Still here, still baking!

I always seem to start like this but many, many apologies again for being away so long.  There's been a lot going on over the last few months, and although I've kept up with the baking, I just haven't had time to sit down and blog.

 

On 11th September, we lost our precious Granny, 10 days after she suffered a stroke at home.  We all miss her, while of course being glad that she isn't suffering any more.  She'd managed to live on her own until the end, at nearly 95 years of age, and until recently liked to bake something whenever I visited.  She passed on some great family recipes to me, which I'll post one day if I can dig them out!  I love this picture of her looking so proud, with newborn Megan.

By strange coincidence, 11th September was my other Granny's 100th birthday.  She also lives on her own, and is just amazing for her age (I think I've got good genes!)  We had a family party for her the following day - she really seemed to enjoy herself and loved catching up with family and friends. Here she is with children and grandchildren, and a special letter from one grand old lady to another!

 

 

In yet another coincidence, Granny's funeral was held on our 10th wedding anniversary.  We didn't have much time to think about it that day, but the following week we sneaked off to Brugge for 4 days, our first holiday without the munchkins!  It was a lovely break, much of which seemed to centre around food!  We had a wonderful first night meal of pig cheek with beer and cherry sauce, followed by a traditional 'Brugge swan' desert.  Then there was a tour of a chocolate factory, and lovely fresh waffles, straight from the griddle.  Yum!  Plenty of inspiration for when I finish this little project!

Right, so here goes.  This is what I've managed to bake over the last few months (with pictures where I could find them!)

1.  Lime yoghurt cake

 

A really zesty, moist cake containing honey; natural yoghurt and lime juice.  It's drizzled with a syrup made of water; caster sugar; more lime juice and rosewater.  Definitely worth trying as an alternative to classic sponge cake!  Struggled to find the rosewater, but then my friend in the local health food shop ordered it specially for me.

2. Rich hazelnut brownies

 

What can I say - chocolate brownies.  Always a hit!  I find it best to always slightly undercook them, so they're soft in the middle.  Otherwise, they loose their squidginess and just become like sponge cake.

3. Baked Alaska

 

 

 

OK, so as you can see this was a bit of a disaster.  I'm not sure quite what went wrong, but I thought my meringue was stiff enough - then it all melted when I spread it on the ice cream.  I shoved it in the freezer quickly, and it set in the position you can see.  Still, it tasted good!  Evan re-named it 'ice-cream cake'... Nigel re-named it 'ice-cream splat!'  I actually sent these pictures in to 'Great British Bake Off, Extra Slice' as I thought it looked so bad, and might make their disastrous bakes slot.  Unfortunately I was too late for the last episode.  Might submit it next year... watch this space!  Oh, I found it much easier to use a blowtorch to brown the meringue, rather than place it in the oven, as Rachel suggests.  I think that might have finished it off!

4. Mocha pecan meringue ice-cream sandwiches

Evan was oh-so excited about having ice cream sandwiches in the freezer, but sadly he didn't like the result.  They're made with meringue, mixed with coffee granules, ground pecans and chocolate. You heap little mounds onto a baking tray, and bake - then sandwich with ice cream when ready to eat.  I think the coffee and nut taste disagreed with Evan's palette!  I enjoyed them though, and enjoyed having them in the freezer as a treat to pull out.

5. Viennese biscuits

These were hilarious - why I didn't get a picture I don't know.  I piped them onto the baking tray with the wrong size nozzle.  They looked very skinny, but "oh well" I thought, "they might spread".  They didn't!  They were more like French fries!  Still tasted nice, and very moreish.  I'll try again, and maybe read the instructions properly!

6. Eccles cakes

 

I've loved Eccles cakes for a long time, and these were much easier to make than I thought.  I used ready made mincemeat (one of Rachel's filling variations), so I literally just rolled out discs of puff pastry, popped a teaspoon of filling in and gathered up the pastry edges.  They're smaller than the Eccles cake you get in the shops, but taste just the same.

7. Finnish cake with caramelised ginger

An unusual sponge cake, made with crystallised ginger and soured cream.  Seems so long since I made it, and can't remember much it about it.  Just that it turned out well!

8. Lemon and passion fruit tart

 

Loved this, definitely one of my favourite bakes so far.  I love lemon tart anyway, and the passion fruit adds an extra tropical sweetness.  Best served chilled, with some cream for extra decadence!

