An Indulgent Bread and Butter Pudding

It's been a slow start to 2014 in many ways. Not a lot of walking, though to be fair, given the weather of the last few months it would have been more squelching than walking. Did a walk in January and that's been it so far this year. Thought I had blogged it but apparently not. Ooops... Guess I'll have to post it next.

Not much serious cooking either for one reason or another. At least nothing I've wanted to blog about... Still, feeling like I might be getting a bit of mojo back there. Thank you someone for the prod!

So bread and butter pudding. Classic British pudding. On the one hand it can be a great way to make something from some bread that's gone past it's best. On the other hand it can be made much more indulgent with a bit if planning.

These ingredients are for 1 pint (600ml) dish.

Brioche Fingers - 6
Orange marmalade
Raisins / Sultanas
Milk - 175mls
Double cream - 50mls
Eggs - 2
Caster Sugar - 12g
All Spice
Butter


Slice the brioche fingers in 2 and put a thin layer of marmalade on each one.
Grease the dish with butter and layer the brioche into the dish scattering some of the raisins / sultanas in as you go. Add a generous pinch of all spice (or nutmeg if you prefer) over the top.

Next make the custard. beat 2 eggs with the sugar in a bowl. Then add the milk and cream to a pan and heat the mix so it scalds (don't burn it). Add this mix to the egg /sugar mix slowly mixing as you go. This custard can then be poured over the bread. Preferably give it time to soak into the brioche (I left it for a couple of hours), otherwise just scatter a bit more caster sugar over the top now.

Put into an oven at 180C for about 35 mins (take out when nice and golden on top).

Serve hot. I poured over some more double creme (with a little vanilla extract) but ice cream or more custard would work well too.


Sorry there aren't any photos. Trust me though - it was delicious!

Shooter's Sandwich

Shooter's Sandwich in Norfolk

Well, it's certainly been busy recently. Not intentionally ignoring the blog, just not had time to sit down and write. Not even time to start reading the book I bought in the last Norfolk walk... Still, plenty to write about. This post is the Shooter's Sandwich I took on the Norfolk walk back in August. Other things to blog in the near future include a Bank Holiday in the Lake District, tomorrow's Kent walk and a lemon and poppy seed tray bake. Probably ought to be some other stuff as well but that's what springs to mind right now.



There are many individual variations on the Shooter's Sandwich. This is the "basic" version, feel free to play about with it as you wish. Easy to make (I'm sure some of you can work it out from the above photo alone), it makes a good meal whether out on a walk or sitting in the office.

Start off with a good round crust loaf. Slice the top off and scoop out the crumb so you have a hollow loaf. Keep this to one side and make up the mushroom mix. I think I used shiitake mushrooms here but, to be honest, you could use whatever mushrooms are handy. Slice up about 250 grams of mushrooms and gently fry these off with diced onion. I added some cognac and Worcester Sauce as well. Once the mushrooms are cooked and liquid reduced place this mix to one side.

Next fry off 2 steaks. Use a good steak (pointless ever using a bad steak!) and try to get some which are just slightly smaller than the loaf. Cook them to your own preference. If it being left to go cold like this I prefer it to be cooked through rather than rare. Now you just need to construct your sandwich.

Place a steak inside the hollowed out loaf, add mushroom mix on top and make sure it is pushed into any gap around the steak. Add the second steak and then the rest of the mushroom mix. Finally, place the top of the loaf back on top. An easy variation is to add some cheese in as well. Alternatively, if you like mustard or horseradish add as much as you like. This is your sandwich to make as you want.

Once all the ingredient are in and the top of the loaf back on wrap the sandwich in greaseproof paper and seal the package you have created. Sticky works or tie it with string for a more retro look! Finally - and this is the important bit - place some weights on top of the sandwich to compress it. I had half my cook books all piled up on top and left them there for about 6 hours or so. After that all you need to do is to cut it into 4 quarters and eat!

Soda Bread

Nothing beats freshly baked bread but you don't always have the time to make it. I know the actual mixing / kneeding process doesn't take that much time but waiting for it to prove take a chunk of time you may not have, especially if you are trying to make some on a day when you need to go out / to work etc.

The solution: Soda bread as you are not waiting for for the yeast to do it's thing. The bicarbonate acts as the rising agent.

This is one I made a couple of weeks ago. There are loads of soda bread recipes out there and they all appear to be essentially the same in terms of the ratio of ingredients. All I have done here is scale them up to the volume of buttermilk I had and then exchanged some of the flour for oats. The oats gave it a nice oaty flavour but I don't think they absorbed as much of the liquid as the flour would. Might well play about with the ratio a little next time I make it.

