with flavours yet, besides garlic, ginger and black pepper the main flavour is Sriracha sauce, which is usually vegan but best check the label as fish sauce is included in some varieties.

Tahini is used to thicken the sauce as well as increase depth of flavour, but not very much, so this is truly a low fat low calorie sauce.

When I'm at home this is the sauce I now like to use with my regular lunch of steamed veg and rice. and sometimes I give it a boost with gomasio.

Itsu Spicy Sauce

Recipe

  • 120g silken tofu
  • 3 tsp tahini paste
  • 3 tsp Sriracha chllli sauce (or 1 hot red chilli, chopped)
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 tsp  sugar or alternative
  • 10g (2cm) grated fresh ginger
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated
  • 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • t tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp light oil

Method

Put all ingredients into a blender and whizz together to make a smooth sauce

Use immediately, or store in a screwtop jar in the fridge until needed.


notes:

if you use a firmer tofu you will get a grainer result, but it will still be delicious




Wednesday 29 November 2023

Cauliflower pasta

This is a simple and very satisfying dish. Also very easy to make. The anchovies melt down into the oil and mix with the cauliflower to make a tasty sauce. It doesn't look like much, but it is delicious. 

The recipe gives enough for four people but I find I can share with one other, happily sharing eating a whole cauliflower, just reducing the amount of pasta by half. 

Cauliflower pasta 

Ingredients 

1 cauliflower 
250g penne 
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
1 tin anchovy fillets in olive oil 
1 fresh chilli (sliced) or generous pinch of dried chilli flakes 
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped 
ground black pepper 

Method 

  • Take a large frying pan and pour the oil from a tin of anchovy fillets into it, put it on a low heat, put the garlic and chilli along with a few grinds of pepper into the oil to infuse for a few minutes 
  • Don’t add salt, as the anchovies are already salty 
  • Fill a large pot with water and bring to the boil, put in the cauliflower whole or in pieces, and cook the cauliflower until cooked or about 5 minutes, then pick out the cauliflower and set aside, saving the water to use for cooking the pasta 
  • Keep the water boiling and add the penne, while the penne are cooking finish the sauce. 
  • Add the anchovy fillets to the pan 
  • Add the cauliflower and stir and mash them into the oil then cook for 5 minutes, stirring in some parsley, adding water from the pasta cooking liquid if mixture seems to be getting dry. 
  • Once the pasta is cooked, mix into the pan with the cauliflower. Season to taste, sprinkle over the rest of the chopped parsley, then serve.

Friday 9 September 2022

Singapore Noodles - my favourite from the BBC's Ken Hom

Ken Hom’s Singapore Noodles

 

Ingredients

For the Singapore noodles

For the sauce

  1. Soak the rice noodles in a bowl of warm water for 25 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  2. Soak the mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes. Drain and squeeze out the excess liquid. Remove and discard the stems and finely shred the caps into thin strips.
  3. Beat the eggs with sesame oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.

  4. Mix together all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

  5. Heat a wok or large frying-pan over high heat until hot. Add the groundnut oil, and when very hot and smoking, add the garlic, ginger and chillies and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the water chestnuts, mushrooms, pork and spring onions and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the rice noodles, prawns and peas, and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
  6. Add the sauce and cook over high heat for another 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Pour the egg mixture over the noodles. Stir-fry constantly until the egg has set.
  7. Turn onto a large platter, garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Friday 15 July 2022

Plum and blueberry crumble cake

Plum and blueberry crumble cake

  • 200 gram butter, softened

  • 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar

  • 2 eggs

  • 1 cup (150g) self-raising flour

  • 1 cup (150g) plain (all-purpose) flour

  • 3/4 cup (180ml) milk

  • 1 kilogram canned whole plums in natural juice, drained

  • 60 gram fresh blueberries

  • 2 teaspoon icing sugar

Spiced crumble topping

  • 1/2 cup (75g) plain (all-purpose) flour

  • 50 gram cold butter, chopped coarsely

  • 3/4 cup (60g) shredded coconut

  • 1/4 cup (55g) firmly packed light brown sugar

  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice

  • METHOD: 

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease a deep 22cm (9-inch) springform pan; line base and side with baking paper.