9. Baked butternut squash risotto

Decided to make this for tea one night, when it was just me and the munchkins.  Well, it was a change from what we normally have and a bit of a gamble... not a good one.  They both turned their noses up, even Megan who isn't normally fussy.  Luckily it's an easy recipe, so I didn't feel I'd wasted too much effort!  (And I enjoyed it).

10. 30 day muffins

 

This is such an amazing recipe - if you haven't tried it you should!  As the name suggests, the basic mix lasts in the fridge for a whole month.  When you fancy a batch of fresh muffins, you just add in whichever flavourings you want, and bake. Voila, domestic goddess!

11. White-frosted coconut celebration cake

Another great alternative to the classic sponge cake for a party or special occasion.  It has coconut in the sponge, then a coconut butter filling and is finally finished with an American frosting, and sprinkled with yet more coconut.  Yes, you have to be a coconut lover!  My husband is definitely not, but this went to church for our minister's leaving celebration, so was appreciated by many of the folk there.  I cannot master American frosting, it never seems to be firm enough and sort of melts down the cake.  It still tastes nice, just doesn't look pretty.  Definitely one to practice when this challenge is over.

12. Roasted mushroom and goats' cheese tartlet

 

Made this for Megan's 2nd birthday tea.  It's a very simple recipe, especially when made with ready made puff pastry. You just roll out your pastry, and top with roasted mushrooms; wilted spinach; and goats' cheese, then bake.  It's finished with olives and herbs, and served with Rachel's oh-so-simple sweet onion jam.  A great entertaining dish, although I think next time I'd make double - it came out quite small.

 

13. Baked figs

Hmmm... not so successful.  Perhaps these just weren't great figs, but they were pretty tasteless.  The idea is that you split the figs, pack tightly into ramekins, drizzle with honey and bake.  Sounded nice, but the figs didn't really take on the sweetness.  It's not often that one of Rachel's recipes lets me down, maybe I'll have to try again one day.

14. Festive jam cookie sandwiches

 

I didn't make these for Christmas, but just for fun, over the autumn.  They're made with a simple biscuit dough - you cut it all into shapes, and then taking half the shapes, cut 'windows' to fill with jam.  Rachel suggested round or flower shaped cutters.  As you can see, I went for hearts and stars.  The hearts worked well, the stars not so much.  I didn't have a small enough inner cutter, and the tops were a bit thin and misshapen.  Still, they baked well and tasted nice. 

15. Oatcakes

 

Another one made in honour of Megan's second birthday.  While I was pregnant with her,  I used to carry around packets of Nairn's Scottish oatcakes.  Great for an instant energy boost!  My Scottish friend Lena says that's what made Megan a 9lb 4oz whopper!  These were easy to make and pretty authentic.  As you can see, little Meggie-Moo hasn't forgotten from the womb and still enjoys them!

16. Vanillekipferl

These are really light little German biscuits, whose name literally means 'vanilla mountain tops' - due to the fact that they are tossed in icing sugar, looking a bit like snowy mountain peaks.  Very light and moreish, yum!

17. Cornish saffron bread

Didn't think this would work at all, as the dough didn't rise very well.  Still, saffron being so expensive, I was reluctant to throw the mixture away.  I'm glad I persevered, as it turned out OK.  It's a fruity loaf, with a nice sunny yellow colour from the saffron.


18 & 19. Empanadillas/ Anchovy, goats' cheese & chorizo squares

 

I finally got over my dread of making puff pastry, yay!  After hearing Jamie Oliver say "if you've got time to make puff pastry, you've got too much time on your hands", and reading that Mary Berry buys ready made... well I thought it must be really complicated.  It isn't, it just takes a bit of time.  And a lot of that isn't hands on time, it's just waiting in between rolling and folding.  Rachel's recipe makes a bit batch, so I made these 2 recipes and also have plenty in the freezer.

20. Walnut and honey tart

Another favourite bake, and one that I'll definitely do again.  It's so easy - having baked the pastry blind, you simply melt butter in a saucepan, add in honey; sugar and cream, boil and finally add in some chopped walnuts  Pour into your case and bake.  Easy as erm, pie!  It's very rich and satisfying - Nigel and I enjoyed it warm with some vanilla ice cream.

21. Beef pasties with mint, ginger and peas

A variation on the classic pasty, which may have Cornish traditionalists shaking in their shoes!  But we enjoyed them.  Rachel describes them as having 'elements of Mexican empanadas, Indian samosas and classic Cornish pasties all rolled into one'.  I'd probably spice them up a bit more (and that comes from me, who doesn't really like hot food!)... the spice was very subtle.