Making it couldn't be easier. Take a large bowel, mix all the dry ingredients well and then stir in the buttermilk making sure it is all combined well. Take the resultant dough and shape it into a rough flattened ball and place on a baking sheet. Make a large cross on top of the loaf and place in the oven. 200C for ~ 40 minutes.

Especially good still warm with some good cheddar...

Ingredients:
560mls buttermilk
260grams white flour
260 grams wholemeal flour
100grams porridge oats
1tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

Another Beef

No, not a moan, just an off the cuff beef recipe. I mentioned I had done this on FB and one of my friends asked me if I'd followed a recipe or invented it. I said invented but that probably makes the process sound rather more erudite and conceived than it actually was. Made up as I went along might have been slightly closer to the mark...my apologies if this post rambles a bit as well!

Anyways, what did I do?

I had bought a piece of topside with the intention of roasting it. Some hot for dinner and leave the rest to go cold and eat it over the next day or two. Oven heated up I put the beef into the roasting tray along with some black pepper and then thought to roast some onions as well.

This quickly turned into an idea for a "gravy". The use of quotation marks should indicate that some people may not consider this to be a proper gravy but what the heck...

So, roasting tray, beef, black pepper. Now add 2 large onions chopped into quarters, one vegetable stock cube and half a bottle of Chocolate porter (or chocolate stout) and cover with foil / lid of your roasting pan.

Place in the oven at 190C. I left it for 30mins/lb plus 30 (uncovering it half way through). This should have left me with well done beef - as I was intending to let some go cold. However, presumably due to the liquid it wasn't that well done. Actually medium-rare / bit pink still in the middle. Perfect for eating hot in my book, but, not what I was aiming for. Didn't discover this until I went to slice it though...

While the beef was resting I tipped the remains of the cooking liquid and onions into a saucepan and brought it to the boil reducing the volume down to make the "gravy" / sauce. Simple as it gets!

The final plate was mashed potato, some generous slices of beef and spooned over the top was some of the onion and "gravy". Delicious, especially with the remains of the porter to drink.

In a few days I shall say what I actually did with the the other half of the beef...

A simple supper...

A couple of weeks ago a friend came round for dinner and a catch up. No pictures as it seemed a bit rude to be taking pictures of the food whilst cooking and generally having a good chinwag. The meal was delicious though (even if I do say so myself) and on that basis I will at least talk about the meal.

I wanted to do something which I could prepare while waiting for my friend to arrive and which would then be quick and easy to make whilst being sociable and starting on the wine.  

A leaf through the recipe books for some ideas and I came up with this:

Chicken and Mozzarella wrapped in Parma Ham, mashed potato and a Tarragon Beurre Blanc.

Mashed potato: take some nice floury potatoes (not waxy ones). Cut up into small pieces and place in a pan of water. Add some salt and bring to the boil. Then allow to simmer until the potatoes are just starting to break up. At this point, drain the water and add a a splash of milk, small knob of butter and some pepper and then mash it all together with your weapon of choice. I tend to use a fork if the potatoes are soft enough as, frankly, a proper masher is a pain to clean afterwards. Just make sure you’ve got rid of the lumps!

The main part of the meal is simplicity itself - take a chicken breast, put some generous slices of mozzarella on top and wrap the lot up with some Parma ham. Put this onto a baking tray and cook in the oven for 25 minutes (200C).

Tarragon Beurre Blanc sauce - finely chop 2 challots and place in a saucepan with 4 tablespoons of vermouth (or dry white wine) and 2½ tablespoons white wine vinegar. Bring the liquid to the boil and keep boiling and stirring until the liquid has almost gone. At this point turn the heat right down and then take 250g of cold butter and add it a chunk at a time. Put each chunk of butter into the pan and keep whisking. Add the next chunk just before the previous one has completely melted. The idea is to create an emulsion of butter and the remaining liquid. When all the butter is incorporated sieve out the challots and add 1-2 tablespoons of chopped tarragon. Be careful with the temperature as too cold and the butter won’t melt, too hot and the butter will separate (cool it down with an ice cube).

Place the mash and chicken on the plate and pour the sauce over the top. Thoroughly enjoyed by the pair of us with a good dry Muscat.

Cookies - Choc Chip and Vanilla

A quick and easy one this time: Cookies!

Mmmm, cookies...
Also: hadn't realized how close this plate was to the edge until I took the photo!

Very easy to make, the basic cookie recipe is very adaptable. Here I've added chocolate chips and some vanilla extract.

Ingredients:

230 gram unsalted butter

200 grams caster sugar

50 grams muscovado sugar

170 grams condensed milk

350 grams plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

chocolate sprinkles / drops / fine chopped chocolate to taste…

Method:

1) Cream the butter and sugar and then mix in the condensed milk and vanilla extract. Then mix the flour and baking powder/bicarb together and mix this in with the wet mix. Finally, add as many chocolate chips as you fancy.