  2. Beat butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; fold in sifted flours and milk, in two batches. Spread mixture into pan.

  3. To make spiced crumble topping, blend or process ingredients until combined.

  4. Halve plums; discard seeds. Place plums and blueberries on cake mixture. Sprinkle crumble topping over fruit.

  5. Bake cake about 1½ hours (cover cake with foil if browning too quickly). Stand in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

  6. Serve cake, warm or at room temperature, dusted with sifted icing sugar.

Monday 24 January 2022

Burnt top Cheesecake






Burnt top cheesecake

This is a lazy person's baked cheesecake, no folding or separating eggs. No adding topping. The ingredients get added in series and the most complicated thing is tidily getting the mixture from the bowl to the cake tin. 

Why cheesecake? Apart from pure greed, I've had some double cream in the fridge sitting and turning sour. For some reason I bought a big pot when I only needed a small one... Turning to browsing some cookery books I found this recipe for a simpler cheesecake that uses sour cream. The original recipe says use a 20cm/8" loose bottomed cake tin, but once the mixture was ready to decant I realised it would make a massive cake, so used two smaller tins, 15cm/6" and 18cm/7". Both a good size, and more manageable than one vast cheesecake both for cooking and eating. 
it looks creamy and it tastes creamy

Recipe: Burnt Top Cheesecake

The caramel coloured crust on this cheesecake gives it a slight burnt caramel flavour, matched by the creamy interior to make a delicious mouthful.

Prep
You don't need to butter the tin if you're lining it with baking parchment. I used a combination of a round cake liner and parchment. The height of the parchment stops the top of the cake from browning too much (burning), as the cooking temperature is quite high.

ready for the oven
Ingredients

800g soft cheese
225g caster sugar
2tbsp plain flour
200g sour cream
4 eggs
2tsp vanilla




Half quantities:
400g soft cheese
112g caster sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
100g sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Method

You decide what size tin you want to use, the mixture is enough for two 18cm/7" cakes. Line lose bottomed or springform tins well with baking parchment, so that the parchment sits well above the edge of the cake tin.

Set the oven to 220C fan/240C/gas 9, don't crowd the oven.

in a large bowl mix the soft cheese and sugar until smooth and even with an electric mixer
add the sifted flour, soured cream, eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix together until you have a smooth batter.

cooling after cooking for 30m
Pour or ladle into your lined tin/s, and bang the mixture in the tin sharply on the counter to get rid of any bubbles.

Put the tin/s into the hot oven and cook for 20-30 minutes - the top with darken, but the mixture will still have a wobble.

Wednesday 19 January 2022

Brown Betty


This Brown Betty is a delightful, warming apple pudding and easy to make. The combined taste of the cloves, apple, treacle and sherry is hard to beat and they combine to make a smell make that's heavenly. It’s a dish that can be eaten hot or cold, my preference is for hot, but it’s unlikely I’d turn down a helping of it cold - the flavours seem to grow that longer it's kept.


In our house this was a standard Sunday pudding, my father developed a liking for it cold, cooked in a charlotte tin and turned out, which seems like an unecessary complication. With lots of cream. You could liken it to an Apple Charlotte, a deconstructed one that tastes much better. Unlike a Charlotte that uses melted butter brushed into place, the dobs of butter sit alongside the morsels of apple and make their own way through the crumbs while it cooks. You might imagine, reading the recipe, that it might seem to be a bit dry: it isn’t.


When I was trying to remember the recipe I read quite a lot of American versions, which aren't the same and seem more complicated. I found a reference to 'old fashioned Brown Betty' in a Pan Dowdy recipe, and perhaps our family version takes its molasses (black treacle) from there. You can see that here, and I'll include the version that my father wrote, although I never saw him make it… I've written it out the way I remember making it with my mother.


The quantities are a guide - you’ll probably manage to get everything in the dish. Give it a go. And use Bramley apples if you can.