22. Baklava

Had a go at the treat which I enjoy in our local Turkish restaurant, 'The Mangal' in Syston.  It's really easy, just takes a little time layering filo pastry, brushing with butter and layering nuts.  If you haven't worked with filo pastry before, it's quite weird.  I thought I was pulling layers of paper off at first, until I realised it was all pastry.  Luckily, homemade filo is not a recipe in 'Bake'... so I got away with that one!

23. Kugelhopf

 

A lovely juicy, Christmassy tasting sponge cake which we all enjoyed.  It's made with a bread dough, so you need to leave some time for rising and proving - apart from that it's quite uncomplicated.  My KitchenAid with the dough hook made it easy-peasy!  Didn't have the classic Kugelhopf tin, so I just used a round sandwich tin.  But I think I might treat myself, as I'm keen to make this again.

 

I'll sign off here, as although I've got another 8 recipes to update you with, I've probably gone on for long enough! Back with an update very soon!

 

Hello again!

Many, many apologies for being away for so long.  Not sure quite what's happened - maybe a combination of returning to work, and planning some major life changes - all good stuff, I promise, but I won't go into that now in case it doesn't happen.  I have been baking in between, but just haven't sat down to write in the evenings.  So, just to prove it, here's a resume of what I've been up to...  Oh, and I seem to have deleted some photos in transfer from phone to computer.  So you'll just have to believe me!

 

 

Mocha Cake

Made this back in May (blimey, it has been a while!) It was a treat for Evan's old pre-school  teachers, as a 'congratulations' for achieving their outstanding from OFSTED.  No mean feat, and very richly deserved.  We always knew they were fantastic, but it's great to have it acknowledged.  I didn't get to try the cake, but was assured it was yummy! 

Cinnamon Pecan Buns

Oh, I really wish I hadn't lost the photo of these, because they looked great... if I say so myself.  A cross between tear & share bread, and Chelsea buns.  They are drizzled with icing, and every time Megan came in the kitchen she pointed and said "milk", "cake".  So this recipe has now been renamed 'Megan's milk cake'.

Baked chicken with lemon & garlic

Those who read about my garlicky cottage pie (January 2014), will understand why I was wary of this recipe!  It has 20 cloves of garlic in, and I thought of cutting down but then got brave!  The recipes was actually delicious, and not too stinky!  The cloves are added, unpeeled, to chicken pieces; herbs; wine; lemon zest and juice, and stock.  This is baked, and then the garlic squeezed on to toasted baguette slices.  Garlic bread produced at the table.  I'll definitely make it again, as it's a great entertaining dish.

Baked Mediterranean pasta

Rachel says that this recipe was invented by her husband one night, when the whole family were starving.  As it takes 40-50 minutes to cook, I'd love to ask her how starving they were by then!  But seriously, this is another great entertaining dish.  It's got some of my favourite flavours, including chorizo; capers; olives; goat's cheese and Gruyere cheese.  Oh yes, and 6 cloves of garlic!  But again, not too stinky  and a really rich, satisfying dish.

Irish coffee meringue roulade

I made this to follow the Mediterranean pasta, both served when my parents visited.  Rachel initially gives the recipe as coconut meringue, with lemon curd cream and raspberries.  However, none of my family are that keen on coconut, and this was a variation that Rachel suggested (the other is cherries and rosewater cream, which sounds good).  Well, the appearance wasn't great - my meringue crumbled and is was more of an 'Irish coffee mess'.  However, it tasted lovely and the roulade was easier to make than I thought.  I'll try this again, maybe with one of the variations.

Spinach, potato & goats' cheese tart

Made for a family day out at our favourite seaside resort, Sutton on Sea. It's a great picnic recipe - next time I'll season it more, as the spinach and potatoes have a fairly bland flavour.

Pissaladiere
Made for a church lunch, back in May.  It's a fairly simple tart, filled with cooked onions; garlic (of course!); herbs; anchovies and olives.  Made a change to the usual quiches which often get brought for this type of function (I once heard it said that the Lord's Prayer should be reworded 'give us this day our daily quiche'.  I like that!) 

Easy soda focaccia

Rachel points out that this recipe doesn't contain yeast, and so is more a cross between focaccia and soda bread.  This was indeed how it turned out.  We served it with pasta, and it made a great, quick alternative to the garlic bread that we often have.  It is kneaded briefly, like soda bread, and baked for 30 minutes.

