A little bit of heaven on a plate...

'Posh' homemade fish finger sandwich - recipe

2012-03-02T18:30:00.000Z

Sometimes the simplest of things make a lovely supper and this is one of them, what we call a 'posh fish finger sandwich', its a delicious fish dish that's full of goodness with the right ingredients...and by right I mean 'fresh'. Buy the freshest fish you can find to make this, and use a reliable source everything else you need for this recipe you'll probably have in your cupboards.

The fish fingers are coated in a beer batter and this is my all time favorite batter, its easy to make and its light, its great for making onion rings too!

Of course you don't have to make a sandwich with these homemade fish fingers, children love them dipped in ketchup and with fries, but please have a go at making these, homemade fish fingers are so much more tasty than the frozen orange coated sticks you reach for from the freezer.

Ingredients:
1 skinned and boned fillet of cod or haddock (makes 2 large/deep sandwiches)
Sunflower or vegetable oil for frying
Homemade wholemeal loaf (not essential to be homemade but get a good fresh crusty loaf if you can)
Ketchup
Little gem lettuce hearts
Tartar sauce
capers (optional)
sea salt
Beer batter:
150g Plain flour
1 bottle Beer (I used larger which is ideal)
sea salt
Method:
1. Make the batter by putting the flour and a good pinch of sea salt in a bowl and add the beer, whisk as you add to incorporate it fully.
2. Prepare your fish for battering, my fish was supplied by post from Delish Fish in Peterhead in Scotland it was filleted skinned and de boned (ideal for children) so all I had to do was slice it into finger like strips. If its not an exact shape it does not matter too much.
3. Prepare your sandwich in readiness. Slice a homemade wholemeal loaf, put leaves of the lettuce over the first slice.
4. Using a large frying pan, fill with about an inch of oil and heat, but don't leave this unattended. Dip your fish fingers in the batter, remove any excess and then lower carefully into the oil. Fry for about 4 minutes on each side over a moderate heat.
5. Once these are cooked, remove and drain well on kitchen paper and season with sea salt. Place on top of the lettuce on the sandwich. Add ketchup and tartar sauce (and chopped capers if you like) and place a second slice of the bread on top.

Cut the sandwich into triangles (that's the posh bit!). Serve and devour and tell me you don't love homemade fish fingers!

N.B I have not given me any recompense or been asked to say nice things about Delish Fish but they were the suppliers of a fish hamper I won from the Fish is The Dish website after I submitted a recipe. Thank you!

Jelly Bean Cake - recipe

2012-02-28T18:30:00.000Z

I found this recipe on Google for this Jelly Bean cake I made for our February Clandestine Cake Club cake event...the theme was bean inspired cakes. Its a recipe from the USA but I have converted from US cups to grams, except for the jelly beans. It might be an idea to source your jelly beans BEFORE you start to make this cake, they are not readily available everywhere. You will need between 6 and 8 ounces for this cake (includes decoration).
Ingredients:
3/4-cup Jelly Beans, cut into thirds
10 oz Plain Flour, divided
8 oz caster sugar
5 oz margarine of butter, softened
8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 free range Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Salt
To decorate:
Icing sugar
Gel food colouring x 3 colours
Jelly Beans to decorate
Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C Gas 3. The orginal recipe says to "Take a 12-cup fluted bundt type cake pan and grease it well. Sprinkle flour into the pan to coat". I don't have a bundt cake tin so I improvised like this...I greased and lined a spring-form tin and put in the center an empty golden syrup tin that I filled with baking beans (NOT jelly beans). You must remember to grease the golden syrup tin so the cake comes away smoothly. The weight of the beans help the tin from moving around, otherwise you may get an irregular shape.

2. I cut my jelly beans into 3 as they were quite big. In a mixing bowl, combine the chopped jelly beans with two tablespoons of the flour to coat the beans and leave to one side.

3. In a large bowl, pour the sugar, butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract and beat the mixture well. Add one egg at a time, while you stir the mixture. Add the remaining flour, baking powder, salt and mix by hand for the final step.

4. Put a few dollops of the prepared batter over the bottom of the greased bundt or cake tin. In the remaining batter, add all the jelly beans and mix well. Now, just pour the jelly bean mixture into the pan. This method should help the jelly beans from sinking.

5. Bake the cake in the preheated oven, for about an hour. Cool the cake in the tin, for about ten minutes.

6. Mix coloured icing of your choice in separate bowls and when the cake is cold, drizzle across the cake one at a time, i..e green first, then pink then yellow. Decorate with jelly beans ~~to hide the cracks and dips~~ in a random fashion.

This cake was really unusual I have never made a cake with cream cheese in the batter before. It looked great when I took it from the oven but sunk a lot when cooling,
and developed a ridge around its midriff it as a result.
The jelly beans sunk quite a lot too, not all of them but quite a few.

So not the prettiest cake with its creases and lumps and bumps and sinkings, but it tasted fine and was no trouble at all to make. Left me wondering whether it would be better with the US Jelly Beans, as these are lighter? But that's a whole 'nother cake!

Sunday lunch - in pictures mostly

2012-02-26T17:30:00.000Z

This is the Windmill pub in Parbold, (West Lancashire/Wigan border) the original old windmill is to the right, on the banks of the Leeds/Liverpool canal and the pub is to the left just a ross the car park and shown above.

Its a lovely pub with attentive staff and a warm inviting atmosphere. The pub is well maintained and full of character with its log fire/s and candlelit nooks.

Food is served during usual pub opening hours but you need to book ahead, tables are often reserved well in advance.

We have eaten here twice and my preference, and that of my dining companion (aka my mother) is for anything off the menu other than the roast dinner. The chocolate mousse is homemade and to die for. The mouse below is carved in the end of what was a church pew.

NB. The Windmill did not ask me to do a feature on my blog or offer me any incentive (monetary or otherwise) to show you what we had for Sunday lunch, in fact they will have no idea about this until they see it for themselves!

Smoked Haddock Scotch eggs - recipe

2012-02-24T18:30:00.000Z

We are very lucky here in that we have our own eggs freshly laid everyday, its a real feeling of wonder and awe to go and get free range eggs from your own hens, and you are never short of food when you have hens in the garden (nor are they mind you as they eat scraps and kitchen waste, on top of their usual food of course and as long as its a food that is OK for them to eat).

I have wanted to make scotch eggs for a while, but not the sausage meat kind, the smoked haddock variety. I cannot remember where I first came across these but I thought, they looked delicious and we love smoked haddock (the natural one) and I thought, having made ordinary scotch eggs these won't be too hard to make.

Well the upshot is that, yes they are really good, but alas they are a 'fiff and a faff' to make and do take a bit of time and patience. But they really are worth it and quite 'on trend' foodie wise; as Heston whatshisname has been on TV (Channel 4) lately and had a bit of a thing going about a lovely yolkie runny middle to a scotch egg which everyone seems to be talking about. I didn't achieve Heston's standard for interior runnyness I must admit; I followed his guide to the letter but didn't quite get the runny middle of the egg just right. We still loved them though, these do taste exceptionally good.
Ingredients:
6 eggs and they must be free range
1 fillet of naturally smoked haddock (ours was from Delish Fish)
3 medium potatoes (or use leftover mash)
sea salt and black pepper
Homemade breadcrumbs
1 beaten free range egg
Plain flour for rolling
Sunflower or vegetable oil to fry
Method:
1. Follow Hestons' guide to making runny scotch eggs for the boiled egg part of this recipe, thats what I did and here are my eggs floating in the iced water after cooking.

2. Once the eggs have cooled they meed to be shelled, then roll them in a bowl of flour, then a bowl of beaten egg and finally a bowl of homemade breadcrumbs.
After all this rolling let them rest in the fridge for about an hour. I put mine on baking tray.
3. After an hour of rest, heat your oil in a pan and once the oil is ready (test by adding a breadcrumb to see if it fries quickly) carefully slide your scotch eggs into the hot oil. I used a slotted spoon for this.
4. Deep fry for a couple of minutes either side. Once golden remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.
4. Serve with whatever takes your fancy, we have ours with baked potato wedges and a side salad, and don't forget the tartar sauce!

May not be as runny as Heston's but still the best scotch eggs ever!

And the smoked haddock was truly amazing.

And if this doesn't tempt you to try a fish recipe Fish is the Dish has lots more.

Schwartz herbs & spices - recipe inspiration kits - review

2012-02-20T19:09:00.001Z

Here at 'the castle' (yes it really is that posh here folks!) we have been giving some of the Schwartz spices range a bit of a test. We were sent some of the range to try, including some of the familiar ones like, rosemary, paprika, cinnamon, etc along with some of the curry powders, lemon pepper and steak seasoning seasoning range too, but I was a bit taken with the new RECIPE INSPIRATION KIT range that they have.

Here on a card you get six spices each in a measure amount that you then use with your own ingredients to create a fabulous homemade main course dish. A recipe card is included, that you can keep if you want to make the dish again, handy for sure!

We thought it was quite a canny idea in that you can make a lovely meal from scratch and you don't need to buy full bottles of herbs and spices, if you are not really that much of a frequent home cook and of course you might want to avoid that particular cost too. I must be honest I think a lot of people are put off making some dishes they would like to try because they think 'I haven't got everything I need to make that so I won't bother' with this kit range its easy and no fuss at all.

I felt this was ideal for a certain someone in our household who a) is not a frequent cook and b) on the odd occasion when he does cook likes to rely on jars; its easy you see the jars thing, no thought or effort required pretty much! But for me one of my all time pet hates is those pre done jar things...have you ever studied the list of ingredients on those things...have you tasted them...I'm not a fan!

We tried two meals with these Schwartz inspiration kits a lovely warming beef and beer stew with herb dumplings (made by the non cook in the household) and if he can make this so can anyone, I kid you not! (see below)

I tried the tray baked peri peri chicken recipe for one of the dishes I made for a family Sunday lunch this weekend (see it in its uncooked state above) The verdict was that yes we quite liked them, the beef and beer stew was lovely and tasty, the dumplings were delicious too, and the peri peri chicken had a chilli kick, fresh citrus flavours and vanished so fast there are no pictures to show you of the finished dish.

The infrequent cook of the household was so pleased with his beef and beer stew he was all for scanning in the recipe to make it again until he realised the recipe card was there to use again...doh! So thank you to Schwartz who sent us these lovely things to try and give a certain someone in the household a nudge to try cooking something from scratch. Result!

NB: This post was not sponsored by Schwartz, nor did they buy the ingredients we used to make these two dishes; they did not ask us to say nice things about their range. (and they didn't coax or cajoule the infrequent cook of the household to give up jars or cook anything either!)

Roses are red - red velvet 'cry me a chocolate river cake' - recipe

2012-02-12T17:35:00.003Z

If violets are blue then roses must be red...oui?...Or is that the other way around? Whatever way round it is, sometimes you have to go all the way for your loved one, the full monty, pull out all the stops...the full shebang! So here's my red velvet 'cry me a chocolate river cake'...baby! (chief taster doesn't get called 'baby' often, just the once a year...)

This cake is over the top, its big and its messy, its running away with itself, but sometimes thats the way love is! Make this cake, and you'll be loved forever.

Ingredients:
Cake
4 free range eggs
(weigh the eggs first of all; mine were 440g and then weigh the same amount of soft butter, caster sugar, self raising flour as below)
440g soft butter
440g caster sugar
400g self raising flour
40g cocoa powder
I full pot red gel food colouring
1 tsp vanilla extract
Butter cream
250g soft unsalted butter
500g icing sugar
1tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
You can use whipped fresh cream if you prefer!
Decoration
Silver spoon milk chocolate cake covering or ordinary milk chocolate
Silver spoon white chocolate cake covering or ordinary white chocolate
Silver spoon dark chocolate heart spinkles
Fresh strawberries
Red sugar paste to make hearts to decorate
Method:
1. Pre heat the oven to 180C fan. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs one at a time with a spoonful of flour at each addition. Fold in the remaining flour and cocoa. Add the small pot of red gel food colouring at the same time and mix to incorporate.
2. Put the mix into 4 sandwich tins, weigh them if you want to get really even layers in order to gauge the size. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. While the cake is baking/cooling get on with the decorations for the top.
3. Wash and dry the strawberries and leave to one side. Melt the Silver Spoon white chocolate cake covering and dip each strawberry into this and roll to cover. Leave to cool and harden on greaseproof paper.
4. Make some different size heart shapes from red sugar paste and leave to dry.
5. Make the butter cream by beating the softened unsalted butter, icing sugar and vanilla together, add about a tablespoon of milk to soften.
6. Once the cake layers have cooled, sandwich with the buttercream. Leave somewhere cool to rest.

7. Melt the chocolate and put the cake on a wire rack (its an idea to place grease proof paper under the rack to catch the running chocolate). Pour the molten chocolate over the rested cake.
8. Decorate with all the goodies you have made and others you may have bought in any fashion you like, as, lets face it how the cake looks won't matter that much with the thought of the taste of that chocolate river.

You can make this cake with fresh creams the filling if you like, just add a tablespoon of sifted icing sugar to sweeten, much nicer if you intend to share it quickly with more than one special valentine and plan to devour it speedily too!

Happy Valentines Day xxxxx

Thanks to Baking Mad who supplied the Silver Spoon milk and white chocolate cake covering and heart shaped sprinkles mentioned above as part of a Bloggers Valentine competition, this is referred to in my last post, but please note this is not a post sponsored by Baking Mad or Silver Spoon.

Violets are blue - Valentine's afternoon tea - recipes

2012-02-09T20:51:00.002Z

This week I'm featuring an afternoon tea suggestion for upcoming Valentines day, which this year is on a Tuesday.

One of the nicest Valentines memories I ever had was when I cooked a lovely meal for the two of us at home, but I did it to a restaurant standard (well my version of a restaurant at home anyway!). You know the kind of thing, I went the extra mile above and beyond what I would normally cook, and we spent a lovely evening relaxing over a three course meal with wine and champagne, the whole works really, (without the bill at the end). It was a really good evening, and its a wonderful memory I will keep forever.

But this year I thought maybe something a bit different. Romantic three course meal, no thank you very much, because this year home baking rules in winning hearts and minds.

So here is my take on a lovely pastel inspired Valentines afternoon tea, for you and your loved one...if you love baking like I do, you might choose to make all of these lovely treats or just make one of them...whichever you choose will be a sure success and well received, because its home made and made with love...and thats just what I would like to receive on Valentines day.

Have a lovely home baked Valentines Day. xxxxx

Rose cupcakes
Choose a cupcake batter mix of your choice and instead of vanilla or lemon (or a similar typical flavour) add a tablespoon of Nielson Massey rosewater to the batter on the final mix. Then when baked and cool, top each cake with a rosewater flavoured butter cream. Make a batch of butter cream, and flavour with Nielson Massey rosewater, rather than adding milk or cream, then divide into three lots and colour two of these one pink and one grape with gel food colouring. Add the coloured and plain butter cream to the cakes with a pallete knife, then finish and decorate with crystalised violet petals (lilac cakes), sugar paste roses/hearts and pearls (cream cakes) and sugar paste geranium flowers (pink cakes).
Lemon & Lavender meringues
I made the amount of meringues here from one large free range egg white.

I separated an egg white from the yolk and whisked this white until it was foaming, then added 50g of sifted lavender sugar (culinary lavender and sugar stored in a jar), keep beating this until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Add a small amount of grape food colouring and mix just slightly for a subtle marble effect. Fill a piping bag onto which you have inserted a star nozzle. Pipe onto a lined baking sheet into spirals and bake in a very low oven (140 C fan) for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the oven door open while the meringues cool. For the filling beat or whisk a small tub of double cream and add one tablespoon of Silver Spoon lemon icing sugar to the cream and fold in. When the meringues are cold sandwich together with the lemon cream, you can pipe this inside or add with a knife. To finish dust the top with Silver Spoon lemon icing sugar and add a few flakes of dried culinary lavender to decorate on top of the cream.
Almond sugar biscuits

Soft butter 175g (and it must be unsalted butter to make these) and caster sugar 200g are beaten with 2 large free range eggs and 350g plain flour, 50g ground almonds and a teaspoon each of baking powder and salt to create these lovely light buttery biscuits. Add just a quarter of a teaspoon of Nielson Massey almond essence as you want the flavour to be subtle not overpowering to the mix when you add the beaten eggs. Once you have made the dough and allowed it to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes then use different heart shaped cutters to cut the shapes. Bake these on a lined baking tray for about 8 minutes in a 170C fan oven. When they have baked and cooled decorate as follows:-
Large hearts: decorate with sugar paste coloured grape colour. Pipe with grape gel coloured icing round the edges.
Medium hearts: decorate with icing coloured with grape gel food colouring. Use a smaller heart cutter to encapsulate the wet icing and hold it in a heart shape on the centre of the biscuit. Once the icing starts to set remove the cutter.
Dip the very small hearts into Silver Spoon easy melt white chocolate cake topping. Allow to drip dry on a wire cooling rack then top with a lilac sugar paste heart.

This blog is not sponsored by Baking Mad, but they sent me and 14 other chosen bloggers some cake decorating related products to try in a Valentines bloggers challenge. We were all sent a range of Silver Spoon and Nielsen Massey items, with the challengebeing to make something delicious that we would like to receive onValentine’s Day using at least 3 of the products sent to us. I chose these four...

You can read all about the bloggers challenge here.

I am also entering this post into two bloggers challenges first Karen and Kate's TeaTime treats where the themes is ROMANCE this month...

AND for Ros and Caroline's ALPHABAKES challenge, which is to blog a recipe from the alphabet from the letter L this month...I am entering my Lemon and Lavender Meringues (from the tea party above)

Leon baking and puddings ('food in heaven') - book review - giveaway

2012-02-04T16:54:00.000Z

This is a delicious french onion tart I made for a Saturday lunch recently, the recipe came from the Leon book , Leon Baking and Puddings, its the third book from Claire Ptak and Henry Dimbleby. The recipe is a flaky pastry base, homemade of course, but its very simple (just spelt butter, flour and salt) and its topped with a lovely onion mixture. There are various toppings suggested in the recipe to go onto the onions but on this occasion I chose fresh tomatoes and some Parmesan shavings. It was a deliciously fresh lunch, full of good things (just like this book too).