Dad's write up


Brown Betty Recipe


Ingredients

2lb/scant 1kg apples

1/2lb/250g fresh breadcrumbs

¼ kb/125g unsalted butter

Brown sugar - more than a cupful

Black treacle - about two tablespoons

½ mug/1 wine glass sherry

Several pinches of ground cloves

Pinch Cinnamon 


Method


Set the oven to 170C/Gas Mark 3/325F


Use a deep pie dish


  • Peel and core the apple and cut it into bit sized piece

  • Generously butter around a deep pie dish

  • Scatter a layer of breadcrumbs, then some apple pieces, pinches of butter alongside dustings of cloves and some cinnamon, sprinkle over with sugar and repeat until you’ve used up all the apple - then add one last layer of breadcrumbs

  • Drizzle the treacle over in a random way - if you warm the spoon in boiling water and then dry it the treacle will flow more easily

  • Pour the sherry over, covering as much as possible 

  • Bake for around an hour, or until the apple is completely cooked (test with a skewer)


The cooked dish has a lovely crust - eat with cream, yoghurt, ice cream, or on its own.




pan dowdy


Apple Pan Dowdy
[A TASTING-TEST KITCHEN ENDORSED RECIPE]
Apple Pan Dowdy Recipe Clipping1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 quarts sliced apples
1/2 cup dark molasses
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water
Line a casserole with pie crust. Mix sugar, spices, and salt and sprinkle over apples. Fill casserole, add molasses, butter, and water. Cover with punctured pie crust, tuck edges together, press to sides of casserole. Bake in moderately hot oven (425°) 45 minutes, decrease temperature to 325°. When crust has browned slightly and apples are tender, remove from oven.
Take a silver knife, chop up mixture, being sure that the pie crust is thoroughly mixed with apples. If dry or not sufficiently sweetened, add more water and molasses. Return to oven and bake 1 1/2 hours at 325°. Serves 10.
When finished, the pudding will look very much like Old-fashioned Brown Betty. I was told that New Englanders served Apple Pan Dowdy hot with butter. The pudding can be warmed over, in fact it is even more delicious on the second or third day if you can keep it that long.

Sunday 8 August 2021

Venison Sausage sticky tray bake

time needed: 1h minutes including prep and warming oven

Venison Sausage sticky tray bake

Having come home with two very fat venison sausages I looked in the fridge to see what would make a simple supper. In the veg collection we had sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and fresh chillis and a lovely spring cabbage.

Based on this recipe we ate very well. And considering that Steve said he'd like 'just a sausage sandwich' he managed to tuck in ok.

Substitutions, aside from the veg, which was prepped in slices, was fig jam with lemon and vinegar instead of redcurrant jelly, with a few frozen redcurrants thrown in. It was nice and sharp.

In summary:

  • set oven to 220C and allow to warm up 10m
  • oil all the veg except the onions and put in roasting tray, put in oven and roast 15m
  • add the sausages and onions, stir through the veg, put back in oven 20m
  • drizzle redcurrant (or similar) mixture over contents of roasting tin and stir, put back in oven 15m
  • serve with salad or green veg.


Tuesday 13 April 2021

Lemon and raspberry occasion cake

Cherry and hawthorn blossom adorn the cake


Sometimes you make an occasion cake, that has to look good, as well as taste good. I think I hit the mark with this one.

The cake is a basic sponge with equal weight of butter, sugar, eggs and flour, in this case four eggs set the weight. You can average an egg as 60g, so work that out if you like. The cooked cakes are cut in half and there are three layers of filling, each one had lemon curd, overlaid with cream and the cake above had raspberry jam. Someone said it was too tall, and it did have four layers, but then it was for an occasion.To stop the cream squirting out the side I laid raspberries to hold it in. Really, when all the layers were stacked up the whole looked a bit wobbly. A good ganache coating covers a lot of sins and that's what this cake got, white chocolate ganache.

I used a palate knife dipped into boiling water and dried, which makes it easy to move the ganache around, spread it where it needs to go. I can do piping but I don't enjoy it, and I think you end up with too much icing. So I go for a nice slather, and then in this case I draped spring flowers across it, bird cherry and pink hawthorn, both of which are edible if you wanted to eat them. The main thing is that they aren't toxic, and they look lovely.

Around the top of the cake I sprinkled lemon zest and freeze dried raspberry and added fresh raspberries around the base and dusted the lot with icing sugar.