Italian hazelnut cake

I'd actually made this once before, when I belonged to a local book group.  It was my turn to choose, and I'd picked Anthony Capella's 'The Food of Love'. 

http://www.anthonycapella.com/pages/books/food_of_love/intro.asp

If you want a funny, silly and slightly naughty read, try this!  It describes the love affair between an American student and Italian chef, and the vivid descriptions of the wonderful food made me drool!  I wanted an Italian dish to take to the group, and this fitted the bill perfectly.  They loved the book, and my cake!  It's made with ground hazelnuts rather than flour, so as long as you use gluten free baking powder, good for coeliacs. 

Chocolate, marmalade & hazelnut cake

 

Another gluten free cake, made with ground hazelnuts.  It's has a rich texture and a great chocolate/orange flavour.



Tarte Tatin

 

 

I've made this before, but that was Delia Smith's recipe.  Whereas she slices her apples thinly, Rachel has them cored then quartered.  Don't think I cooked the caramel quite enough, as you can see I didn't get the rich dark finish that tarte tatin is supposed to have.  Still tasted good, though.  I like to serve mine as Delia suggests - with crème fraiche.  I find the sharpness of the cream cuts nicely through the sweetness of the caramel and apples.

Honey buns

Made for a pre-school coffee morning. They are lovely little cupcakes, with melted honey in the batter and honey icing on top.  I made them with children in mind, thinking they tend to eat the icing on cakes and leave the sponge (well, mine do anyway!)  This icing blends in to the cakes, so it isn't so easy to do.  They went down really well.

Butter free sponge cake

 

Also made for the pre-school coffee morning, but this time for the grown- ups. The sponge is butter free.  Instead, you whisk egg yolks, sugar and water to make a mousse, and then gently fold in flour and baking powder.  The result is a really lovely, light cake.  A perfect summer bake, when filled with whipped cream and strawberries.

 



Iced orange cake

 

 

A lovely summery sponge cake, made with orange zest and topped with an orange icing.

Florence's orange cake

Some similarities to the above, but a bit more sophisticated.  The sponge contains orange zest and juice.  It's baked into 2 sponges, then each split in half.  They're sandwiched with an orange buttercream filling, and covered with orange glace icing.  Made for a family fun day at church - I didn't actually get to try any, as it disappeared so fast.  I guess that's a compliment!

Zucchini bread

A really easy recipe, made a bit like carrot cake but with grated courgette instead.  Similarly to carrot cake, it has a really moist texture. Made it for our holiday in Scotland, when we stayed with some friends.  We all loved it!  We all ate really well in Scotland, I'm now a big fan of Scotch pies and really want to try and make some!

Pretzels

I made the honey and cinnamon version of these, which turned out a bit like doughnuts in texture.  Nigel was a bit thrown, as he's only ever had crispy pretzels.  Cheeky Megan loved them, and kept pinching them from the pantry!  My shaping wasn't great, but OK for a first go I suppose. 

 

 

Upside-down cherry cake

I made this to take to a friend's 40th birthday barbecue.  Rachel's main recipes uses cranberries, and she suggests variations of gooseberry; blackberry; apple and pear.  Well, I had some cherries to use up and they worked well.

 

 

 

 

So that's it, I'm up to date.  Hope I haven't been too long this time.  Aiming for normal service to resume from now on!  I'm finding baking really addictive, and start to feel a bit 'twitchy' if I haven't had a new challenge for a week or so.  Still on track to meet this challenge, and I already have an idea for the next one.  Watch this space!

Welcome to my garden

Firstly, I apologise for not blogging for a while.  I've had a maths exam this week, and as usual I was 'cramming' at the last minute.  All done now, and it seemed to go OK.  So, back to baking.  Hurrah!

One of the challenges I've been particularly looking forward to, is making crystallised flowers.  But where to get them?  As Rachel says, you can't use flowers that have been sprayed with chemicals - which probably cuts out most of the ones you'd get in garden centres or florists.  So I thought I'd turn to my own garden.  I really love my outdoor space, and feel lucky to have a good sized garden such as we'd never get with a new build.  Megan is particularly enjoying it at the moment - discovering the joy of being able to toddle around and explore.  On a nice day, she has no need for toys and would happily potter all day.

We don't have many flowers in the  garden, mainly due to a pair of roaming pet rabbits, who eat everything they can.  A couple of years ago, I decided the garden needed brightening up.  So I googled 'plants rabbits hate' and sent Nigel off to Wilko with a shopping list.  He came back with said plants, and we spent a busy afternoon planting pots.  Woke up the next morning, and there was one of the rabbits cheekily sitting on a pot, munching away.  He clearly hadn't read the web page that I did!  So, for the time being the garden will have to stay as it is.  Not that I have much time for gardening anyway!