This latest Leon book is full of character and colour, its quirky, its different and its illustrated in a 'boys own' tattoo bearing angel fashion. It is full of family photos of the authors growing up and significant events involving their loves ones; its clearly been put together by people who are passionate about the food they share with family and friends. Its also clear that the quality of this food is very important to them. A good number of the recipes are personalised to family events or attributed to the creators, just like home and family inspired baking and handed down recipes should be.

The book itself is divided into two sections, parts one and two, the first is the 'everyday' section of recipes and this covers breakfast, power snacks, tea time, puds, cooking with children, bread and yeast and sweets. The second looks at 'celebration' and covers all kinds of popular events from Valentines day to Mothers day and even Wimbledon and Thanksgiving! By the way, when perusing these sections see if you spot the karma sutra doilie with a strategically placed pudding on top? AND the page FULL of Leon stickers. Yes this book is that different and ~~kinky~~ quirky, but only in a good 'tongue in cheek' way!

The philosophy of Leon is about good healthy food, reflected in the ethos of the restaurant chain as well as the recipe books. This is a picture of one of the branches in Soho, taken by yours truly. Henry Dimbleby describes these as being created from a vision of 'what McDonalds would look like in heaven'...food that is delicious, good for you and fast. The food here has received a number of accolades from various sources.

Another aspect of the Baking and Puddings book is that it covers a range of recipes to suit those on special diets, and whether this is the need to loose weight or the need to watch what ingredients are in your baking (like gluten free) this book will certainly appeal. There really is something in this book for everyone. The range of recipes is wide reaching and Leon baking and puddings has useful information about all kinds of ingredients you can use in baking, for me this was one of the particular pleasing aspects of this book. The Leon book is not promoted as a book to learn to bake from but it will add to your knowledge of how to bake and what ingredients to use and when, with the chapters on 'guide to baking ingredients' and 'tools, tips and techniques'.

I have also made the coconut cake from the celebrations section of Leon, I took it into work to share with colleagues and it was gone in minutes. You make a coconut 'jam' for the filling and the topping is fresh cream, in the book its covered in coconut shavings but I left my cake plain. It was a lovely tasting cake with subtle coconut flavours, and I would make it again. Both of the recipes I have tried have worked well and have not been difficult to create.

Its the end of my blogs first anniversary week and to mark that, if you would like the chance to own your own copy of this amazing book you can enter the giveaway below, there a few chances to win.

To enter just leave a comment below and briefly describe to me whether you would make a sweet or savoury recipe from this Leon book, and why? For a second entry tweet about the giveaway. For a third entry follow @TwitTottee on Twitter, and let me know below you have done so below. For a fourth entry follow A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate and 'like' that page on Facebook and let me know below you have done so below. Its easy peasy if you FOLLOW THE RAFFLE COPTER INSTRUCTIONS BELOW.

You have 7 days to enter, the deadline is on 11th February 2012 and you must live in the UK to take part. The two winners will be chosen by me. Two lucky people will each receive one copy of Leon Baking and Puddings from Octopus Publishing Group. This will be a fantastic addition to your recipe book collection and inspire you with new ideas. Good luck!

My thanks to Fiona at Octopus Publishing Group for providing this giveaway.

N.B Octopus Publishing Group have not given me any recompense or asked me to say nice things about this book. I made these two items with ingredients I paid for because I wanted to.a Rafflecopter giveaway

Its my 1st yr blogaversary - Baking Mad giveaway

2012-02-01T12:33:00.000Z

My blog is one year old today!

Where has that year gone from my first post to now, where has all that food gone *looks down at widening hips*, where have all these foodie friends/fellow bloggers, Twitter/Facebook, Clandestine Cake Clubbing, hen loving/keeping followers come from? Well I'm not really sure, its all a bit of a wonder to be honest, but I love my new found blogging hobby, and my new found acquaintances and people I now like to call 'friends' and I wanted to express many heartfelt thanks to those of you who have read, followed, trusted me to review, commented on and supported my blog in its first year. Many, many thanks.

Susanx

Time to celebrate with a slice or two of cake...and because this post has a birthday theme its about baking cakes at home that would be suitable for a birthday cake, for children or for grown ups. I know you can go to a range of well known supermarkets and buy (quite cheaply too) a ready made cake, and they don't taste too badly either. But whatever is in those cakes, however cheap they are and however character themed/attractive they are, such cakes will never match the taste of a homemade cake, and trust me when I say people do remember a cake that's been made FOR them, but by next birthday they will have forgotten last years shop bought cake.

So here is a simply easy family recipe for an easy but moist, chocolate rich, delicious cake that would be more than acceptable as a birthday cake, no fancy decoration required really and the only skill you need is to be able to a) make a sponge and b) make some chocolate fudge type topping. You won't even need a food mixer to make this cake, its that simple and as it contains sunflower oil no creaming or major arm breaking beating is required. The sunflower oil helps to make the cake moist and light too.

Stick a few candles on top of that cake and its a complete triumph. Or just have it as a dessert, or as a treat. The recipe for this cake came from the Baking Mad website, I am a frequent visitor and a member of that site (there is a baking/members forum there and I add some of my own recipes, try some of Baking Mad's recipes and have a look at whats going on, the competitions they have are quite good too...its free to join the site).

And...while its my blogaversary the kindly folk at Baking Mad have given me a range of Silver Spoon cake decorating goodies to give away.

To enter this giveaway just leave a comment below and briefly describe to me the best birthday cake you remember having, as a child or as an adult, and where it was from? This is just ONE opportunity to enter there are other chances too. For a second entry tweet about the giveaway. For a third entry follow @TwitTottee on Twitter, and let me know below you have done so below. For a fourth entry follow A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate and 'like' that page on Facebook and let me know below you have done so below. Its easy peasy if you FOLLOW THE RAFFLE COPTER INSTRUCTIONS BELOW.

You have 7 days to enter, the deadline is midnight on 8th February 2012 and you must live in the UK to take part. Winners will be chosen by me (its my blogiversary party after all). One lucky person will receive a parcel of goodies from Baking Mad from the Silver Spoon cake making/decorating range, this will include vanilla sachets, chocolate cake topping, jelly drops, fudge pieces, chocolate hearts, white chocolate stars and giant snowies. I'm sure this bundle of goodies will be a very welcome addition to your baking stocks and that along with the Baking Mad website will help to give you lots of cake decorating inspiration.

My thanks to Baking Mad for providing this lovely cake decorating inspired giveaway.

N.B Baking Mad have not given me any recompense or asked me to say nice things about the Baking Mad website or the recipes on there. I made this cake with ingredients I paid for because I wanted to.a Rafflecopter giveaway

Taking stock - dieters life saving soup recipe - giveaway

2012-01-30T21:30:00.000Z

Just before Christmas I was sent some Essential Cuisine chicken and vegetable stocks to try and then by pure coincidence (in a competition on 'you know where book' no less) I also won pots of the whole range...and some other lovely goodies too (it was a really lovely unexpected present just before Christmas). But since then I've gone a bit stock mad and been trialing all sorts of things to give these powdered stocks a proper road test. And they all, without exception have passed with flying colours. I have been really impressed with them and for now they are definitely my stand by and store cupboard stocks of choice when I don't have fresh stock of my own to use. I'm hooked and I know why...
These stocks are light, delicately flavoured and probably the nearest thing I have used to match the flavour of homemade stock. They are not overly seasoned and they don't contain monosodioum glutamate, the other stocks I used did and I now realise that this was what I was not enjoying about those stocks, the flavours were too strong, too salty and far too artificial.

Essential Cuisine is based in the north west (Cheshire) and they pride themselves on making good quality stocks of the standard a professional chef would use. One pot makes about 6 litres of stock if you follow the instructions on the tub. The range covers fish, chicken, beef, vegetable and even veal. You can buy them in deli's, select food providers or online here. The website includes some lovely recipes to try with the range.
Here is some of the dishes I have made over the last 7 weeks or so with these stocks to give you and idea of the versatility: not all are pictured.
Chicken noodle soup
Turkey ham and vegetable pie
Potatoes boulangere
Vegetable and lentil soup
Fish cakes
Gravy for roast chicken and roast turkey
Chicken chasseur
Beef tea drink (has about 3 cals..I can't stop drinking this especially when its cold out)
Braised brisket of beef -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is one recipe I make over and over again, its my dieters life saving low calorie soup, its very easy to make using the stock powder if you are dieting and you motivation is slipping away try it!
Low calorie easy vegetable and lentil soup
Ingredients:
2 sticks of celery chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 bag of prepared mix vegetables (we call them pot herbs here) if you don't have ready prepared veg use whatever you have in but carrots, leeks, swede, cabbage (root veg) etc will do
200g red lentils
fresh thyme OR dried thyme
chicken stock OR vegetable stock powder from Essential Cuisine
Sea salt and black pepper
Method:
1. Put the celery, onion, fresh thyme and mixed vegetables into a large pan. Cover with boiling water from a boiled kettle. Add 1tbs of chicken or vegetable stock and season, cook over a moderate heat for about 10 minutes.

2. Add the red lentils and continue to cook until the lentils are soft. Check the seasoning, add more salt and pepper and stock if needed to taste.

3. Either blitz with a hand blender, or serve chunky. Or if you like it part chunky part blended then use a potato masher to break up with vegetables.

Make a huge pot of this to keep on the stove and help yourself to a bowl when you feel hungry, its a dieters lifesaver packed with good carbs from the lentils.

The beef stock on its own as a drink in a mug, is so nice, its nothing like a stock cube or paste and its so warming and delicious.

So you can try some of these stocks for yourself, this week I'm giving away two of these lovely stocks to try along with a lovely chefs striped apron from Essential Cuisine, the apron is rather nice in a professional cheffie kind of way, and its a really good (your clothes won't get ruined in this) size, the fish and chicken stocks you also get to try (with your new apron on of course!) are even nicer. You have to live in the UK to enter and you have up to three chances of winning.

First leave a comment below telling me what dish you would make with any of these five Essential Cuisine stocks? For a second entry follow @E-Cuisine on Twitter, and let me know below you have done so below. For a third entry follow E Cuisine Home Chef and 'like' that page on Facebook and let me know below you have done so below. For a fourth entry tweet about the giveaway.

The winner will be chosen at random by me. This giveaway closes in seven days. Good luck!

If you win please try my fishcake recipe with the fish stock powder added as its a lovely supper dish!)

NB. Essential Cuisine did not ask me to do a feature on my blog or offer me any incentive (monetary or otherwise) other than to send me this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

10 minute Haddock curry - recipe

2012-01-27T01:17:00.000Z

I love indian food but seldom get to eat it as the chief taster can't eat it at all...we have tried every curry known to man...homemade too, tomato based, coconut based, everything, but to no avail. But tonight a revelation, a homemade curry paste from Bipins, his Methi Masala that when made tasted so authentic it pretty much was unbelievable, nicer than a restaurant and better than any of the homemade ones I had concocted (and I have had some pretty good efforts let me tell you, my 'Jamie' curry is renowned!). AND chief taster can eat it!!!! Yes!!!

This dish was an amazingly original flavour of ginger, garlic, onion, and just the right blend of fresh indian herbs and spices. This fresh paste mix combined with coconut milk and the addition of the freshest haddock really was superb.

It was so easy to make and on this occasion because I used fresh fillet of haddock, it took no time to cook at all, and in the time it takes to boil the basmati rice you have a lip smacking authentic curry. An ideal meal when you are just in from work on a cold night and want something hot and tasty.
Ingredients:
1 packet Bipins fresh curry paste (this was a Methi Masala)
1/2 tin coconut milk

1 fillet wild DelishFish haddock
A rice dish of you choice, and other accompaniments as you wish
(serves 2 adults)
Method:
1. Boil a pan of water for the rice. While this is boiling empty the curry paste into a pan, you don't need to add anything as an oil is included, cook gently over a low heat for a few minutes. Add half a tin of coconut milk and mix, leave the sauce on a low heat while you add the salt, a pinch of turmeric and basmati rice to the now boiling water. Time the rice to cook for about 10 minutes.
2. Take you fillet of haddock and cut into large pieces. Place the pieces carefully into the curry sauce, continue to simmer in the sauce and when the rice is ready turn off the curry,.
3. Drain the rice and serve with the haddock curry on top.

AND if you don't have any fresh curry paste to hand Fish is the Dish has a really smashing recipe here.

Head over to fish is the dish for more delicious fish recipes...

Meatballs with Haggis - recipe

2012-01-26T19:54:00.004Z

We had some leftover Haggis from Burns night. Leftovers in this household means a whole new meal that we often enjoy as much if not more than the original 'feast'. The Haggis I had bought from my local butcher was turned into a delicious meatball and pasta supper.

Ingredients:
Meatballs:
200g lean mince pork
200g lean minced beef
leftover Haggis (I used about half a medium one)
1 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely minced
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
150g Parmesan cheese finely grated
1 free range egg
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
sea salt
black pepper
Tomato sauce:
1 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely minced
1 stick celery chopped
Tbsp olive oil
sea salt
black pepper
1 tin chopped or plum tomaotes

Method:
1. Pre heat the oven to 180c fan. Drizzle a baking tray with olive oil.
2. Finely chop the leftover Haggis. Mix this with the minced beef and minced pork, add the chopped onion, minced garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and breadcrumbs. Mix well in a large bowl, use your hands to do this and then add the egg and mix again.
3. Roll individual pieces of the mix into balls, you can make these big or small depending on what you prefer. Place on the tray. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, turn after 10 minutes.
4. Make the tomato sauce. Sweat a chopped onion, a chopped stick of celery and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add the tinned tomatoes and seasoning and simmer for about 20 minutes. Use a stick blender to pulse the sauce, and pass through a sieve if you like your sauce smoother and finer.
5. Add the cooked meatballs to the tomato sauce and let them simmer while you cook the pasta. Serve hot with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

(If you have any meatballs left over they make a great sandwich inside a baguette or roll)

Serve with whatever pasta you like, we had spaghetti.

English Haggis - one reason I buy food locally

2012-01-23T00:19:00.000Z

This week its Burns night when its tradition to eat Haggis...yes that's a Haggis in my kitchen above and see below from Wikipedia about Burns night...

A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, author of many Scots poems. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January, sometimes also known as Robert Burns Day or Burns Night (Burns Nicht), although they may in principle be held at any time of the year.

Burns suppers are most common in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but occur wherever there are Burns Clubs, Scottish Societies, expatriate Scots, or aficionados of Burns' poetry. There is a particularly strong tradition of them in southern New Zealand's main city Dunedin, of which Burns' nephew Thomas Burns was a founding father.

Burns suppers may be formal or informal. Both typically include haggis (a traditional Scottish dish celebrated by Burns in Address to a Haggis), Scotch whisky and the recitation of Burns' poetry. Formal dinners are hosted by organisations such as Burns clubs, or St Andrews Societies and occasionally end with dancing when ladies are present. Formal suppers follow a standard format.

If you are celebrating Burns night this week enjoy!

My local butcher, Browns in Chorley does a mean tasting haggis, yes haggis in Lancashire, how did that happen? Not entirely sure, but I know its good stuff, made from carefully selected ingredients and made to a traditional recipe.
I do wonder if Scottish people think this is not really haggis as its made in Lancashire and not Scotland?
Browns make other things too, like black and white pudding roulade and Haggis and black pudding together ( if you like both you are in 7th heaven here trust me!). These make a lovely starter, or addition to any breakfast.
They make their own individual black and white puddings here and have won awards for them and their range of sausages, (they do a sausage with smoked bacon and black pudding in, its to die for) in fact the owner is a 'proper' competition standard judge of such wonderful things as a handmade sausage link himself (but not a judge of his own products that have won many an award, I might add).

Last year I made sure that I stopped using supermarkets for fresh food and was determined to buy local food from local suppliers as much as I could and to get to know those suppliers better. That's not something I'm going to change this year, in 2012.

Changing the way I shopped last year is one of the reasons why we have eaten fresher, better quality food and more cheaply than when we were more supermarket reliant. I think it shocks a lot of people that I have actually spent less money on food by doing this, but I have its true. We have eaten well and we have eaten through the seasons, I have a few select local meat providers I buy meat from (this is one of them), I buy fruit and veg fresh from the local market all the time and cook accordingly. All these producers can advise me whats in season, whats good value and how best to cook it, more often than not.

My other niggle is that our local high streets are becoming deserted areas full of empty shops turned into charity shops or cash converting/pawn broking vendors (I'm not related to Mary Portas!). If a business like Browns butchers, that has been around since 1932, failed and the shop became desolate, I'd be very unhappy because I want to see and go into a real family high street butchers and buy fresh meat from local reliable sources, and I want my family to be able to do the same for years to come. If you feel the same, however are not as fortunate as I am to be able to buy such lovely things locally you can buy some items from Browns online here.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think about local butchers like this.

Do you use them, do you like them, do they seem more expensive?

OR, do you find supermarkets work best for you?

Do you think we will still have butchers like this in the high street in the future or will they be a distant memory?

Sunday lunch - in pictures mostly

2012-01-22T19:09:00.000Z

Not so much a review or a recipe, or a lot of words, but a snapshot of our Sunday lunch, my mother and I ate out this Sunday at a local restaurant.

We had a really lovely lunch here, it was nicely cooked, reasonable in price, we were well looked after.

"Built in 1755 Ashfield House is an elegant English Country House standing in its own landscaped grounds and overlooking the Douglas Valley".

The restaurant is more of a traditional setting which seems to appeal to an older generation, though a young family were there for a private gathering in one of the dining rooms.

What we had to eat from the Sunday lunch menu.

There are old bills, invoices, receipts and papers in frames in some of the corridors; this one took my eye as its from Cadburys in Bourneville in Birmingham for an order for chocolate, cakes etc from 1902.

Where is it? (click)
Website (click)

Todays menu.

NB. Ashfield House in Standish did not ask me to do a feature on my blog or offer me any incentive (monetary or otherwise) to show you what we had for Sunday lunch, in fact they will have no idea about this until they see it for themselves!

Chocolate craters (formerly souffles) - recipe (gluten free)

2012-01-21T07:55:00.002Z

Souffles, they are supposed to rise high and be light and airy, have a fair bit of a lift to them and maybe a crack where the rise has gone over the top of the ramekin dish...right? Well mine didn't... So I am renaming these as Chocolate craters (formerly souffles)...not that easy on the eye (in a souffle kinda way). BUT very easy on the palate as they were delicious...very chocolatie in flavour, light and just sweet enough, not hard to make if you are not too worried about the not rising high thing...and if you call them craters no one will know...winner! Double winner if you are watching the calories as these are fat free and don't have that much sugar, AND dark chocolate is very good for you (in moderation of course)...plus they don't contain any flour if you follow a gluten free diet...triple winner!

Ingredients:
3 free range eggs
70g dark chocolate (the good stuff)
1 tbsp caster sugar
for the ramekins
1 tsp cocoa
1 tsp caster sugar
butter to grease
Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Grease 4 small ramekin dishes with butter, make sure you grease the rim too. Mix the teaspoons of cocoa powder and sugar in a bowl then put half a teaspoon of each into the ramekin, swirl it around to coat the inside then tip any excess out.
2. Melt the chocolate.
3. With a food mixer beat the 3 free range eggs and the caster sugar until pale, voluminous and mousse like. Add about a third of this mix to the melted chocolate, fold in gently. (this is where my recipe failed for me I didn't take enough care folding in the chocolate and that affected the rise)
4. Fold the chocolate mix into the remaining batter taking care to incorporate but not to mix so as to beat the air out. You need to work swiftly but in a kindly sort of way too.
5. Add to each of the four ramekins. Place these on a deep baking tray or roasting tin. Add boiling water to the tin to come up the side of the ramekins half way.
6. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
7. Serve warm with ice cream or without!
Please note: these won't rise very very high, even if you do get a better rise than me as they have no flour.
This is my entry for this months we should cocoa challenge for January, inspired by Chele which was to use chocolate in a health conscious kind of way...and I think this fits the bill.

Home made fishcakes - recipe

2012-01-13T18:05:00.002Z

Friday's always makes me think its 'fish for supper day', I think that's down to the upbringing, but its also Frugal Food Friday, and lets be honest with the price of food who doesn't need to watch the cost of meals. So here is a recipe that's very easy to make its quick its cheap, its a way to use up leftovers, and its very delicious indeed. That's what you call ticking all the boxes!
Ingredients:
Leftover mashed potatoes (about one and a half portions worth of)
1 tbsp Fresh parsley chopped
Fish...either...small pieces tail end of cod/haddock/smoked haddock OR go mad, throw caution to the wind and open a tin of tuna chunks in brine, drain it and use this
1 teaspoon dried fish stock powder (if you have it in)
1 large free range egg beaten
Stale bread or a stale bread roll (not green mould stale!!) I used a hardening ciabatta roll, to make breadcrumbs
Sunflower or vegetable oil for frying
Method:
1. If your fish is fresh (not tinned) then cook this first. I usually zap mine in the microwave on a plate covered in clingfilm for about a minute and a half, depending on the size of your fish and power behind your microwave you might need longer. Alternatively poach your fish in milk until cooked.
2. Make some breadcrumbs by blitzing the stale bread in a food processor until quite fine. Leave this in a dish. Beat the egg and leave this in a dish too.
3. Once cooked, flake the fish into the potato, take out any bones as you go, add the chopped parsley and a teaspoon of the dried fish stock powder at the same time. and mix through with a fork, do not over mix as you want to see and taste the chunks of fish.
4. Flour your work surface and take portions of the potato mix and make into round shapes. Use a ring mold to help you get them the same size if you like.
5. Dip each 'cake' into the beaten egg and then the breadcrumbs. Leave to rest on a plate while you heat about an inch of oil in a frying pan.

6. Carefully lower each fish cake into the oil and fry over a moderate heat for about 3 minutes each side, the frying time depends on how deep your fish cakes are. Once cooked drain on kitchen paper. If frying in batches keep warm in a moderate oven. Serve with ketchup and tartar sauce and whatever else takes your fancy!
The cost of the fish for this was less than £1.75,
the potatoes were left over from Sunday lunch, the other ingredients were all to hand.

I made 6 deep fishcakes. This fed two of us for an evening meal and one of us for lunch the next day with sides. Result!

Spiced Bundt cake - recipe & guest post by @DollyBakes

2012-01-07T21:46:00.002Z

I am delighted to introduce @DollyBakes who I have followed on Twitter for quite a while now. I have never met 'Dolly' but I know she can cook and likes to bake; she lives a couple of miles away from me, although we have never met face to face; she is a cat owner/lover and equally a lover of all things involving Cath Kitson and fine food/dining. I know this because I have seen a good number of her tweets and also seen photos of various meals from fine dining locations 'Dolly' and her husband have eaten at recently. These guys like the good stuff, and worship at the tables of some fantastic and well renowned chefs.

Anyway, 'Dolly' made a really gorgeous bundt cake over Christmas, she tweeted pictures of it and I asked if she would share the recipe with us all, so here it is, in 'Dollys' words and pictures,not mine. 'Dolly' does not have her own blog I don't know why as I think she'd make a great food blogger...don't you agree? Thank you 'Dolly' for doing a guest post and sharing such a lovely bake...here is her guest post...

I love baking, but I'm totally OCD about thingsturning out just the way I had planned. For years I stuck to cakes I was reallygood at; like muffins and fruit cakes. However, times are a changing. I'vedecided to jump out of my comfort zone this year, and make things that are moreof a challenge. This means I will make each new thing about three times beforeI'm totally happy with it,as I always customise my recipes and will not settleuntil my OCD is satisfied. This cake is a perfect example of this new venture.I found a really pretty fluted bundt tim, and was determined for the cake tocome out perfectly. Needless to say, first time it did not. Although utterlydevastated by my cake's betrayal I soldiered on...I was determined to make thiscake perfect!

Making this cake taught met these three tips for bundtcakes bliss:
1. Prepare the mould with Dr Oetker cake release sprayand dust with a little flour.
2. Use an oven thermometer - the devil is in thedetail.
3. Let the cake cool completely in the tin,before turning it out.
This is now my favourite cake ever, it works a dreamevery time, is super moist and looks really impressive!
This recipe makes 12generous slices (for greedy girls like me)
Ingredients:
250gunsalted butter (softened in the microwave)
650ggolden caster sugar (the finer the better)
5medium free range eggs - beaten
240mlmilk
1 tspvanilla extract
1/2teaspoon lemon extract
1 tspmixed spice
3 tspcinnamon
1 tspginger
1/4teaspoon nutmeg
400gplain flour
1/2 tspbicarbonate of soda
1/2 tspsalt
Icingsugar for dusting
Bundttin, savarin tin or ring mould - about 25cm in diameter
Preheat the oven to Gas 3 or 170c.
Method:

1. Mix the butter andsugar until it is well combined (I use a hand mixer, but elbow grease and awooden spoon is just as good). Add the beaten egg a little bit at a time untillight and fluffy).

2. Add the extracts tothe milk and again add to the cake batter a little at a time.

3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, spices, saltand bicarbonate of soda. Add the dry ingredients to the cake batter a little ata time. Mix everything until its light and creamy looking, taking care not tobeat the living hell out of it!
4. Put this bad boy into the prepared cake mould andlevel off with a quick shake of the tin.
5. Check your oven temperature is correct beforepopping it in the oven for about 60 minutes.
6. At the 60 minute point take it out for a nosey. Itsstable enough to not sink so don't panic! If a skewer comes out clean, yourwork here is done. If not pop it back in for about another 10-15 minutes (Notefor other OCD sufferers - this is a very forgiving cake and is very hard toover-bake). The top will look quite dark, but this is a beautiful firm base tothe cake when finished.
7. Once cooked through leave the cake to cool in thetin fully. I mean fully.
8. When cooled dust with icing sugar to decorate, Ifind a tea strainer quite useful here!

I am quite happy to answer any questions, just tweetme @DollyBakes x
UPDATE: DOLLY HAS HER OWN BLOG NOW CALLED 'DOLLY BAKES'

New year - new bakes - recipe

2012-01-06T22:33:00.001Z

Happy new year readers!

Its a bit late granted, but we've another 360 days to go at yet, but I sincerely hope 2012 brings you all the best life can offer. I'm starting the new year as I intend to go on with some home baking and here are some recent bakes, to be honest I made these cakes to use up fruits from Christmas that had not been eaten. Funny how at Christmas you'll eat anything other than fresh fruit from the fruit bowl, then in the new year its all you feel you need or should be eating.

After the Christmas indulgences I want something with a fresher taste rather than being overly rich so here we have a banana tray bake, with recipe and two lemon inspired cakes (above). This banana cake is a great way to use up ripe bananas and makes a lovely cake and dessert with custard or ice cream, its a moist squidgy cake with a lovely toffee like topping. The recipe for this cake is from a gem of a book called Brownies, Bars and Goodies Galore by Jo McAuley and published (and given to me to review) by Octopus Books. This is a book with the US market in mind but good conversion charts are included at the back of the book, there are some fab recipes in there, some are gluten free.
Upside down banana sheet cake
Ingredients:
5 small ripe bananas
1/3 US cups prunes chopped
1/2 US cups dried bananas chopped
350g butter
2 free range eggs
1+3/4 US cups self rasing flour
1 tsp baking powder
1+ 1/4 US cups light brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
Method:
1. Pre heat the oven to 170c fan. Line a square cake tin (9 inches). The take 2 of the bananas and slice these to cover the bottom of the tin.
2. Put sugar and 100g butter in a pan and heat slowly until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. Pour this into the bottom of the tin over the sliced bananas and leave to one side.
4. Cream the caster sugar and butter until pale then add the beaten eggs a little at a time. In another bowl mash the remaining bananas with a fork.
5. Fold the flour and baking powder into the mix followed by the mashed bananas, dried bananas, prunes and milk.
6. Spoon the mix over the sliced bananas in the tin and level with a spoon. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until risen and test with a skewer. Leave in the tin to cool initially then turn out. Beware the syrup may trickle out and can be hot. Serve in squares cold, warm or hot.

The two lemon inspired cakes (pictured above) were made from recipes from Vanessa Kimbell's book 'Prepped' I know a lot of lucky people received this book as a Christmas present so hopefully this will tempt you to try some of the lovely recipes. The lemon and lavender cake is so good, moist, fresh and slightly fragrant with the lavender.I finished mine with some icing coloured with a touch of grape coloured food gel and finished with lemon slices and culinary lavender.The other cake (above) is a lemon cake too, different recipe to the lemon/lavender one but both cakes are drizzled with a lemon syrup (icing is optional) to add even more zing! Just the thing to give your new year a kick start.

NB. These views are mine alone, and this post is not featured on my blog as part of any incentive (monetary or otherwise) from authors or publishers to show you what I baked this week. I just love to bake cakes!

Christmas 2011 - a Nigella affair

2011-12-30T01:08:00.002Z

Christmas a time for over indulgence, and the time between Christmas and New Year ideal for a few posthumous recipes...don't worry the black and white won't last I'm having an attempt at being 'arty'.

A first this year for me as I brinned my turkey prior to cooking it. I made a brine mixture of salt, sugar, thyme, sage, lemons, bay leaves and peppercorns and there would have been rosemary in there if
a) I could have bought some and b) I hadn't over pruned the rosemary in the garden
to a mere twig! However I was happy with my little fragrant concoction minus the rosemary.

Brining is quite easy really, the hardest bit is finding a vessel large enough to hold the brine and a large bird. You submerge your bird then your it somewhere cool in the brine (I added a lot of ice to it too) for at least 24 hrs, you can try for longer but I was a first timer and did not want to risk an overbrined bird. My turkey was free range and bought from my local fishmongers who also supplies the best poultry.

Once the turkey has done its brining thing, its time for a quick shower in cold running water, (that's the turkey not me) a dry off with kitchen towel/paper and leaving it to come up to room temperate before roasting, and doing any of that pre roasting attention.

I don't stuff mine as such but I do cover with bacon and fill the cavity with apple and onions and make a foil covering for it.

There is a turkey brining recipe in Nigella (Lawson's) Christmas book, which I have had for years. If you bought me this once as a Christmas gift please put your hand up I'm sure one of you did?

I also made Nigella's 'ham in coca cola' recipe, which has become a tradtion in this household over the past years (I keep trying to wean them off it but I they won't be budged!). Its a lovely recipe and no bother at all to make, but you will have to go to the Nigella website for it as it does not feature in this book.

And...yes there is more...I made Nigella's rocky road as one of the sweets for a lunch one day, but turned it into a festive Christmas wreath. Nigella adorns square slabs of hers with plastic bambi's. trees, icing sugar and such. Mine was adorned with red and green smarties and edible disco Christmas glitter and the wreath shape idea came from Lynne Hill.

The wreath was a hit and tasted very good, well...ask yourself... how can you make 400g of chocolate, plus additional yummy sundries such as marshmallows, hazelnuts, golden syrup, butter, fruit and biscuits taste bad?

I'm entering this post in Sarah at Maison Cupcake's

Forever Nigella blogging event...the last one for this year in this format...

and unbelievably yes I need new kitchen scales!

You can see the other fabulous entries below...

Bread and Butter Panettone Pudding - recipe

2011-12-22T21:57:00.000Z

This recipe originated from using up leftovers after Christmas (not sure which celebrity chef Christmas Special it was now?) but we love it so much more than Panetone itself we just buy a Panettone to make the pudding. Why not?

Ingredients:
1 whole Panettone (if you are greedy like us, use a supermarket home baked one they are fine for this and quite cheap, think of the current ad on TV PAN...EEE...TONE...EEE)
6 free range eggs
3/4 pint of milk
100g butter
100g cinnamon sugar (made by pouring sugar into a jar, add cinnamon sticks and shake periodically OR use ground cinnamon and sugar mixed)

Method:
1. Grease an oven proof dish. Pre heat the oven to 160C fan.
2. Slice the Panettone and butter on both sides, lay into the oven proof dish side by side. Sprinkle liberally with the cinnamon sugar.
3. Beat the eggs with the milk until mixed then pour this over the Panettone, squash the bread down into the egg/milk mix to ensure its coated.
4. Bake in the pre heated oven for about 25 minutes.
5. Serve warm or cold with custard, cream, or ice cream.
This is one of those puddings you can really add anything else to and it will be fabulous and change the flavours and textures to make it very special...some suggestions are...
Fruity - any dried fruits, sultanas, rasins, dates, apricots, dried cranberries, add between the bread slices.
Spicy - add nutmeg, all spice, cloves, or a mix of your favourites.
Citrus - add a grated clementine, grated zest of lemon and or orange between the bread slices, or use orange water
Nutty - sprinkle the top and/or between the bread slices with chopped hazelnuts, walnuts or pecans.
Boozy - add rum, brandy, cointreau, Baileys to the egg mix before pouring on.

Merry Christmas from me and from our ex battery hens who are still laying well and giving us the best tasting eggs ever, perfect for dishes like this.

Gingerbread House - recipe

2011-12-18T20:24:00.000Z

I made this LAST Christmas...I haven't made another one...I haven't got over this one yet, it was the hardest thing I ever made...not sure whether it was my lack of patience or inability to bake/construct a straight sided house (suspect the latter) but it was a ~~swine~~ very hard thing to put together.

The joy comes with sticking the sweet adornments on (for which you need to take a bank loan out at today's prices) and eating the leftovers. Here is how you can make one, but don't blame me when you are pulling your hair out!

You will need to allow about 3 days (not full days granted) to make this house...day one, make the gingerbread and bake the house; day two assemble the house and prepare the ~~garden~~ cake board; day three get ~~hiding all the mistakes you have made~~ decorating with sweets and finishing off etc. If you follow this rule it should help and when you get to the fun bit of decorating *laughs hysterically* the children can help you.
Ingredients:
1 baked Gingerbread house
1 pkt ~~Jelly Babies~~ baby formed sweets
1 pkt red line like sweet things
1 pkt ~~Dolly Mixtures~~ square/round coloured sweets
1 pkt ~~Haribo~~ Jelly sweets
1 pkt ~~Smarties~~ coloured chocolate beans
1 pkt liquorice Catherine wheels
1 ~~Cadburys~~ chocolate flake
Cupcake confetti
One vat full of royal icing
Sugarpaste flowers/butterflies (home made ones)
1 quantity of green sugar paste
Edible cake glitter
Icing sugar to dust
1 cake board, size to suit
To assemble:
1 large tin of 'the patience of a saint'
Alcohol of your choice (NOT for the children or house)

Method:

1. Start (day one) by making your gingerbread house. At this point I would advise extra care and attention when making and baking the house, if you take on a 'devil may care' approach to this like me some reckless home bakers, it will turn out wonky and will not stick together. Baker be warned! The recipe for the gingerbread to make the house was from the Good Food Channel here. The template for the house is here.

2. Once the house is made and has cooled, (day two) its time to pour yourself a stiff drink and try and assemble the ~~damm~~ house...to do this, firstly, choose an evening when ~~you've had a particularly bad day at work and~~ you want to relax a bit by being creative in the kitchen. Take every tin of canned food you have in your cupboards out, as you will need these to shore up and support the sides/roof and anything else as you assemble.

Use royal icing (icing sugar plus egg white and glycerine mixed to a thick consistency) as the cement for the sides and roof. If all else fails ~~swear a lot~~ use lots and lots as a) its Christmas and b) it shows heavily in Lancashire and it adds to the authenticity of the final effect.

Use the tins to help keep everything together as the icing sets. If you do manage to assemble this its best to leave it overnight to harden.

Have another drink when you have done it as you will need it.

4. Next, prepare a base with a cake board of suitable size. Roll out some green sugar paste icing and cover the board (brush board with water first), trim with a sharp knife as you would a pastry lined dish.

5. (Day three) Alcohol is optional on this day! Place your house on top of the green base, towards the back to allow for a front path, and secure with royal icing under the house.

6. The EASIEST part of this whole operation is the actual decoration. Either pipe lines of royal icing onto the roof or use a knife to add icing onto sweets in order to stick them on in rows or randomly. OR you could use cake glue if you prefer.

You can use any kind of sweets or chocolate you like as anything looks good on this. Use the red line sweet things to make window frames and a door.

Decorate the sides with the liquorice Catherine wheels to imitate ~~badly made~~ windows.