We are lucky to have 2 apple trees, and I love to see the spring blossom.  It always seems a shame that it's gone so quickly.  So, it seemed a good idea to use it for this challenge.  A way of keeping the spring for a bit longer!  Crystallised flowers are really easy to do.  You just need to paint them with egg white, then sprinkle with caster sugar, and leave to dry overnight.  I made the mistake of painting just the tops!  Checked them in the morning and wondered why they were still soft.  Then I realised, and had to get my egg whites and sugar out again.  The flowers went brown after a few days, and I think maybe that's why - the underside was left open to the air for too long.  They looked gorgeous when they were fresh though - I used them to decorate Rachel's lemon cupcakes...

There are all sorts of edible flowers.  I really like this website, which also gives you some recipes, such as citrus blossom salad and rose petal sorbet.  http://www.thompson-morgan.com/edible-flowers.  It tells you which flowers are edible, and which ones definitely aren't http://www.thompson-morgan.com/poisonous-flower-varieties



If you'd rather not eat raw egg white, I found this link which gives you another method of making the flowers... http://premeditatedleftovers.com/recipes-cooking-tips/how-to-make-candied-flowers/

I'll definitely have a go at crystallised flowers again, but while we've still got the rabbits, I might have to borrow from someone else's garden!  



In other baking adventures, this week I've made Rachel's 'poppy seed cake with vanilla buttercream icing'.  The icing is amazing, and completely unlike any I've made before.  You make a custard with egg yolks; milk and sugar, and then whip it up with softened butter.  Really rich and delicious!  The cake has gone to a friend who's having guests to stay for a family funeral.  I await feedback! 

I've also tried my hand at English muffins.  To form these, you roll the bread dough into a sausage shape and slice 2cm pieces... a bit like making biscuits.  And like my biscuit making attempts, I am hopeless at getting a nice round sausage!  So my muffins were a little misshapen, but tasted good.  I just call them quirky!  I think next time, I'll roll balls of dough and flatten them out.



 

Gorgeous warm with melting butter, or toasted with cheese under the grill.

 

 



Bagels

 

 

'If you've never made bagels before, you may be rather surprised to find that they get their dense chewiness from being poached first and then baked.  I make these in an electric food mixer using the dough hook, but you can make them perfectly well by hand too'.

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p166

 

 

Well, I promised you a bagel challenge and here I am!  They were surprisingly straightforward to make, and I was very happy with the result. Here's how it's done...

 

You will need...

 

• 450g (1lb) strong white flour
• 1 x 7g sachet fast-acting yeast
• 2 level tsp salt
• 250mls (9fl oz) warm water
• 2 tbsp runny honey
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp treacle or molasses
• Maize or cornmeal, for sprinkling
• 1 egg, beaten
• Sesame seeds; sea salt; poppy seeds or a savoury topping of your choice (optional)

1. Sift the flour and salt into the bowl you plan to make the bread in, add the yeast and mix well.

 

2. Measure the water in a measuring jug, then stir in the honey and oil.  With an electric food mixer on the lowest setting, slowly add all the liquid to the dry ingredients.  Knead on the lowest setting for 10 minutes, checking to make sure the dough is not too wet and adding more flour if it does look too sticky. 

 

3. Turn the dough onto a clean, dry and floured work surface.  Using more flour if necessary, start kneading the dough for 10 minutes.  You may need more flour to avoid getting a sticky dough - you don't want this.  (I actually did carried out this step in my mixer too, just on a higher setting.  It worked well, although my KitchenAid started protesting after about 15 minutes of use and went walkies along the kitchen worktop!)

 

4.Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and turn in the oil to coat.  Cover with cling film or a plastic bag, and put in a warm place for 1-3 hours or until doubled in size. (I put the dough in the fridge overnight, for a slow rise.  It was beautifully aerated the following day...)

 

5. When the dough is nearly ready - doubled in volume - bring a large saucepan of water to the boil (about 4 litres/ 7 pints) and add the treacle or molasses.  Cover and turn off the heat while you shape the bagels. (Even my biggest saucepan wasn't large enough for this, so I used my big stock pot.  I got this from Aldi, and it's proved to be really useful.  I use it for jam making and for large quantites of stew or casseroles.  And now for bagel poaching!)

 

 

Lightly oil 2 baking trays, and sprinkle with maize or cornmeal.  Remove the dough from the bowl, then punch down and knead briefly.  Divide into 7 chunks.  Take one, keeping the others covered with a tea towel.