7. Add sugar paste flowers for the garden and dot a few sugar paste butterflies around (put a very large butterfly on the roof so your hubby can mock its pterodactyl like form).

Make a path by smearing royal icing and covering this with cupcake confetti for a fancy gravel effect.

Add the chimney (a flake) to the roof and secure with a dab or royal icing.

8. For a final flourish ~~and to hide a multitude of failures~~ dust with lots of icing sugar and sprinkle with edible

cake glitter. I swear they will be so wowed by the glitter and sweets they won't see the rest. Oh, and don't bother to add the gingerbread men you made as their necks have broken and their heads snapped off, as the cutter you used was rubbish!

When its finished, pour another stiff drink, sit back and admire your

creation and say a little thanks (to whoever?) that luckily the child

you made this for is only 2.5 years old. And she won't notice how

bad it really looks, as she'll be too busy picking jelly babies off the

roof (only she will need help to do so with artex-like icing)...then have a couple of nights without sleep worrying about the effect of all this on the same child's teeth. (no she didn't really eat either all the sweets or the whole house).

I can't believe I am entering this post in the Great British Baking Clubs Gingerbread House Challenge (its being judged by Holly Bell from the Great British Bake off)...luckily there is no lost prize to cry over but I wanted to show even a disaster can prove to be something of a success at Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone x

N.B. This post was not sponsored by anyone whatsoever and certainly not any sweetie or electric toothbrush manufacturers.

Christmas inspired cupcakes in pictures

2011-12-17T21:49:00.000Z

Here are the result of last weeks Sunday afternoon cake decorating session with like minded friends.

The recipe for these vanilla cupcakes is here.

I'm linking back to English Mum's Big Christmas Bake Off

Oh! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!
XXX

Fruit and Nut Christmas Mince Pies - recipe

2011-12-12T23:05:00.000Z

Yes its predictable and yes its a mince pie recipe...not going to claim these are the best ever in the world, or this is a handed down recipe from generations, or its my own mincemeat, as none of these claims may apply (but I have made my own mincemeat in the past, and these are VERY good honest!).
I found a recipe for something like this in a little tiny book, I liked the sound of them, tried them with ~~what I had in the cupboard~~ my twist and the rest is...a really lovely mince pie and...well a few more calories on the hips really (and its not really even Christmas yet!).
Ingredients:
Filling:
1 jar shop bought mincemeat of your choice
100g dried apricots chopped
100g dried cranberries
1 dessert spoon of (I used Neilson Massey) orange blossom water
1 generous tablespoon of Calvados (maybe 2..well its Christmas!)
Pastry:
225g plain flour
75g ground hazelnuts
80g icing sugar
2 teaspoons mixed spice
185g chopped cold butter (unsalted)
1 free range egg yolk beaten
2 tsp iced water
Method:
Pre heat the oven to 170c fan. You will need 2 small sized 12 hole cake tins.
1. Take a jar of mincemeat and empty the contents into a bowl and then add about 100g of chopped dried apricots, 100g dried cranberries. Mix everything together and add a dessert spoon of orange water and a generous tablespoon (or two) of Calvados. Leave to absorb the liquid while you make the pastry.
2. In a food processor put the hazelnuts in and whizz until they are finely ground. Add the icing sugar, plain flour, mixed spice and pulse to mix. Then add through the spout, the beaten egg yolk combined with 2 teaspoons of water.
When the dough forms a ball take out and knead to bring it together, wrap and leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
3. After the pastry has rested roll it out, it can be quite sticky so keep your rolling area well floured. Cut out rounds and place in the tins to make the mince pie bases, fill each base with a teaspoon of mincemeat.
Brush the edges of the pastry bases with water then add a top, cut from the remaining pastry. Make sure the edges are sealed and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.
4. Once cooked remove and allow to cool before dusting with icing sugar, serve warm or cold.
This will yield about 18 small mince pies. I loved this recipe, but if I made it again I would toast the hazelnuts first for even more of a nutty flavour.

The recipe for the pastry for these pies came from the Australian Women's Weekly book called 'Christmas Minatures'...its a tiny little almost pocket size book with some hidden gems.

This is my entry for tea time treats where the theme is...CHRISTMAS.

Short and Sweet - book review

2011-12-03T23:51:00.000Z

Where to start?...I was sent a copy of 'Short and Sweet' by Dan Lepard quite a few weeks ago now...and I have to admit that I just be in awe of the whole book, chapter by chapter and page by page, its taken me so long to write this review because I keep getting distracted by a) making another recipe and b) looking and drooling over what other food bloggers are making from this book (more on that later).

Short and Sweet is one of those recipe books you will have forever, and will wonder how you ever baked without it, I for one wish I'd had this book years ago, if I had I would have been a much better baker than I am now. Short and Sweet is packed full of recipes, its not packed with photographs but this is not to the detriment of what his book is offering. Its not so much a recipe book or a recipe book giving baking instructions or advice on 'how to get the best of', its more like a baking recipe reference book, its been called a 'baking bible' and I could not describe it better.

There are more than 280 recipes in this book and its one that any home baker/cake maker/pastry cook/bread lover will turn to time and time again, both for new and inspirational recipes, for traditional favourites and for advice on such things as how to get the best cake crumb, loaf or rise. The chapters cover everything from bread, cakes, small things, biscuits and cookies, doughnuts, batters and baba's, sugar, sugar (sweets), desserts and supper.

I have given this book quite a road test and so far I have made...
Ginger root cake with turnip (pictured above)
Cinnamon cake with blackberries
Dark chocolate chunk cookies (pictured above)
Basic white loaf
Shortcrust pastry (pictured above)
Gingerbread biscuits
All of these were a triumph, some were eaten so greedily they didn't even get to be pictured on this blog! These are the most recipes I have made from any one book this year.

The bread was so good, a lovely open texture, a nice crust...that two of us scoffed the whole loaf the same evening I made it...was "too nice to spoil with jam" according to chief taster. I think it was the best loaf I ever made, we raved about it so much my mother asked me if she can borrow MY Short and Sweet to "have a go at that lovely bread that looks easy" (please note readers my mother has not made bread for over 20 years!!).

The Ginger root cake (yes it had turnip in it) was the springiest cake ever, and had a remarkable keeping time, it seemed to get better and better each day it lasted. The chocolate cookies were easy to make and a delight. The shortcrust pastry rose like puff pastry and melted in the mouth (just ask my brother and sister in law).

If you know someone that loves to bake then do consider buying this book for them for Christmas, they will repay you back a thousand fold with some lovely baking (out of sheer gratitude) AND...they will love you for giving them a baking bible they will treasure forever (trust me!). This book would suit a cook new to baking and a more experienced baker alike, its THE baking book to own and I know a lot of people who are already wishing for this for Christmas.

Short and Sweet is published by Fourth Estate. Dan Lepard is reknowned in many ways as a genius baking master, baking teacher, frequent recipe writer for the Guardian and amazing author.

Frosty the snowman cake - Baking Mad recipe

2011-11-30T17:00:00.001Z

This is the snowman cake I made for December's Clandestine Cake Club event, the theme was 'secret santa' and this meant you could bring any cake you liked, without telling anyone what it was. I am not at all fond of Christmas cake (or Christmas pudding, either for that matter) so as well as hoping that my fellow cake clubbers do not make 10 Christmas cakes (they didn't I'm pleased to say!!) I am always looking out for suitable Christmas cake alternatives; well any good cake recipes really and with little ones visiting at Christmas its good to have something that has a good visual impact.

I think I should mention now that last year I made a gingerbread house (I swore never to make one again...)
I thought it was really hard to make, getting everything to align properly,
'grand designs' had nothing on that house!

Most of the recipe books I had did not really hit the spot with a Christmassy non fruit type of cake, but thankfully I found this 'snowman celebration cake' recipe in the cakes section on the Baking Mad website. The recipe is easy peasy as its just two sandwich cakes as the base, not much skill is needed in making those really and the decoration is fairly simple.

All you do is smoother the two cakes with buttercream, (I did two layers and allowed each layer to set in the fridge) sprinkle the second buttercream layer with cocounut (I added cake glitter too), and then make a few addtions out of sugar paste to bring it to life. You could use sweets for the buttons/eyes etc and things like liquorice for the mouth/scarf to make it easier. I used strawberry laces for the scarf and made coal like buttons and the mouth from black sugar paste. A carrot was made from orange sugar paste and a clove. I put my cake on a chopping board covered with foil and I added some of those little battery powered led lights around the cake (3 x £10 from M&S). It was quite effective.

This would be one of many great cake recipes to make and decorate with children at home over Christmas, I am sure they would love this, a little bit of effort can produce quite a good result.

Red & Green tomato chutneys - recipe - book review

2011-11-29T00:09:00.000Z

Question: What do you do when you are walking around your local market one glorious Saturday in November late in the afternoon, and you spy a BOX (10lb approx weight) full of green and red (seemingly homegrown) tomatoes for £1? Yes £1!!!
AND then when you get home you spy your chilli plant groaning with chillis?
Answer: Look to 2 famous food writers and make glorious homemade rich chutneys for Christmas of course!

First of all Mrs Beeton - famed for her Victorian housekeeping manuals that gained tremendous notoriety over the years. A new 'Mrs Beeton' book entitled 'How to cook' has been published by Orion Publishing Group. This is a combination of recipes from Mrs Beeton and the input of Gerard Baker, a chef, food writer and broadcaster.
This book is great, it covers lots of recipes (220 in total) but also covers so many of the basic cooking techniques any serious cook needs. Its been quite a while since I have seen a recipe book that covers the whole range of cooking skills needed, but this book covers everything from soups and stocks to sauces to jams, jellies and pickles and everything in between. With this you will be able to master the basics and some! The notion of this book is to bring a lot of Mrs Beeton's recipes and techniques bang up to date and this 150th anniversary edition does just what it claims. As well as the chapters described above there are recipes for fish and shellfish, poultry and game, meat, vegetables, eggs and cheese, pastry, puddings and desserts, cakes, biscuits and breads, and lastly drinks. Most of the recipes are short and concise, a significant number of them have a photograph. The introductions to each chapter include advice on buying and preparing that range of foods, advice and tips on preparation and execution are given throughout.
This is quite a big book and it has a great deal to offer any cook, novice or experienced.

I tried the tomato chutney and we really loved it...you are suppose to leave this for a month to mature, we have eaten 2 jars already, its rich and dark and it has a sweetened hit, its good with cheese, ham and especially sausages!

Red Tomato Chutney
Ingredients:
2kg chopped tomatoes
1kg peeled/chopped onions
6 garlic cloves peeled/chopped
300g granulated sugar
300g soft brown sugar
1 litre cider vinegar
500g raisins
1 birds eye chilli halved lengthwise
1 tsp allspice berries
1 stick cinnaomon
70g fresh root ginger peeled/grated
Method:
1. Sterilise your jars, this will yield about 7 jars worth.
2. I used a food processor to chop all the ingredients that needed chopping. Then put everything in a large pan and bring to the boil.
3. Simmer until the chutney thickens, this will take about an hour, you will need to watch the chutney to make sure ti does not burn. As it cooks and thickens scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent it from catching.
4. The chutney is ready when a lot of the liquid has evaporated. Pot into the sterilised jars seal and store in a coll dark place for at least a month, then use within a year.
Chutney is VERY hot indeed so please take extra care when making this.

If you like the idea of homemade for Christmas then enter into Thrifty Christmas...a wonderful blog with lots of fabulous ideas for things to make at home, either to keep or give as gifts and with a keen eye on saving money.

The green tomato chutney recipe was an internet find and you can follow that recipe below.

Click here for Green Tomato Chutney recipe

Toffee apple topped chocolate marble cake - recipe

2011-11-22T21:17:00.000Z

We should cocoa...this months challenge hosted by Chele, at Chocolate Teapot has been going round in my head for weeks...chocolate and apples...apples and chocolate...milk chocolate...dark chocolate...white chocolate...anyway not an obvious pairing...to me anyway! What to make?

I tried one recipe a couple of weeks ago but was not too impressed with the outcome, and if I don't like a recipe I won't write about it. But, small consolation, the hens enjoyed them (white chocolate and apple muffins)...but then hens like a dry crumb obviously!
So I have sort of invented this...its just Ruth Clemens marble cake recipe adapted and added to a bit and it was quite nice...especially prettied up with more chocolate and cake glitter...well it is nearly Christmas!
Ingredients:
200g butter
200g golden caster sugar
125g self raising flour
50g plain flour
4 free range eggs
50g cocoa powder
1 eating apple
100g dark brown sugar
Melted dark chocolate to decorate (glitter optional)
Method:
1. Start by lining a loose bottom cake tin and pre heat the oven to 160c fan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy then add the beaten eggs, with each egg add a spoonful of the mixed flours. Once the eggs are mixed in add the remainder of the flour.
3. Take half of this mix and put this in a bowl to the other half add the cocoa powder mix to combine.
3. Peel and slice the apple then put it in a bowl with the dark brown sugar, mix the two together. Place the sliced and sugar coated apples on the bottom of the lined cake tin in one layer. Then add big spoonfuls of the plain sponge and alternate with the chocolate sponge mix.
4. Level the top of the cake and make a slight hollow in the centre. Take a skewer and run this through the batter in the tin in ever decreasing circles (this will help create the marble effect).
5. Bake for an hour but test the centre with a skewer. Once the cake has cooled remove the outer edge of the tin, level off the top with a sharp knife, then turn out by inverting the cake onto a plate.
6. Drizzle with melted chocolate (about 6 squares will do and to get this bark effect just drizzle from a small spoon back and forth), sprinkle with cake glitter and cut to serve.

An Eggsistential Crisis - can you help?

2011-11-20T19:39:00.001Z

Not a recipe or a review but a bit of info...and I hope as many people as possible will share this...

In case you don't know, we have rescued/adopted 2 lots of hens from the British Hen Welfare Trust (BHWT) in the last 18 months...9 hens in total; its one of the best things we ever did. We love having those hens, they are cheeky, intelligent, funny, mischievous and they reward us EVERY day with the best eggs. Anyone who has been lucky enough to have any of our eggs will testify they have never tasted eggs like them, and with such golden creamy yolks. The girls are happy, we are happy, its a win win situation. But before we had hens I always bought free range eggs and from a reliable source. I have encouraged others to do the same too, so I was pleased about the ban on battery caged hens (mind you there is still work to do on housed hens and the conditions...but that's another story).

Anyway, this came to me this week from our BHWT coordinator Adele...
As the impending ban on barren battery cages draws ever closer, we have access to a lot of battery hens from farmers who are looking to empty their barren cages before the ban comes in on January 1st. We want to take as many hens as we can and rehome as many as we can but we can't do it alone - we need help! Facebook and Twitter are excellent for reaching lots of people; could you tweet or post about our appeal for homes, blog about it or add it to your website? Maybe you have an intranet at work on which you could post, letting people know that BHWT are looking for rehomers to take in the last UK battery hens.

To make things even more difficult on the rehoming front, at this time of year, our bookings traditionally slow down although as mentioned above we do have access to lots of hens at the moment and I am hoping this appeal will also generate more homes for hens coming out of their cages soon.

Sophie, our new Wigan co-ordinator, (@OneLittleEgg on Twitter) has lots of space to fill her rehoming day on 3rd December and the farm she is accessing is closing down so she obviously wants to rehome as many hens as possible before this happens. I have a rehoming day on 26th November although this is almost full but if I can get enough bookings, I may be able to hold another before year end; otherwise likely early January.

Hens can cope well with colder weather provided certain precautions are taken (BHWT will provide this and other helpful info) although the hens we are currently taking out are mostly well feathered already.

So its simple...we all want to eat free range eggs...right...and we are in favour of giving hens a better life...right? Then its quite simple, we all have to do our bit and help find these girls new homes...so can you please share this with friends/colleagues/family etc, and if you can take some hens then please get in touch with BHWT? Although this plea is specifically for my region and beyond, the BHWT re home hens all over the country through a network of volunteers, if you can help by taking hens please contact them. Tel: 01769 580310 OR this link gives details of rehoming.

Thank you...

Edith, Vera, Pat and Irene on the day we brought them home (above) and below enjoying a better life, with Goldtop and Dizzie Lizzie (who we have had for 18 months now).

Roast butternut squash, red lentil and chilli soup - recipe

2011-11-19T16:27:00.000Z

Home made soups are the best thing ever, especially at this time of year. A lovely bowl of soup is warm, its comforting, it makes everything better with the world (just about) it is great and its good for you. When we were children if we were ill we would be given a well known brand of tomato soup to help us get better I still have to have a tin in the cupboard now, just in case, even though I make my own tomato soup!

If you are watching the calories you can make low fat and low calorie versions of most soups, but here I'm going for the full fat version, so to speak. If you want to impress you can't fail with a swirl of cream, or homemade croutons as a final flourish. If you want to go the whole hog, make your own bread to have on the side, as I did this week (it didn't last 5 minutes).

I start nearly all my soups with the same base, a knob of butter, an onion, some chopped celery, and sometimes grated garlic. For this recipe I'm using Fenland celery, a type of celery with PGI status. I was sent some to try recently this celery is grown in Cambridgeshire, the root is left on and cut at a point very different to celery I have bought before. Its very crisp and has a clean and fresh aroma when you are cutting it, you can sense the difference to other celery's just when you prepare it. When its cooked it makes a mellow addition to the dishes (I used it in a chilli con carne as well as this and other soups, it passed the road and taste tests really well).
Ingredients:
2 sticks of Fenland Celery chopped
1 small onion - chopped
1 clove garlic - grated
1 Butternut Squash
150g red lentils
knob of butter
fresh chicken stock or a chicken stock alternative OR
vegetable stock
Dried Chilli flakes (I used Steenbergs)
Sea salt and black pepper
Single cream
Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180C fan. Start with roasting the butternut squash. Cut the squash in half and discard the seeds.
Place on a baking tray and drizzle with oilive oil, season with sea salt, fresh ground pepper, sprinkle with dried chilli flakes and grated garlic.
Roast in the oven for up to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the squash.
2. Prepare the onion and celery and get your stock ready.
3. Once the squash is done remove from the oven and scrape out all the flesh with a spoon, leave this to one side.
4. Melt the knob of butter in a pan and add the chopped celery, and chopped onion, fry gently until the celery and onion is soft but not brown. Add the flesh from the scooped out squash and the lentils and mix everything together. Add enough stock to cover everything well, bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes.
5. To finish use a hand blender to blitz the soup and then taste for seasoning.
6. Serve with a drizzle of fresh single cream.
To make this soup really creamy add more single cream before serving and mix well.
The idea for this recipe came mostly from Naimh Shields book, Comfort and Spice I just altered it a little.

Fenland celery is only in season until December...good news for Christmas lunch if you want to make this soup as a starter. If you fancy more celery recipe ideas click http://www.lovecelery.co.uk/

Food Bloggers (Unplugged) - for fun!

2011-11-16T22:27:00.001Z

Something a bit different, not a recipe, a review, a cake, or a book...but instead more about other food bloggers and a game of tag. I know its Christmas pre-baking prepping season and we've not time to dust a rolling pin, but what the heck, lets have a bit of fun!

I'm tagging 5 other bloggers to answer the questions below about themselves on their blog...the idea is simply to learn more about the people behind some of the fantastic food inspired blogs that we are all drawn to.

I'll tag 5 people they can tag a further 5 others on blogs that interest them, and so it goes on...

I may even do a round up of some of the best answers...

Here are the questions...

1. What, or who inspired you to start a blog?

2. Who is your foodie inspiration?

3. Your greasiest, batter - splattered food/drink book is?

4. Tell us all about the best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it, what was it?

5. Another food bloggers table you'd like to eat at is?

6. What is the one kitchen gadget you would ask Santa for this year (money no object of course)?

7. Who taught you how to cook?

8. I'm coming to you for dinner what's your signature dish?

9. What is your guilty food pleasure?

10. Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?

Finally...tag 5 other food bloggers with these questions...like a hot baked potato...pass it on!

Use this ~~home made~~ expensive Food Bloggers Unplugged logo (below) on your blog and link up with the hashtag #foodbloggersunplugged on Twitter.

HERE ARE MY ANSWERS...

1. What, or who inspired you to start a blog?
Vanessa Kimbell did! I offered to test one of her recipes for Prepped, I didn't have a blog so guest posted it on hers; then set up my own from scratch, and the rest is history. Thank you Vanessa!

2. Who is your foodie inspiration?
So tough to answer this one...but the honest answer is...other food bloggers, they have so much knowledge/skill and imagination, it blows me away!

3. Your greasiest, batter - splattered food/drink book is?
How to be a Domestic Goddess - Nigella Lawson - Amber (dog) ate my first copy, so I bought another from e-bay second hand but like new, or it was!

4. Tell us all about the best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it, what was it?
In France in Bayeux (as in Bayeux Tapestry) a pizza, have never forgotten that pizza (and its not my favourite type of food either!).

5. Another food bloggers table you'd like to eat at is?
Silvana de Soissons (from The Foodie Bugle)

6. What is the one kitchen gadget you would ask Santa for this year (money no object of course)?
An ice cream maker please.

7. Who taught you how to cook?
My mum, but I don't know how! :-))

8. I'm coming to you for dinner what's your signature dish?
Gammon (Ham) cooked in coca cola.

9. What is your guilty food pleasure?
Fish Finger ~~butty~~ sandwich on white fresh crusty bread with butter and ketchup.

10. Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?
I have seen The Beatles for real (all 4 of them).

The people I have chosen to start this off are a mixture of really lovely well known food bloggers and those equally lovely and more local to Lancashire.

Here they are...will they accept my challenge to be 'unplugged'? (more importantly...will they have time to answer?!!)

Karen @ Lavender and Lovage.

Choclette @ Chocolate Log Blog

Dom @ Belleau Kitchen

Claire @ Good Egg Foodie

Linzi @ Lancashire Food

If you have been tagged link up your entry below...
YOU MUST HAVE BEEN TAGGED TO TAKE PART...

Breakfast Club #16 - Stars and Stripes - the round up

2011-11-14T21:50:00.001Z

This month's Breakfast Club challenge was a Stars and Stripes affair; the brief was to create and blog about an American inspired breakfast dish...here are the entries and thanks to everyone who cooked/blitzed/baked/blogged and took part by making American themed goodies. (please shout out if you have entered and have been missed off!)

My own entry from 'A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate' was a simple and delicious stack of Banana and

Cinnamon pancakes (served with maple syrup and bacon...yum!).

A smooth guy, with a smooth approach to food (and a gorgeous new kitchen too!); Dom from 'Belleau Kitchen' inspired us with a 'Smoothie Operator' - a gorgeous pink strawberry, pear and banana smoothie, the perfect breakfast for the warmer autumnal weather we have enjoyed, I'm sure you'll agree?

Next is from Miss Cakebaker at 'What I Baked This Weekend' gave us (man flu) inspired 'Healthyish Pancakes' recipe; a lovely stack of pancakes smothered in forest fruits...she had made these for hubby who was poorly with flu; worth getting the flu for? I think so!

Karen from 'Lavender and Lovage', who is currently on the European leg of her world tour (she didn't make it to Lancashire, 'claiming' she was ill with the flu; I'm not bitter Karen chicken, but maybe next time!) enticed us with the truly authentic (she had help from an American to make these mind!) 'Bobby's Homestyle Pancakes'.

There's nothing like the real thing baby, when it comes to pancakes!

A Vegetarian Walnut Cake next from 'Karu's Delicacies'. I love homemade walnut cake and a walnut traybake cake for breakfast may just be one of my guilty pleasures! Looking scrummy and packed with good things!

Ramya from 'Hot from My Oven''s recipe was for Muesli Pancakes with a Peanut Sauce. Would never have thought of combining muesli with pancakes, but why ever not and what could you not like about these, imagine the crunch, combined with the nuttiness of the sauce...mmm.

Liz at 'Mealtime Meltdown' (love the name of that blog, it sounds like our house too!) entered her FIRST bloggers challenge after finding #breakfastclub on 'Belleau Kitchen'...good for you Liz for taking the plunge, and we hope you take part in many more. Liz's contribution was inspired by her American hubby and is a lovely looking Stuffed French toast with blueberry sauce.

Helen from 'Fuss Free Flavours' (the inspiration behind #breakfastclub) came up with a Pumpkin and Cranberry Smoothie...seasonal, fresh and packed full of goodness. Helen commented in her post 'how do you make a smoothie look photogenic?' but I think its fine as it is, with a colour like this it shouts autumn and thanksgiving...as well as drink me!

Another seasonal breakfast recipe came from 'Sharky Oven Gloves' blog with Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins, these started life as pancakes believe it or not! You have to check out the other pictures of these on the blog as these lovelies have a cream cheese centre and taste like pumpkin pie! Thanks Mel!

Finally Ren from 'Fabulicious Food's' contribution are the very lovely Buckwheat and Buttermilk Pancakes (with Pears and Maple Syrup). I love the photography capturing these in all their fruit laden glory...I have never tried pears in pancakes but will be on my 'noted list' now.

Thanks to everyone who took part this time, the next host of #breakfastclub will be announced by Helen very soon...so please keep watching...

Sunday lunch - dining out locally (in pictures)

2011-11-13T18:27:00.001Z

Not so much a review or a recipe, or a lot of words, but a snapshot of our Sunday lunch, a rare event for us as we dined out this Sunday with my sister and brother in law at a local restaurant.

This is the first time I have mentioned a restaurant on this blog, there is a reason for that, I'm very fussy and if I don't like it or cannot recommend it to others then it won't feature on this blog, that's my mantra.

We had a really lovely lunch here, we were well looked after in such a lovely setting.

Above: the bar, complete with Sunday papers.

Below the restaurant.

The food...was really delicious...fresh...cooked with care...presented well...we enjoyed everything!

Today's Sunday menu (other choices are available)...our choices came from this menu today.

Where is it on the map (click)?

Website (click)
Twitter

NB. Suzanna's @ Little Scotland did not ask me to do a feature on my blog or offer me any incentive (monetary or otherwise) to show you what we had for Sunday lunch, in fact they will have no idea about this until they see it for themselves!

Farmison - heaven in a box - review

2011-11-12T23:30:00.000Z

I was recently sent a box of fruit and vegetables by Farmison to review. Farmison put together boxes of fruit/vegetables, meat and cheeses and deliver these straight to your door, the idea is simply the normal veg box notion with a few pluses, unfortunately veg boxes are something I have not found easy to access in the past because of where I live. Farmison will deliver within days of placing an order, you can check on the website if they deliver to you.These are the 7 core values of the company (taken from the same website).
1. Farmison provides home cooks with fabulous foods that would normally only be found in the kitchens of discerning, ingredient-aware chefs.
2. Farmison provides a lip-smacking alternative to the year-round monotony of supermarkets.
3. Farmison constantly changes what it sells to reflect what's in season. When foods are not at their best, we don't stock them.
4. Farmison supports biodiversity in our food chain by promoting rare breed meats and searching out less common fruit and vegetable varieties.
5. Farmison gives small-scale food producers a UK-wide platform to showcase and sell their products, complementing their own local initiatives.
6. Farmison sources food from the UK first and foremost and only chooses imported food if there is no British equivalent.
7. Farmison sells foods produced in a way that respects farm animals, producers and the environment.

The box contained:
Squash                          Comice Pears
Green Cauliflower          Melon
Parlsey Root                  Punnet Strasberries
Garlic         Live Natural Yoghurt
Potatoes
Red Long Peppers
Small Onions
Turnips
Farmison claim they will source fruit and veg varieties that you don't find as easily in the supermarkets (similar claims are made for the meat and cheeses too). The boxes change each week and details of what is contained within that weeks box is on the website to see before you order. Everything in the box I received was in lovely fresh condition and carefully packaged, the yoghurts for example were wrapped in a chilled jacket to keep them fresh, the delicious just ripe softer fruit items were in a separate layer to the harder fruit and vegetables. The box includes a list of what the box contains and where the produce is from, everything in the box was English on this occasion, except the melon and the garlic that were both from France.

As well as a list of contents the box contains a recipe for

some of the more unusual produce, on this occasion recipes
for Parsley Root and the Small Onions.

Below is how the contents were eaten in a week within our household.

Squash - roasted with other veg (seeds given to hens!)

Green Cauliflower - boiled & served as part of a roast dinner

Parlsey Root - roasted with other veg

Garlic - used in roast veg/soups/spag bol/garlic bread

Potatoes - jacket potatoes with cheese x 2 for a lunch & mashed potato for another meal

Red Long Peppers - roasted with other veg

Small Onions - used the Farmison recipe and made a side dish for a main meal (delicious!)

Turnips - made ginger cakes x 2

Comice Pears - eaten raw & also used in a baked pear and chocolate tart

Melon - eaten raw (seeds given to hens!)

Punnet Strasberries - ~~eaten~~ devoured raw

Live Natural Yoghurt - devoured with strasberries!

There were 3 pluses for me from this review 1. The box contained fresh items I couldn't buy locally, 2. It made me a bit more imaginative with how I used the contents, 3. We ate more veg that week than usual and 4. I did not waste anything from this box, (even the hens got something from it) so therefore I thought it was good value. Farmison have a range of boxes for pre-order for Christmas, these include the usual Christmas dinner meats as well as fruit and vegetables.

One other thing that struck me was that a box like the one I received would make a great gift or thank you. Or imagine receiving one of these boxes every week when you start the new year diet!

NB: These views are mine. I was not paid or asked by Farmison to do this review I offered to do it, any additional ingredients to make other dishes were all purchased by me.

Lets Make Christmas - heavenly scented shortbreads - recipe & book review

2011-11-11T21:33:00.001Z

Its a tradition in this household that I buy a 'nice' tin of shortbread every Christmas, not sure why as I don't buy it the rest if the year I like it, but I just don't buy it any other time. I think my mum bought it at Christmas when we growing up so its become traditional. A bit like the tradition my sister was telling me about today, she only puts the tangerines and chocolates out on Christmas Eve, but she's not sure why, whatever the reason we do such things these habits make Christmas what it is. Anyway this year, breaking with tradition, for once, I'm making my own shortbread as we have grown very fond of homemade biscuits here. I did think about festive spices to flavour it but wanted something different and lighter, a different flavour for Christmas and really there is enough spice around at Christmas. So how about something floral instead? Just imagine boxing day afternoon, a pot of tea and a plate of this loveliness, enjoy this vanilla, rose and lavender shortbread and 'Lets make Christmas'!

Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter
180g caster sugar (plus more for rolling the shortbread in)
4 free range eggs beaten
500g plain flour (plus more for dusting)
pinch sea salt

1 tsp Dried culinary Lavender (I used Steenbergs)
A vanilla pod
8 drops Rose Essence
Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C fan. Line some baking sheets, get three cutters ready.
2. With a food mixer, cream the soft butter and caster sugar together until fluffy, add the 4 beaten free range eggs one at a time. Add the flour and the salt, as soon as the mixture holds together stop mixing.
3. Divide the mix into 3.
Into mix one add the seeds from the inside of a vanilla pod and knead slightly to incorporate, do not overwork.
Into mix two add a teaspoon of lavender and knead slightly, do not overwork.
Into mix three add about 8 drops of rose essence and knead slightly to mix, do not overwork.
4. Dust a board or worktop with flour and take each mix of dough, roll out to a decent thickness and cut the dough into shapes. (I used a different cutter for each flavour to help distinguish the three)
5. Pace the shapes apart on a baking tray and bake for 15-17 minutes. When the shortbread is cooked place in a bowl of caster sugar and coat all over with the sugar.

5. Wrap them in something suitably festive to give as a gift! Label to indicate which shape aligns with which flavour (here - round = rose; bell = vanilla and star = lavender)
This post is a contribution towards Vanessa Kimbell's 'Lets Make Christmas', check out her blog for lots of other homemade Christmas food ideas and inspiration from other food bloggers.
Check out the book 'Prepped' for Vanessa's own Lavender Shortbread recipe and to see how she makes Lavender sugar.

This original vanilla shortbread recipe is from Gordon Ramsey's Christmas book entitled, 'Christmas with Gordon', the chapters cover party food, Christmas menu's (of course), breakfast and brunch, lunches and suppers and sweet treats. I thought it was a really good idea in a seasonal book like this to include menus for breakfast, brunch. lunches and suppers as well as the usual Christmas fayre. Christmas lunch holds no fear for me, but I struggle to come up with new ideas to feed people the rest of the time at Christmas and new year, especially house guests. This book gave me some new ideas.

This shortbread recipe was easy to follow, and all the recipes in this book are no more than a page long. The photography is quite good and all recipes are depicted, a bonus if you prefer the visual to guide you. Gordon's book also covers a variety of Christmas lunch menus centred around the main dish, turkey, beef, fish etc. are all covered complete with starters, side dishes and desserts all the planning is done for you, just follow the recipes.

This book is published by Quadrille Publishing.

Cake International NEC November 2011 - (Pt 2)

2011-11-06T20:19:00.000Z

Christmas cake (magazine stand display)

Its part two of my Cake International account, its part two as I have far too many photos to post in one go! These are the Christmas cakes (not all of them, only a small sample here) and if you scroll down you'll see some international entrants for one of the competitions and then finally the floral sugarcraft work.

As I said yesterday, my photgraphs are not brilliant due to the light and this is a snapshot of the event, it has to be seen to be believed, the hours of work, patience and dedication that go into some of these entries is pretty amazing.

This cake is a lovely idea for Christmas, especially if you are having a big family party or even a Christmas wedding.

A top cake and tiers of Christmas inspired cupcakes. This was not an entry for a competition but was on the same stand as the cake above.

A magazine, promoting cake decorating not a competition entry.

Here are some of the entries for the Christmas cake competitions.

I'm not sure what the cake is above (rightish) with the blue layers, doves and baubles,

but I love the idea of it.

You can smell the sweet icing as you walk around. Some of these cakes must weigh a lot with all the tiers and decorations.

The judges scrutinising the entries, what a difficult job!

Here are some international entrants, (below) there are some competitions that are open to competitors from overseas.

However amazing the cakes are, and they are out of this world, the sugarcrafting is mind blowing...all these flowers in these arrangements and displays (below) are made of sugar, its not really edible when its at this stage but you could eat it if desperate!

Every small petal, stamen, bud, leaf, smattering of pollen, all hand crafted,painted and brushed on in amazing detail and such an accurate representation of living flowers.

The earthenware pots are NOT sugar, neither are the wires used for stems...the rest is!

That's it until the next Cake International in November 2012.

Cake International NEC November 2011 (Pt 1)

2011-11-05T21:23:00.002Z

One of the cakes dispalyed by Renshaws. (trade stand)

This post is all about some of the sights at the Cake International event at Birmingham NEC this weekend, my photography is not too great and this is due to the overhead lighting at the show.

Cake International is an annual event aimed particularly at cake makers (of course!) and providers of all things cakie. Cake makers/fans, presenters, judges and stall holders come from all over the country and all over the world for this event. The show is a combination of trade stands where you can buy everything from cake pop sticks to oven cleaner and everything in between, all the way through to demonstrations and judged cake competitions; some cake decorating competitions happen live during the event each day.

Its a very very busy event and this year seemed busier than last year to me, it gets very hot and the standard of cakes and sugarcraft entries in competitions really is overwhelming to see.

You have to see these cakes for real to fully appreciate them.

This is only a snapshot of what this event has to offer.

Cake pops designs. (trade stand)

The following are competition entries and all parts of the cakes must be edible.

A treasure box and a cake for David Attenborough perhaps? (competition entries)

Detail of a teapot cake with a flower fairy on the top. (competition entry)

Unbelievably, this IS a cake and that is icing that forms each strand of hair. (competition entry)

One of the many wedding cakes. (competition entry)

More wedding cakes, all manner of designs and styles. (competition entries)

Love the sea? Getting married on a beach, perhaps one of these is for you?

More wedding cakes. (competition entries)

Thankfully some cakes seem far more 'doable' than others (From memory, I think this is the 'made by children' section!!).(competition entries)

Above is a live cupcake decorating competition. Competitors are judged on skills/organisation and cleanliness, they have 2 hrs to decorate 12 cupcakes.

The judges do a really difficult job. Most are from the British Sugarcraft Guild and are experts in the field that they judge, they may have been tutors or practitioners with years of experience. They also receive training to judge the criteria for the different entries.