 

6.  There are 2 ways to shape your bagel.  First, roll each chunk into a 'snake', then bring the ends together and seal with a small amount of water.  Or, roll each chuck into a ball, pierce a hole in the centre and pull the dough open until you can fit your hand inside.  Turn and squeeze, like a steering wheel, to keep it even (I found the second technique easier, I wasn't very good at keeping the 'snake' even as I rolled it along).  There are loads of videos on YouTube if you want to see how it's done.  Place your bagel on the prepared sheet, and make the rest.  Note that the hole will shrink slightly during cooking, so don't worry if it looks a bit too big.

 

7.  Cover and allow to stand for a further 10-20 minutes, for the dough to bounce back.

 

 

Here are my shaped bagels, the 'snake' version at the top and 'steering wheel' version at the bottom.

 

 

8. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/GM7, and heat the saucepan again to a gentle simmer.  Gently lift each bagel into the water and poach up to 3 at a time, for about 1 1/2 minutes on each side.  Remove from the water and allow to drain.  Place on the prepared trays, spacing 3-4 cm apart.  Brush with beaten egg, and add topping if desired.  Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn upside down for a further 10 minutes to cook the bases.

 

 

Et voila!  One batch of bagels, ready in time for lunch. 

 

I enjoyed them in my favourite way, with smoked salmon; cream cheese; a sprinkling of black pepper and some lemon juice.

 

 

Evan had them with jam for his packed lunch the next day, and Nigel enjoyed them with just butter.  For more bagel recipes and topping ideas, I found these websites...

 

http://bagelrecipes.net/

http://bagelnash.com/love-bagels/filling-ideas/

http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blbread26.htm

 

I'd like to try cinnamon and raisin next.  How about you?!

 

Also this week, I've made Rachel's 'chocolate lava cakes', AKA chocolate fondants.  Was a little nervous as this is what always seems to trip up contestants on cookery shows.  The timing is crucial, too long and they set all through like a sponge cake; not long enough and they disintegrate.  Luckily I wasn't on a cookery show, and had time to watch the oven like a hawk!  We all loved them, especially Megan, who grinned her chocolatey approval!

 

 





 



Brioche & Bacon bread... and bananas along the way!



Well, after all the sweet treats of Easter I thought it was time for a change, and dived into the bread making section of 'Bake'.  Then for some reason, I decided to make Brioche - a sweet, enriched bread,  Oops, my sweet tooth won again!  Still, it was well worth it.  For those who don't know, brioche is a dough with a high butter and egg content - it has a really light texture and golden colour.  

You can buy moulds to shape brioche in the traditional way, like so...

Not my creation, I hasten to add!

As we've been trying to economise a bit, I decided not to buy the moulds, but use the tins I had.  So I used 1 standard loaf  tin, and 4 mini loaf tins.  The latter I bought ages ago, as I thought they were cute (I'm a sucker for cute) and  this was their first outing.  I was pleased with all the results, both in taste and appearance.  The mini loaves sliced perfectly into dinky little slices, which Megan devoured for breaskfast, spread with  butter &  jam.  I think they'd look gorgeous arranged on a cake stand, as part of an afternoon tea. 

Then I did manage a savoury - bacon and cheddar bread.  This is a very easy, hearty loaf, which could be knocked up quickly for those occasions when you've run out of bread and just need something for lunch. 

 I enjoyed it with tomato soup yesterday, and grilled and buttered today. 

Here's the recipe, if you'd like to have a go...

• 320g (11 1/2oz) plain flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 100g ( 3 1/2ox) Cheddar cheese, grated
• 100g (3 1/2oz) bacon lardons, cooked until just crisp then cooled
• 200ml (7fl oz) milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. wholegrain mustard (I used Dijon as that was all I had)
• 60ml (2 fl oz) olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/GM4.  Lightly oil and line the loaf tin with parchment paper.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Add the grated cheese and lardons.  Mix well,
3. Pour the milk into a large measuring jug, add the eggs; mustard and olive oil, and whisk to combine.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and slowly pour in the liquid, stirring all the time until it is fully incorporated, to form a fairly liquid dough.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and bake in the oven for 50 minutes.  Remove from the tin, and cook for a further 10 minutes, directly on the oven shelf to crisp the bottom.  When cooked, it will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.  Cook on a wire rack before eating.

Rachel also provides variations of pumpkin seed, Gruyere and thyme leaf bread; and sun-dried tomato, rosemary and olive bread.  Will definitely try these at some point!