Curried sweet potato and ginger soup - recipe/book review

2011-11-04T21:47:00.003Z

I love soups, but...it has to be homemade, its the best thing ever anytime of year but especially now in the autumn. Its so warm and comforting; and nutritionally it can be the best thing, if made with the freshest ingredients and homemade stock! I have made soups for an age and have quite a repertoire that I have perfected over the years, and I can make them in all kinds of consistencies, low calorie, rich and creamy, the whole range. I seldom follow a recipe but seem to get good results, but this week I followed a recipe from a new book I have been sent.
Ingredients:
Soup:
1tsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 thumb size of fresh ginger (Include peel) grated
3 large sweet potatoes peeled and chopped in chunks
2 vegetable stock cubes
sea salt and black pepper
1 tsp Garam Masala
1.5 litres boiled water
Turmeric Finishing Yoghurt:
3 Tbsp (I used low fat) live Greek style yoghurt
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Mango Chutney (and/or lime chutney)
Fresh Coriander

Method:
1. Put the olive oil in a pan and heat, then add the onion,garlic and ginger and cook slowly. Add the Garam Masala and heat gently.
2. Add the sweet potato, stock cubes, sea salt and pepper and about 1.5 litres of water from a boiled kettle. Cook until the potatoes are soft, then use a hand blender to blend everything together.
3. Make the turmeric finishing yoghurt by simply mixing the ingredients together in a bowl.
4. Ladle the soup into a bowl and add a dollop of the finishing yoghurt.

We really enjoyed this soup, it was tasty and wholesome and it packed a tasty punch, the addition of the 'turmeric finishing yoghurt', a rich creamy (low fat) greek yoghurt with turmeric and mango chutney, was an amazing addition. I'm a lover of a drizzle of cream in my soups as a rule, but this low fat alternative was tastier and much nicer.

This soup recipe came from a new book published by Quadrille Publishing called 'Flash Cooking', its been written by Laura Santtini (her second book) and the notion behind the book is not what you think from the title. This book advocates a healthy, tasty and nutritious eating style, and provides recipes to support this. It's not about a punishing lack lustre diet, but it is about a sensible eating philosophy based on 'whats on your plate should equal protein the size of an iphone accompanied by leafy vegetables' AND should be full of a delicious mix of flavours.

The key to the book is the range of flavours that can be created to accompany this philosophy of 'iphone size protein + leafy vegetables'. Put together at the start of the book are recipes, mixes and blends for 'flash flavours'; these are, seasonings, glazes, rubinades, pastes, finishing salts, finishing yoghurts, props and dressings that can be used to top/garnish all manner of fish/meat or vegetable dishes.The second part of the book covers a series of 'flash recipes' for everything from fish to breakfasts.

The recipes are easy to follow and some accompanied by photographs, I was surprised that I could quite easily make most of the recipes in this book for the 'flash flavours' from my own store cupboard ingredients, and I don't claim to be anything like an alchemist in the kitchen. 'Flash cooking' claims to be easy and fast, this soup certainly was. The recipes are protein or vegetable based in the main or use wheat free or complex carbs.

If you have a need to look at your diet this book will be invaluable in showing you how to add interest and flavour to your foods. If you are lucky enough not to need to, or want to significantly change what you eat, then this book will give you lots of ideas to add delicious and imaginative flavours to your cooking without a great impact on your time.

Watch this to get more of an insight...and you'll see the turmeric and chutney finishing yoghurt here, but be warned this may give you an appetite for 'Flash Cooking'.

Chocolate chunk biscuits - recipe

2011-11-02T01:19:00.001Z

One day in the not to distant past, I did something a lot of people would find unforgivably bad. But I couldn't help myself you see, the temptation was just too great, every time I opened the fridge it was staring at me, begging me almost. I realise now I was weak, and it was a moment of utter madness...the Great British Bake Off was on TV at the time and I think I had delusions of becoming the new Lancastrian Pink Whisk (I can never match Ruth's skills and creativity, I know it deep down) or maybe I just had the urge for something heavenly to ~~devour~~ eat while watching the programme?
Anyway I succumbed...I caved in, with a bit of hesitation, for a few ~~nano seconds~~ minutes and I did the unforgivable...I actually used part of one of those huge Hotel Chocolat slabs of chocolate (the caramel one with the choccie buttons on the top and the caramel pieces set into the chocolate) to make...BISCUITS! I know no one will believe this but yes I actually did, I used some of the tastiest chocolate ever to make biccies...but oh they were so worth it! I remember the slab well it was a caramel and co one, always a popular choice in this household as 'someone' likes to pull the buttons off and eat them.

Confessions aside, and this is a true story, the resulting biscuit was a joy, the chocolate chunks stayed gooey, moist and rich and added so much to the finished loveliness of it all. They were gone in a flash.
Here is the recipe...if you dare to spare the chocolate you really won't be disappointed.

Ingredients:
225g butter
285g light brown sugar
2 free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
310g plain flour
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of sea salt
150g dark chocolate chopped
150g of a Hotel Chocolat mega bar (I know, I know!)
100g white chocolate chopped
Method:
1. Line a baking sheet and pre heat the oven to 160C fan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer until pale and fluffy, then add the beaten free range eggs and vanilla with a tablespoon of the flour. Fold in the remaining flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder.
3. Add the dark chocolate and the Hotel Chocolat and fold in to mix thoroughly.
4. Take tablespoons of the mix and form these into balls. To make smaller biscuits use a dessert spoon as a measure. Place the balls of dough on the lined baking tray and make sure you leave plenty of space for spreading.
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, they will be soft when they come out of the oven so leave to cool a while before placing on a baking rack (or directly onto a plate).

NB: These views are mine. I was not paid by Hotel Chocolat to make this recipe, or write this, the ingredients used were all purchased by me. Hotel Chocolat have, however, very recently sent me some goodies to try from their new Christmas range (rest assured some of this chocolate will be biscuit bound sometime very soon, sorry Choccie Rudolph!).

By the way...if you can work out how these biscuits are seemingly levitating in these photographs please feel free to leave a comment to explain this phenomenon below?

Beef and vegetable suet pudding - recipe

2011-10-31T08:02:00.000Z

It might not be the weather for this just yet but winter must be around the corner, right?

This is a savoury suet pudding I made a few weeks ago for Sunday lunch, a change from a roast and it was delicious with mashed potatoes and veggies. You need a bit of time to make this but if you cook the meat the day before it would just be a matter of making the suet pastry (the easiest thing ever) and assembling and then steaming the pudding on the day. This recipe uses skirt a cut of beef that isn't always readily found in supermarkets, which is just as well as I don't buy any meat from supermarkets anymore, I either buy from one of two farm shops locally or a more traditional butchers in town. Beef skirt makes a really delicious gravy when it is braised in the oven, its quite a lean cut of meat and I never feel the need to brown the meat beforehand to improve the flavour.

Ingredients:
Filling:
500g fresh skirt beef - cubed
1 large carrot sliced
1 onion chopped
1 beef stock cube (or use fresh beef stock)
200 g mushrooms
Sea salt and ground black pepper
Large heaped teaspoon Cornflour
Water
Pastry:
200g suet (beef or vegetable)
400g self raising flour
large pinch sea salt
cold water to mix

Method:
Before you start make sure the pudding basin will fit inside a pan you can use with a well fitting lid.
1. Cook the meat; put the cubed beef skirt, sliced carrot, chopped onion, seasoning and beef stock (sufficient to cover the meat) into a casserole, cover with a lid and bake in an 180c fan oven for about an hour and a half.
2. When the meat is cooked, add the mushrooms and then thicken the gravy with a heaped teaspoon of cornflour mixed with water. Test for seasoning at this point. Let the meat filling cool and make the pastry.
3. Grease a large pudding bowl. Put the flour, suet and salt in a large bowl and mix with a fork. Add cold water to make into a pastry bring together initially with the fork and then your hands. Cut off a third of the pastry and leave to one side. With the remaining pastry roll out into a ball and continue rolling this keeping the round shape as you go, and use this to line the pudding bowl. Once the bowl is lined with suet pastry put the cooled meat filling inside.
4. Use a pastry brush to brush the pie rim with water. With the remaining third of the pastry roll out a round top for the top of the pie in the pudding basin. Secure this by pressing the edges together.
5. Cover the top of the pudding with a pleated piece of greaseproof paper. Secure this with string round the neck of the pudding basin. Repeat this same process with a layer of pleated foil and again use string to secure the foil round the neck of the basin, tie the string over the top of the bowl to make a handle. This will help to life the pudding out later on.
6. Take a large pan (with a lid) and place an upturned plate or saucer in the bottom of the pan. Place the pudding basin on the plate or saucer. Boil a kettle then fill the pan to a level roughly halfway up the pudding basin with hot water from a boiled kettle.
7. Cook on a simmering heat with a tight fitting lid, for about two and a half hours. Set your timer every thirty minutes to check the water level in the steaming pan as you may need to add more boiling water.
8. Once the pudding is cooked, remove carefully from the pan and allow to rest, remove string and foil and paper after 5 minutes or so. Turning out can be tricky and you may need another pair of hands to help with the hot basin. Invert the basin and contents onto a large plate.
A pudding this size this will serve 4 very hungry adults.

I bought this beef skirt from a local farm shop at Spout House Farm, its a family run farm, where the cattle are reared and the meat from the same animals is sold at weekends in the little shop they have on the farm, along with other goodies.

NB: These views are mine. I was not paid or asked by Spout House Farm to do this review I offered to do it, the ingredients were all purchased by me.

The Good Table - book review

2011-10-30T22:03:00.002Z

This is a pear and chocolate frangipan tart I baked recently, the smell of this baking in the oven was divine and it was really delicious sliced and served warm and with some fresh cream. The pears were bought at a local farmers market and were just ripe enough. I loved the pastry for this flan which was made with butter, flour, sugar and an egg, it was beautifully short and I can see that I'll adapt this to use for other sweet flans/tarts in the future. The filling is a delightful combination of English pears, dark chocolate, ground almonds, fresh free range eggs, butter and sugar. This is not a quick recipe but its so worth the effort, trust me we all really enjoyed it.

The recipe is from 'The Good Table' by Valentine Warner, who is quite well known in food circles, he has made quite a few TV programmes, some scheduled on the satellite food channels as well as writing other books and he has a website (which has other recipes). He is an avid hunter/gatherer/forager type of cook...none of which apply to me I might add, but I could have easily made a lot of the recipes in this book without a hunt around the local woods or needing a trip to the local fishing lake. The notion of this book is very simple in that, what you are served and what you share at Valentine's table is 'good food' and judging by the recipes the title is spot on.

This book has a lot to offer most cooks and lovers of good food, it packs some lovely recipes, most of the recipes are supported by a photograph and the photography in this book is of a really good standard. It is truly crisp and colourful and lends a pleasing detail to all the illustrated recipes. This book describes the kind of food you just want to sit down and enjoy with your family, or curl up on the sofa with (like the 'toast as a vehicle' chapter...which I really loved, being a toast addict myself I never thought a food writer would devote a whole chapter to toast, I love it!). Other chapters include, meat, birds, fish and shellfish, veg and foraged food, bread, cheese and eggs, puddings and drinks. I could easily make most recipes in this book and they would easily suit our tastes here.

Although I have highlighted two recipes from the puddings chapter, the savoury recipes are looking really good too, I have particularly earmarked the 'carne con chile', 'chicken stiffed with pearl barley, livers and walnuts', and 'mushrooms baked with hazelnuts and percorino' for future autumnal suppers. This is a book I will readily use time and time again, particularly when cooking for others.

I also made the 'Queen of Plums' recipe from this book, this may look a bit strange in my photos as this was one of my 'lets try and make a pudding in a jar' experiments but 'jars as a vehicle' aside, it was really a very good pudding indeed. Valentine Warner has much more common sense than I do and makes his 'Queen of Plums' in a dish! 'Queen of Plums' is something of an adaptation from a recipe usually known as Queen of Puddings. I have never made either recipe before but I really liked this plum recipe, you start with plums and sugar and basically make your own fresh plum jam for the bottom of the pudding, the centre is a fresh cream vanilla set custard made quite cake-like with the inclusion of fresh white breadcrumbs. The topping is a light cloud like meringue. Not so much heaven on a plate on this occasion but most definitely heaven in a jar. This was lovely hot and just as nice eaten cold.

There is a lot of humour and little quirky anecdotes dotted throughout The Good Table and this is another of this books many appeals, it makes for a better read somehow. Going back to the toast chapter again, the recipe for 'black toast, boiled egg and black tea' really stands out, not so much for the faux recipe(!) more for the humour of it all...it reminded me so much of my own childhood...I'll let you read this recipe for yourself, but it starts with..."Burn the toast to the point where you would normally scrape it with a knife, but don't"...and ends with..."put everything on a tray, take it to the invalid and remove, uneaten 1 hour later"...so true to life!

The Good Table is written by Valentine Warner, learn more about him on his website here and his latest book was provided for me to review by the publishers, Octopus Publishing Group.

Banana and Cinnamon Pancakes - recipe

2011-10-24T15:18:00.004+01:00

Here's my entry for #breakfastclub number 16, if you are not sure what this is take a look here. This month's theme is 'Stars and Stripes', meaning anything with an American twist, for breakfast of course! Breakfast pancakes are a taste of America for me and (as a treat for brunch) we love a short stack with bacon and maple syrup, you can of course make them with buttermilk, as they are traditionally made in the US, but this recipe works brilliantly, with what really are store cupboard basics.
Make your batter ahead of time for better results.
Ingredients:
2 free range eggs
300ml milk
225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
30g melted and cooled unsalted butter
2 Bananas thinly sliced
2 tsp Cinnamon
Butter to fry
To serve:
Maple syrup
Maple cured bacon
Method:
1. Melt the 30g of unsalted butter first of all and allow it to cool.
2. Place the eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, salt sugar, in a food processor and blitz to combine. Add the melted butter and give another quick whizz. If you don't have a food processor just beat everything in a large bowl either by hand or with a mixer.Slice the bananas and have the Cinnamon ready.

3. Heat a knob of butter in a non stick frying pan, use a moderate heat under the pan. Make the pancakes by using a ladle as a measure to get them roughly the same size, (about the size of a saucer) ladle the batter mixture into the pan. Add a few slices of banana and sprinkle with Cinnamon. Once the pancakes bubble on top the underside is cooked and you need to flip them over to cook for a further 2 minutes.
4. Keep the pancakes stacked on a warm plate in the oven until ready to serve. Ration out a portion and drizzle with maple syrup and serve with a 'side order' of maple cured bacon.
On this occasion I made a mixed stack of plain and banana and Cinnamon pancakes (photos depict both).
This recipe works well with other fruits, blueberries are another firm favourite.

DON'T FORGET YOU HAVE UNTIL MONDAY 14TH NOVEMBER

TO ENTER THIS MONTHS #BREAKFASTCLUB

Walnut layer cake with Maple - recipe

2011-10-20T00:15:00.003+01:00

This is the cake I made this week for our Clandestine Cake Club event. Its a variation on the last cake my mum's walnut cake, but I wanted to try something a bit different. Yes two walnut cakes in a matter of days, but they are very different cakes. Although this cake has a lot of decoration on the top it would be equally good without.
Ingredients:
1. For the cake...weigh 4 free range eggs...whatever these eggs weigh then weigh out the same amount seperately in butter, caster sugar and SR flour. You will also need 150g walnut pieces, and 1 tsp baking powder.
2. For the filling...2 tubs marscapone cheese, and 2 tablespoons maple flavoured golden syrup.
3. To decorate...white ready to roll icing; marziapn, gold lustre, bronze lustre (I used the new range from Mitch Turner and Silver Spoon as I was sent some to try by the 'Baking Mad' people). A vanilla pod, chocolate fondant icing, walnut halves, a fine paint brush and leaf cutters.
Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C fan. Toast the walnut pieces by gently heating in a non stick frying pan. Once toasted and cooled put in the food processor and blitz until the consistency of rough breadcrumbs.
2. Cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy then add the beaten eggs with a small amount of the flour. Once mixed add the rest of the flour, baking powder toasted walnut mixture and fold in.
3. Divide between two greased and lined sandwich tins and bake for 35 minutes. Test with a skewer before removing from the oven, it should be clean. Let the cakes cool in the tins. Once cooled turn them out and slice each cake in half horizontally with a sharp knife.
4. Put the marscapone and maple flavoured golden syrup into a mixing bowl and combine thoroughly. Spread this evenly on the layers of the split cake. There should be three layers of the marscapone filling. Make sure the top layer is flat (you may use the underside of a cake for this).
5. To decorate the cake; first of all make conkers and walnuts from milk chocolate fondant icing, these are easy as they are just a ball shape you flatten slightly for a conker and dust with gold powder lustre. Walnuts are a ball with markings made with a knife. Leaves were made with a leaf cutter. Lustre walnut halves with bronze or gold liquid or gold lustre dust. Make small pears from marzipan, by rolling into a ball and then shape, add a small pieces of vanilla pod as the pear stalk and dust with gold lustre powder.
6. Roll out the white fondant icing and cut to a circle, I cut around a small bowl. Smear a little of the marscapone filling on the top of the cake and add the icing circle, then add the decorations, put the leaves on last to fill in any obvious gaps.
These marzipan pears were something I saw recently on Sweetapolita, a fabulous and inspirational site for bakers.

NB: These views are mine alone. I was not paid by Baking Mad, Mitch Turner or Silver Spoon to do this review I offered to do it, the marzipan, icing and liquid lustres were given to me to try at home.
The powder lustre and other ingredients were purchased by me.

My mum's walnut cake - recipe

2011-10-17T23:52:00.002+01:00

When we were growing up my mum did her fair bit of baking, she had her 'specialties' and she made bread, Chelsea buns, scotch pancakes, apple sponge pudding, sausage rolls, jam puffs, even treacle toffee but only around bonfire night (and all home baking was done on Sundays usually). I can't remember a lot about any kind of cake repertoire (neither can anyone else by the way!) and any birthday cakes usually came from Sayers (complete with ricepaper rose and bit of green fern) they were never ever homemade.

But the one cake she did make over and over and over again, well being totally honest it was the ONLY cake, was a walnut cake and we loved it (luckily). Recently, after reliving a few memories I managed to extract the recipe from my mum.

Ingredients:
125g butter softened (if its not soft put in a bowl in front of a coal fire)
125g caster sugar
2 free range eggs
125g SR flour
75g chopped walnuts
For the top of the cake:
Icing sugar
1 egg white (taken from one of the 2 free range eggs)
Walnut pieces to decorate
Method:
1. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees or 160C fan.Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (this was done by hand with a wooden spoon as we didn't have a food mixer). Break one egg into a bowl; with the second egg seperate the yolk from the white and keep the white of this egg for the icing later.
2. Add the whole egg and single egg yolk beaten together to the creamed butter and sugar with a tablespoon of the flour. Once incorporated fold in the rest of the flour gently.
Add the chopped walnuts and mix in.
Put the cake mix into a lined loaf tin.
3. Bake in a loaf tin in the oven for 35 minutes.
4. Once baked, test with a skewer, take out and leave to cool, when the cake is cold make up some royal icing with the egg white and sifted icing sugar. You will have to judge how much icing sugar by the amount of egg white.
Spread the icing over the UPTURNED cake with a palette knife dipped in very hot water to get a smooth top. Decorate with the remaining walnuts. This makes one cake, but making two by doubling up is better!

Slice and enjoy with a cup of tea and chat about how nice this cake is but how your mums walnut cake really was so much more ~~claggy~~ better. Happy National Baking Week!

Home Made and Well Preserved - The Round Up

2011-10-17T13:03:00.001+01:00

Well what can I say? Natures table laid out before us from this country and further afield, yes they came all the way from Fance to enter this challenge.
The brief was to blog a homemade and well preserved (in a jar) recipe, link it up to this blog and away we go.

Here are the entries and a brief description and links back to the blogs.

My thanks to everyone who preserved/jammed/blogged/tweeted and entered such wonderful recipes.

Double thanks from me to Steenbergs Organics who offered one lucky person up to £25 worth of organic spices for an entry into this challenge, that I have picked at random.
Steenbergs Organics products are the perfect choice for so many preserving recipes.
The lucky chosen one is revealed at the bottom of this post.

Here is the fabulous round up, making a lovely online recipe book of delicious preserves and dare I say some wonderful ideas for Christmas too!

Spiced Apple Chutney from Linzi at Lancashire Food

What I would call a traditional chutney dark, spicey, tangy and very rich looking.

Made from apples that have come from Linzi's own ~~orchards~~ garden.

Courgette Chutney from Claire at Good Egg Foodie

That might look like a lot of chutney but how long will it last without being eaten, and how good does it look in all its golden glory? Made from courgettes Claire grew herself at home.

Apple and Sloe Vodka Mincemeat another tasty and unusual entry from Linzi at Lancashire Food

Just look at that and imagine all that loveliness in the centre of your mince pie on Boxing Day. The sloe vodka is homemade too, impressive!

Janice from Farmers' Girl Kitchen made Tomato Chilli Jam.

A hotter relish that uses up a tomato glut and a chilli glut too. Love the deep red colour of this one and that you can see the chilli seeds flecked throughout the jam.

Karen who blogs over at Lavender and Lovage in France (and Yorkshire) entered 3 separate recipes all together, firstly Fresh fig and Ginger jam. Here in all its decadent sweetness, the colour of those figs is just amazing. Karen writes so eloquently about this jam you just have to read her blog.

Here is a second entry from Karen a glorious Quince Jelly. The Quinces are harvested from her own orchard in France. As Karen pointed out herself its like looking through a stained glass window...I loved the suggestion here of giving jars like these as gifts, but with a note suggesting how it could be used in a dish or a recipe.

Karen's third entry was a Crabapple and Mint Jelly.

The flecks of the mint are so perfectly scattered throughout the jelly, like natures glitter. Karen has been so busy preserving all her harvests in France, I'm surprised she has time to sleep!

With a break in tradition from blogging mostly recipes with a chocolate theme Choclette (number 8 best blog in the UK, don't you know!) made Apple and Lemon Curd.
Made with Cornish apples and seen here basking in the Cornish sunshine.

Kate shared her Homemade Mincemeat recipe, particularly for mince pies. A lovely delicious rich citrus scented offering laced with rum and Cointreau too!
Kate;s blog is somewhat unusually called Turqouise Lemons and has the most wonderful photo of these fruits as the header.

Over at Jessies crazy kitchen
is the ideal preserved festive gift from Helen in the form of Spiced Festive Chutney
made from a marrow and in a jar decorated with a lot of festive starry love
(and a tussle with the superglue ;-)).
A lovely suggestion to gift this at Christmas with delicious cheese.

Penn from Penelope's Pantry gathered all her preserving goodies together for one entry and she has made a total of 7 different jams/marmalades/jellies over the last months, and one of these is even a flavoured rum recipe. Here's one lovely example pictured of her strawberry jam.
Pop over the Penelopes Pantry to see and drool over the other 6 jars of gorgeousness!

Emma at Souperior has put together a scorcher of a relish with scotch bonnet chilli caramel (or jelly)
Made from the bounty of her home grown tomatoes and locally bought scotch bonnet chilli's, Emma admits to being very much a preserving addict once autumn hits. She has a total of 12 chilli plants (I have one chilli plant by the way!), that's a lot of heat for the winter.

Finally Urvashi (one of this years very lovely Great British Bake Off participants) at Botanical Baker made an apple marmalade.
This was the first time she had ever tried making preserves and I hope she goes on to make many more.

My own contribution was a previous blog post for my homemade pink grapefruit marmalade...I'm not a contender for this challenge as such (more's the pity as I'd love the prize) but just thought I'd get a mention in, as I love this Nigella recipe!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adding up all the entries and the re-tweets, declared follows on facebook, twitter and the like there were a total of 35 entries.
Using a randomiser the lucky entrant picked was...

True Random Number Generator Result: 26 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

CONGRATULATIONS to Helen at Jessies crazy kitchen !
I really hope your prize brings you lots more Steenbergs Organics inspired preserving joy. Enjoy!

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!

NB: These views are mine alone. I was not paid or offered any other incentive by Steenbergs to do this giveaway. I offered to do it.

Breakfast Club #16 - Stars and Stripes

2011-10-07T14:26:00.004+01:00

What a pleasure to host the next Breakfast Club #16 where the theme of this month is, as chosen by my goodself...

STARS AND STRIPES

...which means anything with an American twist...from pancakes, smoothies, muffins and skillets to biscuits, grits and granola. Its a huge country with a big love of all things breakfast, so there is lots to go at.

How do you join Breakfast Club?
Well it is easy and simple like making Breakfast!
Create something special which has the STARS AND STRIPES theme incorporated into it.

Mention Breakfast Club in your post and use the logo above.
Link to this post and the Breakfast Club page.
E-mail me at southlancscakeclub@gmail.com with a link to your post and a photo (no larger than 300 pixels, please!).
Send a previously posted recipe if you like, but please add the information above and republish.
Entries can be sent to other events, but please check their rules about submitting a post to multiple events.
If you tweet please tweet using #breakfastclub and copy in @fussfreeflavour so we can RT you.
If you do not have a blog, send a photo and details to me southlancscakeclub@gmail.com
Deadline for submissions is Monday 14th November 2011.

I will post the round up by 21st of November.

Note : Helen (@fussfreeflavour) is looking for hosts for future Breakfast Clubs so please email her at fussfreeflavours.com if you are interested.

Banoffee Victoria Sponge & the GBBO - recipe

2011-10-02T16:22:00.006+01:00

You may have heard me mention before on this blog but my favourite cake ever, is a simple Victoria sponge, I just love that cake, and as long as its well made you can pretty much put any filling in it and it will taste like 'a little bit of heaven on a plate'. That's how this blog got its name from a conversation I had with a friend about a Victoria sponge I'd made and that was how I described it to her (she didn't disagree as she was ~~wolfing down~~ eating the cake at the time!).

Here is my twist on a Victoria sponge with a delicious Banoffee filling...to make this you will need, a baked Victoria sponge, in two halves of course, 500ml fresh double cream (you might not use it all but be generous with it), half tin of Dulce Leche, a small banana, one chocolate flake bar (or 2 flakes, but eat one as you go, it always works for me).

1. Make your Victoria sponge, there are thousands of variations around but using the 'weigh your eggs first then use this quantity for butter/sugar/flour method' works well as a combination. Make sure everything is at room temperature, like the butter and free range eggs. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the cake mix to give a lovely flavour and some milk to make it batter like.
2. Whip 500ml of double cream until peaky. Take one half of the sponge and smoother this is in a generous amount of the whipped cream.
3. Chop a small banana and mix this with half a tin of Dulce Leche (this is condensed milk that's been cooked and is quite good for making all kinds of caramel flavoured goodies). Smooth the banoffee mix over the first cream layer. Take a flake bar and crumble this over the top. Then add a second layer of the whipped cream. It doesn't really matter how you layer the filling really, it will still taste good.
4. Put the other layer of sponge on the top and dust the top with with icing sugar. Cut and serve.

NB. This cake is best filled and eaten on the day its made, as slicing into any bananas can cause them to brown (even if they are coated in the Dulce Lette the middles will still go brown).
Not a problem really as its such a yummy cake. Perfect for the October heatwave we are having!

If you are new to baking, or if you feel you need more in the way of instruction, or you want to cut your baking teeth on a new recipe, then the second book from the Great British Bake Off programme on BBC 2 gives a very good step by step instruction, with photos of how to make the perfect Victoria sponge. Tesco Books kindly sent me my copy, a surprise to me as I had no idea they had an online bookstore.

Image from Tesco Books

The final of the Great British Bake Off is this Tuesday, but if you've been as gripped by all the wonderful bakers creations, stamina and imagination; not to mention Paul Hollywood's steely blue eyes and Mary Berry's wrinkles (sorry Mary!) as I have, you will know this. Sue and Mel as presenters have been just brilliant too, so funny.

I know who I want to win as crowned baker from the series, but have no real clue who actually will win as the three bakers in the final are all different and very good and skilled in slightly different ways. Its anyone's prize.

A number of the bakers from this series have their own blogs and you can follow those blogs that are MY particular favorites below here...they have some great recipes from the series and other equally ingenious creations on these blogs.
All are worth a look.

Mary-Anne Boermans http://timetocookonline.com
Urvahsi Roe http://thebotanicalbaker.wordpress.com
Yasmin Limbert http://yasminlimbert.blogspot.com
Joanne Whitley http://josblueaga.blogspot.com
Holly Bell http://www.recipesfromanormalmum.com

(shame Janet does not have a blog, I really liked Janet) Bring on series three/book three please!

Will you be watching on Tuesday night?
Would you want to enter a bake off like this on TV in front of millions of viewers?
Do you think your baking is good enough?
Have you ever entered a competition with your baking, maybe a local one?
Do you think Paul Hollywood's steely blue eyes are really gripping?

So you think you know beetroot? - recipe

2011-09-30T20:06:00.001+01:00

This post is borne out of being sent a parcel of pre-cooked and packed beetroot to try some recipes with, this came from the folks over at 'love beetroot.co.uk'. It arrived in a very nice box...with a very posh ribbon, which contained 3 different types of pre cooked beetroot as follows: 1 pkt red fire chilli beetroot; 1 pkt baby beetroot in sweet vinegar and lastly 1 pkt of cooked beetroot.

3 different kinds of beetroot 3 recipes, and 1 large purple ribbon, simple!

Recipe #1 Chilli Sweet Beetroot Salsa

Ingredients:
1 pkt red fire chilli cooked beetroot
1 orange pepper
2 spring onions
10 cherry tomatoes
sea salt and black pepper
Balsamic syrup
Method:
1. Chop the pepper, tomatoes and beetroot and place in a bowl. Finely slice the spring onions and add these to the bowl, mix everything together and season.

2. Drizzle with balsamic syrup, mix again and serve (if you fancy) with homemade mackerel pate, a green salad and fresh crusty bread, in the garden.

Recipe#2 Roasted Red Onion, Beetroot and Lancashire Cheese Flan

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 half packet baby Beetroot in sweet vinegar

2 or 3 red onions

150g Bob's tasty Lancashire cheese

Olive oil

sea salt and black pepper

1 tsp demerara sugar

4 free range eggs

quarter cup of milk

Pastry Case:

100g butter

200g SR flour

pinch sea salt

cold water

OR buy ready made shortcrust pastry or a pastry case

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180c fan. Peel and roughly slice the red onions. Spread the onions onto a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, season with sea salt and black pepper then sprinkle all over with a teaspoon of demerara sugar. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

2. Make a pastry case by making shortcrust pastry. Rub together the flour, butter and salt until this resembles breadcrumbs. Add cold water and mix to a dough and form into a ball. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. After 30 minutes line a flan dish and bake blind at 180c fan for about 15 minutes.

3. Remove the onions from the oven once they are cooked through and caramelised and put on kitchen paper to absorb any oil. Thinly slice the half packet of beetroot. Grate the cheese. Break the eggs into a jug and whisk with the milk and season.

4. Assemble the flan by placing a layer of the cooked red onions, followed by the thinly sliced beetroot and then the grated cheese. Cover with the egg/milk mixture.

5. Bake in the oven at 180c fan for 25 minutes.

This is best served just warm not hot and is lovely cold with new potatoes.

Recipe#3 Chocolate Beetroot Butterfly Cakes With Rose Cream

Ingredients:

75g cocoa powder

180g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

250g caster sugar

250g cooked beetroot

3 large free range eggs

200ml corn oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

(this cake recipe is from BBC Food)

To decorate:

250ml Double Cream

1tsp Steenbergs Rose water

1 tbsp icing sugar plus more for dusting

sugar paste flowers in purple hues to decorate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c fan. Arrange paper muffin cases in a 12-mould muffin tin.

2. Sift the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder into a bowl. Mix in the sugar, and set aside. Purée the beetroot in a food processor. Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and oil and blend until smooth.

3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the beetroot mixture and lightly mix. Pour into the muffin cases. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is firm when pressed with a finger.

4. Whisk the cream, icing sugar and rosewater together until the cream is stiff. Cut out a circle in the cake and split this in half, add a good dollop of the rose cream and top with the split sponge and adorn with a sugarpaste flower and a dusting of icing sugar. Put the kettle on and enjoy!

You can find out more about the wonder of beetroot, including recipes and lots of nutritional information by clicking the beet below...

Now the beetroots been all used up...its just what to do with the big purple ribbon now?

(no animals were harmed in the compilation of this blog)

NB: These views are mine alone. I was not paid by So You Think You Know Beetroot to do this review I offered to do it, the 3 types of Beetroot were given to me to try at home.
The other ingredients were purchased by me.

Lucy's cake

2011-09-29T07:30:00.000+01:00

One vanilla madeira sponge, with vanilla buttercream and flowery sugarpaste flowers and leaves.

When you are 8 years old its all you need.

Happy Birthday to Lucy!
x

Fiona Cairns inspired (Random Bakes of Kindness #2) - book review

2011-09-27T23:42:00.000+01:00

Image from Google

This creation of creamy goodness was inspired by a new book by Fiona Cairns, you might have heard her name before as she designed and was responsible for the royal wedding cake.

You might remember it, as it was quite something in all its many tiered glory, and heavily decorated with the nations flowers, at the brides request?
Fiona Cairns has a new book called 'The Birthday Cake Book' published by Quadrille. This book is not what you might think and from someone who designed the royal wedding cake you might be expecting a cake mostly about sugarcraft. Actually the clue to the type of cakes contained within lies on the front cover of this book. These recipes are about flavour as much as decorated cakes and this book contains a wealth of recipes that would be suitable for more adult like birthdays or even everyday baked treats. There are quite a few cakes that are sugarcraft modelled, but other recipes concentrate much more on flavour than any fancy or hard to do sugarcrafted designs like very lemony meringue cake; tiramasu cake; liquorice toffee cake to name some.

TheTurkish Delight Meringue is made with a meringue baked in two sections and sandwiched with fresh cream (laced with rose water and icing sugar) and a raspberry and rose water jelly (gelatine, rose water, lemon juice, water, caster sugar, fresh raspberries). In the book the topping is of fresh cream and pistachio's my version (above) is topped with hazelnuts. I enjoyed the Random Bakes of Kindness idea by Vanessa Kimbell number one so much I couldn't resist a second go...so the local pet shop (purveyors off all things ex battery hen and golden retriever, and the rest! Much cheaper than renowned pet supermarkets, and providing kind acts of carrying of goods to your car and loading of car is included with purchases...always!) were the lucky recipients of this Turkish Delight Meringue. Yes I gave it away!

Not to worry as I also made at home the lovely light Butterscotch Cake which has a mascapone butterscotch filling...this delight would be equally lovely in or on a walnut cake...just managed to snap the last slice here!

All the recipes in The Birthday Cake book have a photograph to accompany them, there are a range of recipes following themes for parties (glamping, vampire party, Alice in wonderland, etc) that include small cakes like blueberry yoghurt fairy cakes, earl grey tea fairy cakes and biscuits like chocolate dinosaurs, or pastel ice cream sandwiches through to larger layer or family size cakes and even a recipe for brownies, some other tray bakes and one savoury smoked salmon and cream cheese stacked cake.
The sugarcraft or modelled range of recipes consists of a gingerbread house; russian dolls; a crystal skull; playing dice; robots; crocodile handbag; box of chocolates; erupting volcanoe; football boots; pirate galleon; seaside bucket cake; fresh flower heart; alice's teapot; piggy bank; marzipan fruits hat; bejewlled elephant; a fantasy castle; merry go round; wigwam; and vegetable plot cake. There are templates for some cake designs and written directions (these may be hard to follow if your not too proficient in sugar craft).

This book is a good buy if you have older or grown up children and are looking for inspiration for grown up parties, if you want to follow a theme for a party and are looking for ideas, or if you just want some interesting flavoursome cake recipes for tea.

Image from Quadrille Publishing book available from Amazon

In at the deep end - book review

2011-09-25T21:13:00.000+01:00

In at the deep end by Jake Tilson is so much like readingsomeone's travel journal that they have added to in scrapbook fashionwith memento's/photographs/badges/rubbings/drawings/sketches/prints/tickets/patterns and otherembellishments, to bring alive the memories contained within. Its afeast for the eyes and there is an awful lot to take in, so much so that youcould almost miss the recipes if you don't pay attention! Its one ofthose books that you would pick up time and time again and findsomething you had missed on previous encounters. The background to the book is that Jake is lets say, 'not a fish lover' (he was actually afraid of fish!) and during a fair bit of international travel, across the globe from Venice to Tokyo taking in Sweden, Scotland, New York, Sydney, London and the great barrier reef, he gets to grips with a whole range of fish and develops his knowledge, skills and a fair few recipes along the way.