Over the last week, I've also made 'baked breakfast omelette' with bacon; cheese; mushrooms and herbs.  Really good!

I've also tried Rachel's baked bananas.  Now, it's not very often that a Rachel recipe lets me down, but I was disappointed with these.  We often have baked bananas after a barbecue, left in their skins, wrapped in foil and cooked on the coals.  Rachel's version are peeled and then baked in the oven.  We found that the texture went a bit strange - almost potato like.  I was looking forward to trying her accompaniment of 'orange, honey and mascarpone cream' but also found this a bit strange - more of a liquid than a cream, and the flavours didn't seem to combine very well.  Oh well. you win some you lose some!  

 

Going to attempt bagels next, back soon with the results!













How to joint a chicken... and other tales (vegetarians look away now!)

Jointing a chicken is a skill I've wanted to master for ages.  I've kept hearing how much more economical it is to do this, instead of buying separate chicken pieces.  However, I always imagined it to be really complicated.  Well, making Rachel's chicken and leek pie gave me the perfect excuse to learn.  I trawled the internet, hoping to find a clip of Rachel herself demonstrating - but couldn't.  Instead, I found this old clip of Delia showing how it's done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0OzRLUYB0c

 

Slightly off-putting, as she begins by saying that the best way to joint a chicken is to get the butcher to do it for you.  Doesn't inspire confidence!  However, her instructions are clear, and the whole thing much easier than I imagined.  Here's how I did it...

 

 

1.  Make sure you've got a really sharp knife to start with.  Locate the 'parson's nose', as shown here.  Make a cut through this.

 

 

2.  Stand the chicken in a vertical position, and starting with your original cut, slit right down through the backbone.  Open the chicken out flat, like a book, with the skin side down.

 

 

 

3.  Now cut through the breastbone to halve your chicken.

 

4.  Turn your half chicken over, and stretch the legs out with your hands.  You'll see a distinct white line appear in the middle - cut through this to produce a quartered chicken.

 

5.  To divide your chicken into 6, turn over the quartered leg portion.  You'll see an obvious piece of white fat.  Move this aside, and you'll again see a white line.  Cut through this.

 

Hope that makes sense.  If it doesn't, watch Delia! 

 

The chicken pie itself is quite easy.  You cook your chicken portions with stock, wine and herbs and saute some leeks in butter.  A sauce is made from the chicken poaching liquid; cream; and mustard.  The chicken meat is pulled from the bones and mixed into the sauce, with the sautéed leeks.  The mixture is then poured into pie dishes, topped with puff pastry and baked.  It makes a really rich, comforting meal.  I will say that although this recipe uses a whole chicken, you probably don't need to.  You could add extra vegetables to bulk it out, and make for a more economical recipe.  You could also use leftover roast chicken, and this would save a lot of time and effort in preparing the meat.

 

In other escapades, I had a go at Rachel's 'Cherry Crumble Cake'.  I was off to a charity race night - the sort of event where you watch videos of horse races and place your bets.  We were provided with a fish & chip supper, but were allowed to take our own accompaniments.  I wanted to take something fairly 'desert like', but easy to eat with fingers.  This perfectly fitted the bill.  I'll include the recipe here, as I think it's a really useful one, and one which I'm sure I'll make a lot.  I actually replaced the cherries with a portion of stewed apple, which tasted great.  The crumble topping disappeared a bit and lost its crunch - I don't know it this was because of the wetness of the apple.  But I think I'd make a double quantity of topping next time.  Oh, I've also just spotted half a jar of mincemeat in the fridge - I'd like to try this for the filling another time.

 

• 350g (12oz) stoned cherries (fresh, canned or frozen - not glace)
• 150g (5oz) self-raising flour
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 50g (2oz) caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 30mls (1fl oz) milk
• 100g (3 1/2oz) butter, melted
• Icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

 

For the crumble topping

 

• 25g (1oz) plain flour
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 25g (1oz) caster sugar
• 25g (1oz) butter, cubed

 

• 20cm (8in) diameter spring-form/loose-bottomed tin

 

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/GM4.  Butter the sides of the cake tin, and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Sift flour and cinnamon into a large bowl, add sugar, mix together and make a well in the centre.
3. Whisk eggs; milk and melted butter together in another bowl, then pour into the dry ingredients and combine with a wooden spoon or whisk.  Beat well to make a thick, smooth batter, then spoon into cake tin and spread evenly.  Scatter cherries over mixture, and gently press in with the back of a fork.
4. To make the topping, tip all the ingredients into a bowl.  Rub in the butter with your fingertips to make a crumb-like mixture, then scatter the topping over the cherries.
5. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. Leave in the tin for about 10 minutes, until cool enough to handle, then run a knife around the edge and remove the cake from the tin.  Allow to cool on a wire rack.
7. Dust with icing sugar if you wish, then serve.