There is also a series of podcasts thataccompany each chapter of this book. These are available to download freely from the 'in at the deep end' website.These podcast chapters are being added to (Venice and Sweden chapters are there now) and it really is a MUSTthat you listen to these as you read the book, otherwise you miss so much more, particularly about the visuals in the book and how they came to be there. Thepodcasts also give more clues with background noises and personal narrativesof Jake's travel notes, these all help paint the picture of theplaces, his travels and experiences with his family (there's nothing like the sound of sizzling fish frying in a pan to get you thinking about fish and wanting to eat fish!).

Not Swedish; this is Port of Lancaster Smoking!

The chapter on Sweden reminded me thatI'd been to Gothenberg myself (some years ago) and the description andobservations of a Swedish smoke house led me to recall a local food festival I'dbeen to in the summer. It also reminded me of how much I love smokedfish, especially when its correctly smoked.

Not a cat loverparticularly, but couldn't help but fall head over heels for the sweetest Swedish cat face onpage 52.

Photo from In at the deep end website

Other chapters of the book on podcastare currently works in progress and should be available to download this month.

As a recipe book, at first glance thismay appear to be a hard one to follow in some respects as the mainfish ingredients are not easy to come by for all of the recipes,(unless you want to do a fair bit of international travelling thatis!) but hold your nerve, the author knows this and suggests otherfish alternatives are used, most especially local and sustainableones. Its important to remember this book is about an adventure withfish and bringing that adventure to your own kitchen with local fish if you can.

The sustainable fish debate is covered in this book, Jake admits he's confused (me too, I'm very confused and I have yet to do the research he has!).

I liked this book, it made me think, it educated me and it literally felt like it took me to places I may never visit. It also took me to my local fishmongers for fresh fish to make a recipe from the book for supper. I tried to follow one of the books mantra's and buy local fish, but on this particular day the closest catch to me was fresh mackerel and smoked mackerel, both from Scotland, which I did buy but I also bought some bass fillets. And with these I made a version of the Baked Striped Caponata (New York) from the book (pictured above with my own bubble and squeak cakes). Other recipes include the likes of; chinese steamed sea bream, fishball stew. fried fish, wilted herbs, noodles, goby rissotto alongside more common fish dishes such as smoked mackerel or kipper pate, gravadlax, soused herrings and fish cakes.

My local fish supplier

The fresh and smoked mackerel is for another fishy adventure. As is the remainder of the book for me as I didn't manage to read within one day...as is advocated on the back cover.

Image from Quadrille Publishing book available from Amazon

Jake Tilson, the author is anartist/designer/photographer/cook/broadcaster he has written at least one other book about food. He likes fish now, he didn't sketch this, neither did I!

Image from Google images

Happy Birthday 'We Should Cocoa' (Chocolate Guinness Cake) - recipe

2011-09-21T21:18:00.000+01:00

This post is really to say happy first birthday to both Chele and Choclette on the occasion of their 'we should cocoa challenge' first anniversary...so much chocolate loveliness and jaw dropping wow in so many of those challenge inspired posts. A relatively new discovery for me but I really enjoy reading it every month.

Here's to the next year and to your continued baking success! I love challenges like this because it makes you think about what you are baking and gets food lovers to come up with new ideas, which in turn gives others (like me!) ideas for their baking.

Happy Birthday and Cheers!

This is not an entry for the challenge, but our current family favourite cake is...Chocolate Guinness...named so because it contains both elements (no brainer, I know!). But the cake is sort of made to look like a pint of Guinness with a nice smooth creamy alabaster like head on it, this comes from a topping of cream cheese, cream and icing sugar added for sweetness, if you are true to the recipe. OR make a smooth vanilla butter cream and ~~let your hand slip and heavily~~ gently dust with cocoa like I did here.

It is a gorgeous rich heavenly cake...and its another one of Nigella's recipes (there are other recipes for this cake if you try Google and I have tried some of them but Nigella's is the best by far).

This cake has a lovely moist texture and an earthy flavour from the Guinness like no other cake you will try. It keeps really well in an airtight container. Its quite nice without a topping to. Just don't forget to line your tin and don't be too heavy handed with the slight dusting of cocoa on top OR YOU WILL RUIN THE LOOK! *ahem*

Home made and well preserved with Steenbergs Organics

2011-09-20T15:30:00.002+01:00

Well-preserved adj.

1. kept in good condition. 2. continuing to appear youthful.

Jam n. 1. a preserve containing fruit, which has been boiled with sugar until the mixture sets.

Chutney n. a pickle of Indian origin, made from fruit, vinegar, spices, sugar, etc.: mango chutney.
Pickle n. 1. (often pl.) vegetables, such as onions, etc:, preserved in vinegar, brine etc. 2. any food preserved in this way. 3. a liquid or marinade, such as spiced vinegar, for preserving vegetables, meat, fish, etc. 4. to preserve in a pickling liquid.
Piccalilli n. a pickle of mixed vegetables in a mustard sauce.
Marmalade n. a clear sweetened jelly in which pieces of fruit and fruit rind are suspended.
Curd n. a custard like mixture made from fruit juice, sugar, butter and egg yolks and used as a filling or spread (Definitions quoted from Well Preserved)

I'm a lover of anything 'home made & well preserved' and I am always looking out for new recipes to try. After saving lots of jars in readiness, I really need some new inspiration from fellow food storers, creative cooks and lovers of all things home made, so here is a 'home made and well preserved' jamboree (get it?).

I could go on about how well preserved I am but I won't, most of it is pure fantasy on my part! However, autumn is fast approaching (or is it here already, it feels like it is in the north west!) and at this time of year I always want to lay down home made jars full to the brim of some kind of goodness for the winter...see previous marmalade post below...My logic says we could get snowed in, or the road/railway could collapse and supplies wouldn't get through, or the local ~~Co Op~~ Waitrose could run out of food? (I jest BUT we have 2 such stores in our 'village' and both ran out of all supplies last year in the snow crisis). It could happen again, and if we ran out of homemade marmalade/jam/pickles/chutney/piccalilli/relish/curd/preserved lemons/fruits...well it doesn't bear thinking about...right?

The seasons tell us the time is right to get preserving because there are gluts everywhere...plums/tomatoes/apples/pears/sloes/veggies/and free hedgerow goodies..its time to preserve this season for next. So get any used jars washed/sterilised and get preserving and lets see what goodies we can share. You can make anything you like to join in as long as its preserved in a jar. You might want to share a recipe you have made before that is a particular favourite, an old familiar family recipe past down, or you might want to share a recipe for something you are preserving now to give as a gift in about 100 days time?

Pictured: some of the Steenbergs organic premium range

As an added incentive to join in with #homemadewellpreserved, Sophie at Steenbergs Organic has very kindly offered to give someone the chance to choose up to £25 worth of spices from their online range.

Steenbergs are a family business priding themselves on quality, organic and fairtrade goods, the spices they sell are ethically sourced with great flavours; they are stylishly (and functionally) packed; and there for you to create delicious creations whether it be preserves or other goodies.

This lucky entrant will be picked at random, using a randomiser, as this is NOT about the best recipe or blog.

But remember you have to blog your recipe entry first of all and use the logo and link back to this page.

You can join in by:

1. First chance to win; blog about whatever it is you are preserving (any form of taxidermy does not count, sorry)...along with the recipe, mention the 'home made & well preserved' theme. Post a link back to this blog using the logo below. (if you don't have a blog please e-mail me from my contacts page with recipe and pictures)

2. Tweet the link to your blog to me on Twitter (@TwitTottee) use the hashtag #homemadewellpreserved for the round up by midnight 16th October 2011.

3. Use an older recipe from your blog if you wish to, but ensure you link it back to this blog and use the logo.

4. For a second chance to win please tweet (RT) this post using the button below you will need to comment below this post along with your twitter ID telling me you have done so.

5. For a third chance to win please follow me @TwitTottee on Twitter and comment below to tell me you have done so.

6. For a fourth chance to win please like my facebook page 'A little bit of heaven on a plate' and comment below to tell me you have done so.

Each Comment counts and you can have a maximum of 4 entries to win up to £25 worth of spices from Steenbergs Organic.

Picture courtesy of Steenbergs

I'll do a round up of all entries four weeks from now, that's after Sunday October 16th 2011.

Just in time to get making more goodies in time for you know when (Christmas!!!).

Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with and good luck with all the entries.

Merchants of Hoghton Farmers Market 18 Sept 2011

2011-09-18T15:52:00.001+01:00

What better way to spend a beautiful Sunday morning than at Hoghton Tower shopping at the Merchants of Hoghton Farmers Market.

Hoghton Tower has been the home of the de Hoghton family since the Norman Conquest re knowned for its connections with William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and King James I who, at a banquet held in his honour, famously knighted a loin of beef ‘Sir Loin’. (taken from the Hoghton Tower website)

Wonderful county wide food producers with fresh goods and home made foodstuffs on sale from all over Lancashire and bordering counties. Quality but competitively priced too.

Lots of wonderful foodie smells whether you have 2 legs or four!
BUT PLEASE NOTE:
DOGS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN AND AROUND THE MARKET ANYMORE AS ITS A DOGGIE FREE ZONE

The market is held once a month on Sundays details on the Hoghton Tower site. Parking costs £1.

Some of my market haul...

Pink Grapefruit Marmalade - recipe

2011-09-13T16:57:00.000+01:00

I really do love the taste and flavours of homemade jams/preserves/pickles/marmalade's, I'm one of those people where, if see a village hall sale and if there's home made jam in there I have to buy it, on some occasions I have bought the whole batch (no kidding I really have!). I have thought about joining the WI just because of my preserve addiction/habit (as I'm convinced all WI members are closet jam/preserve making fiends). Sorry WI, I do know there is much more to it than just that!

In the autumn, I don't know why but it seems like the right time of year to lay down stores for the winter ahead and that's when I like to make jars of preserves. Think I'm a secret food hoarder, mind you its not a secret to some!

Well its not really autumn yet, though its felt like it in recent days here in the north west, but I bought some gorgeous plump pink grapefruits from my local market at the weekend and rather than eat them all for breakfast I decided to make some marmalade with some of them.

I've been making this marmalade recipe for years and years, why? Because its so easy to make and I do like easy...and it tastes so nice and because its home made (and I love home made as much as I love easy) you can play with the recipe a bit...add grated fresh or stem ginger...add whisky...put some edible glitter in if you like, add whatever extra kick or extra loveliness you fancy. Make it chunky, make it fine...make it your way.

Its a fairly old Nigella (Lawson) recipe from her Domestic Goddess book and its made with pink grapefruits and preserving sugar and lemons and that's it.

Not much skill required really...and no fancy equipment (like thermometers!).
Ingredients:
2 pink grapefruit, weighing approximately 500g
1.5kg preserving sugar (bought from most supermarkets)
Juice of 2 lemons
(you will need 4–5 8-ounce jars)
Method:
1. Place a saucer or a small plate in your freezer, this will be needed to test the setting point of the marmalade later on.
2. Put the pink grapefruit into a large saucepan, fill with enough water so that they float freely, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 2 hours, by which time the grapefruit should be very soft. You might need to turn the grapefruit if they are very big.
Add more hot water from a kettle if the liquid’s boiling away, and whatever happens don't let it boil dry!
While the grapefruit is cooking sterilise your empty jars by putting clean washed jars into a sink or bowl and pour freshly boiled water from a kettle over the jars to cover them.

Remove them (carefully! a wooden spoon helps) and put them on a baking tray and pop in the oven at 160 degrees for about 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave your jars there to keep warm.
3. After the 2 hour simmer remove the fruit to a board or a plate (a plate keeps all the juice in one place). Halve the grapefruit and pick out any pips (include the smaller ones if you can, and discard all these). Slice the cooked grapefruit thinly, (leave it thicker if you like your marmalade chunky) and then chop it, using the whole fruit and skin and pith. (if you have a food processor you can use the pulse setting a few times to chop the fruit if you like?).

4. Put the chopped grapefruit back into the saucepan, and add the preserving sugar and lemon juice. It looks like tinned sliced peaches as you can see.

Let the sugar dissolve over a gentle heat and then bring to the boil until setting point is reached, this will take at least 15 minutes.

After boiling for 15 minutes or so, test for setting point. The easy way to do this is to take the saucer or plate from the freezer. Place a teaspoon of the mixture on the plate, and leave for a minute. If the surface of the mixture creases when you push it with your finger, the marmalade is ready. You can tell when the marmalade is getting ready to set because the colour changes.
If it does not wrinkle when pushed boil some more, remember to put your saucer or plate back in the freezer until you test again.

5. When the marmalade is at setting point, ladle into prepared jars and close the lids. Take care at this stage as any hot preserve will burn or scald. If your messy like me give your jars a good wipe with a clean cloth. Don't forget to label with the date.

Enjoy on hot buttered toast and with a cuppa on a lie-in weekend (in bed with Saturday kitchen on TV) x.

This is my contribution to the current CONSERVES theme for breakfast club hosted by Sonia at Dinner Recipes At Sonia's Kitchen on this occasion.

You can find out more about Breakfast Club themes by clicking this logo.

Comfort and Spice - book review

2011-09-10T21:52:00.000+01:00

I was very kindly sent a copy of 'Comfort and Spice' written by Niamh Shields to review by Quadrille Publishing this week. It was a very apt addition to inspire me in my kitchen, especially with the weather being so autumnal. Not that 'Comfort and Spice' is a book for this particular season, its just that the title conjures up hopes of warm, 'fleecy blanket comforting' and homely recipes.

Comfort and Spice has been written by someone who is clearly a devoutee of good, home cooked food and with a palate borne from travel and a keen interest in sourcing, making and sharing their food with others. This book covers a wide range of recipes from very simple dishes, to something more challenging and across all eating scenarios, including 'grazing' (of which I am a fan). Its modern food with old fashioned values, by that I mean its very current cooking but not at the cost of wasting food or being too exclusive.

The recipes are clearly written (each recipe is not long enough to become arduous) and I found they were easily followed, with a helpful common sense and 'enabling the cook' style of writing. On average about every 4/5 recipes have a photograph to accompany them. There is a lovely description of where a recipe might have originated from, or where Niamh ate it and in what context, giving an interesting narrative insight into her travels and experiences.

The chapters start at 'how to be a better cook', followed by 'brunch' and goes all the way through to 'sugar and spice' and 'drinks'. I particularly liked the chapter on 'Eight Great Big Dinners'; each dinner is followed with other recipes to use up leftovers from these meals. You might think you already make good use of your leftovers, but this will give you new ideas.The long and slow meat roasts recipes are particularly tempting.

The book is scattered with helpful advice (I'll be trying the pork 'crackling tips' as my own offering last week 'could not be called crackling' at all apparently!) and inspiring 'Passion' recipes (like, homemade ricotta, butter, pizza dough, homemade tomato ketchup and mayonnaise) that will surely become a cooks staple.

Niamh with Blaas at Electric Picnic (photo from Eat Like a Girl)

I made the recipe for Blaas, a soft bread roll originating (like Niamh) from Waterford in Ireland. They were by far the nicest rolls I have ever made (mine usually come out too hard on the outside!). Luckily I doubled the recipe as these were devoured for Saturday lunch with soup and stuffed full of good things.

I also made the recipe for a lovely light lemon and blueberry ricotta cheesecake (a baked cheesecake recipe), first found on a trip to Paris (not by me as I have never been there).

Niamh Shields is a renowned food blogger, with a big following, she is of Irish origin but lives in London when she is not travelling.You can follow her blog Eat Like a Girl.

'Comfort and Spice' is one of Quadrille's 'New Voices in Food' series and can be purchased from Amazon.

Hydrangea's and Hens

2011-09-05T19:25:00.003+01:00

I do love colourful rainbow things like this picture here. I made these pretty creations myself . I've been busy these last few weeks making hydrangea flowers in various colours its quite easy to do when sitting down and I have had a bit of a fascination with them of late, they look so pretty on top of cakes, and making them has kept me busy and occupied. They are made from sugar paste, so are edible.

What better way to use some of them than for a friends birthday cake...it was my 'oldest' friends (not by age but by length of friendship) birthday...we've been friends for a long long time...she's a lovely person...we always mange to laugh together, despite whats going on...and if I don't see her for ages we just pick up from where we left off. She loves cake and I made her what I think is a lovely cake...the first one of these giant cupcakes I have ever made.

I like the look of these and they are really popular, but I can't help but think there is too much sponge inside...or maybe its just me, I think my preference is for the middle filling in any cake as much as the sponge itself...

The recipe for this madeira cake can be found here... I substituted the lemon for vanilla in the cake itself, and put buttercream and blackcurrant conserve in the top third of the cake. Madeira cake recipes are often used when carving (shaping) cakes is required as the texture of the cake is more dense.

By the way readers and followers, (and in case you don't know) the eggs for this and all my cakes came from our very own hens, and we have 4 new additions now added to the 2 remaining girls from the first batch we adopted a year ago now (we lost 3 girls all in different ways over the last year or so). The 4 new girls have been here for about 6 or 7 weeks and are settling into free range life really well, surprisingly there has been no blood shed at all, while the new pecking order is sorted out. Our hens are all Warrens and were adopted from the BHWT, did you know that hen keeping is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the country?

Maybe you can't adopt hens like we do but you can support the welfare of these animals by buying free range eggs and supporting food suppliers that use only free range eggs in their products.

Here they are on their first day arriving at their new home. Pale and timid.

Madam 'Goldtop' (she's the most beautiful boss and been here a year now, along with Dizzy Lizzie, who is never still). Here enjoying breakfast while the newbies look on in wonderment.

Some of the new girls early escapades!

If you want to read more about ex battery hens, and their life of freedom after being re-homed, then this is a lovely blog from Jo who writes about them so well and is a great advocate for these wonderful animals (who deserve so much more from a life of daily giving us the best eggs ever!).