(Sorry, no photos, it was all gobbled up too fast!)

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Happy Easter!

Hope you've all had a great Easter weekend!  We've had a good one, full of food; fun and family.  My parents stayed for 5 days, which was lovely, and provided plenty of opportunity to try out some new bakes.

 

 

I started by making an Easter Simnel cake, something which I've heard about many times, but never baked or eaten.  It's similar to a Christmas cake, but has a thick layer of marzipan baked into the middle.  You pour half the cake mix into your tin, add the marzipan, and finish with the remaining mix.  It's baked, and then decorated with more marzipan.  The finishing touch is 11 balls of marzipan, arranged around the edge of the cake.  These represent Jesus' 11 disciples, with Judas missing as he was the betrayer.  The marzipan is egg washed, and toasted in the oven to brown.  Now, Rachel doesn't provide a picture of the finished cake, so I did a bit of hunting on the internet.  There seems to be a lot of variation... some are covered top and sides, some just on the top.  There are those decorated with chicks or mini eggs, and those that have stuck to the classic marzipan balls.  I decided just to marzipan the top, with a ribbon around the cake for decoration.  Evan picked a nest of Easter chicks to sit in the middle.  He was keen to help me decorate the cake, which was lovely, and rolled out all 11 balls.  Here he is, concentrating  hard on brushing on the egg wash...



Now, we had a bit of a disaster - when the cake was toasted, the marzipan balls melted and started sliding off the cake.  I have no idea why.  Perhaps the fan oven was a bit fierce?  I was really disappointed, as it looked lovely before that.  Ah well, good job I wasn't on Masterchef or the Bake Off.  Here is the finished cake (don't laugh!)

It did taste nice, and the pieces of hot cooked marzipan which slid off were delicious!  I'll try again next year, maybe lowering the temperature of the oven. 

Of course, we had traditional roast lamb for Easter Sunday lunch.  For afters, I cooked Rachel's 'baked brown sugar custards', AKA crème brulees.  My mum often makes these, and I've kept meaning to have a go.  I was given a kitchen blow torch around the time we got married - nearly 10 years - and believe it or not I've never filled it with gas.  Well, this challenge is all about making me try new things so, off to our local hardware store to fill it up.  The custards are really easy to make - you use a classic custard recipe in which you whisk eggs and sugar, then bring milk and cream to simmering point in a saucepan.  You pour the milk and cream onto the egg/sugar mix, whisking all the time.  The custard is poured into individual ramekins, and baked in a bain marie (water bath).  You can serve the puddings warm, or leave them to cool.  Either way, you sprinkle each with a little soft brown sugar just before serving.  Torch to your heart's content, until the sugar is crunchy.



I'll definitely make these again - they're so easy and can be waiting in the fridge until you need them. 

Easter Monday dinner was Rachel's 'Pork en croute with spiced cabbage stuffing'.  The cabbage is finely shredded, and cooked with cream; coriander; cumin; and mustard.  This gives great flavour to a vegetable which can often be bland.  It's stuffed in to a pork loin which has been split and opened out, and finally wrapped in puff pastry.  We all loved this dish, and it was especially appreciated after a long bank holiday walk/cycle ride.  Again, it didn't look pretty as the pastry split.  Must work on my presentation skills, but until then I'll just enjoy the flavours!

This weekend, I've also revisited Rachel's 'Bakewell bars' (see blog from 18th August 2014).  This time, I made them 'Mr Kipling' style, with icing and cherries on top.

 

 

Loved these! The bars were great without the extra topping, but it made a nice change.

 

So that's our Easter weekend!  We all feel as if we've eaten non-stop, and need to lighten up for the next few days!   But I've really enjoyed all the baking, as well as the eating.  I'll finish with one of the highlights of our weekend - Evan had his first turn to look after the school hens.  We had to let them out in the morning, put them to bed at night and top up their food and water.  They provided us with 6 eggs over the weekend, so fresh eggs for Easter breakfast.  They say you really appreciate your food when you know where it comes from, and that's so true.  Those eggs felt very precious, and tasted fantastic.  We're looking forward to our next turn!