2) Take a bit of mix and roll it in your hand so that you have a ball about an inch across. Flatten this ball out and place on a non-stick baking tray. Give the flattened balls plenty of space on the tray as they will spread out to give you cookies about 4 inches across...Make them as big or as small as you like.

3) Place in a preheated oven at 180C for 15 minutes.

4) Carefully slide onto a rack (they will still be quite soft!) allow them to cool and set.

5) Share and enjoy. I've done two batches of these recently - one shared with the walkers in the Peak District and the other with work colleagues. Both times greatly enjoyed by all...


Best eaten when still slightly warm and soft in the middle but very nice cold as well.

Date and Walnut loaf (with added chocolatiness)

Confession time - I’ve changed a Mary Berry recipe! I hear sharp intakes of breath up and down the land as I type this, but, I’m baking it so what the hell. Like many (I suspect) amateur foodies I have a collection of cookbooks. Sometimes I will actually follow the recipe, but, more often than not I will go fiddling with it in some way. In other words I use them for ideas and inspiration.

This bake started off as the Date and Chocolate Loaf in the Mary Berry Baking Bible (ISBN 978-1-846-07785-2) but I decided to substitute Brazil nuts for Walnuts (well date and walnut is a classic combination) as well as adding some extra demerara sugar to the mix for a bit more toffee richness.

Anyway - how to make it. Stone and chop the dates and then place them in a bowl with the boiling water and leave them to soak. While they are soaking break up the chocolate and melt this gently in a ban marie along with the butter.

Next break up the walnuts - easiest way I’ve found to do this is to put them in some strong foil and just give them a quick bashing with a rolling pin. Keep a small amount back to sprinkle on top of the cake.

Now (once your chocolate has all melted) it’s time to bring stuff together. In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarb. Beat the egg into the milk and then stir this into the dry ingredients well. Continue mixing while adding the nuts, dates (and the water they soaked in) and chocolate/butter mix.

Once well mixed pour it into a lined 2lb loaf tin and then sprinkle the top with the left over nuts and plenty of demerara sugar. Place in a pre-heated oven at 180C for about an hour and 10 minutes in my oven. Once a skewer comes out clean remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack.

Ingredients:

150 grams stoned dates

150 mls boiling water

150 gram plain chocolate (use a good one 70% + cocoa solids)

40 grams butter

150 grams walnuts

225 grams plain flour

40 grams caster sugar

10 grams demerara sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 large egg

150 mls milk

My only other comment (word of caution?) is that with all the demerera sprinkled over it the top gets quite a crunchy glaze. Tastes lovely when eaten but makes it quite hard to slice as the top breaks up a bit under the knife. Doesn't necessarily look so pretty when sliced. However, it was unanimously declared delicious and 10 hungry walkers can't all be wrong can they?

Finally, I'm going to enter this for Alphabakes. Hosted this month by Caroline of Caroline Makes... (as well as Ros The more than occasional baker) the letter is D. D for Dates.

Duck with an Orange and Juniper Sauce

Duck and orange - a classic combination...So, why mess about with it?

Well, I don't know about you, but, personally I find that an orange sauce by itself can be a bit too sweet and the juniper just cuts through the sweetness without overpowering the duck. I'd love to show you a picture but for some reason I never took one...Sorry.


First up - the duck. I roasted off a couple of duck breasts. Just for the record I only had one hot with the sauce, the other was allowed to cool and made a wonderful sandwich the next day...

Anyway, take the breasts, score the skin a few times and then place skin side down in a medium-hot frying pan. Allow them to cook for 5 minutes so the skin is nicely coloured and then turn them over just long enough to seal the other side of the breasts. Take them out of the pan and place on a roasting tray and put in the oven 180C for 18 minutes for well done. I know some people say you can have duck rare but I prefer mine well done and these came out with just a hint of pink and very juicy still. Allow 10 minutes to rest before serving.


Secondly - the sauce. This will do enough for 2.  Take a pan and melt a decent sized knob of butter and then mix in some sugar. Add to this a generous slug of Triple-Sec, the juice of a large orange, half a dozen crushed juniper berries and 1 egg yolk (as you may have guessed - if I'm not baking I don't tend to measure much). Mix together well and keep mixing whilst the sauce reduces. When it has reached the right consistency (think runny honey) it's ready to use (just remember to pass it through a sieve in order to separate out the berries along with any bits of orange, pips etc...).

Enjoy!

Shortbread...

...and an apology as I've not done much recently. One thing I have done though is to bake some batches of shortbread. No photos for these (and to be honest they looked like shortbread). Simple, easy to make and very moreish though.


Almond Shortbread:

175g plain flour
50g ground almonds
50g caster sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
150g unsalted butter

Mix the dry ingredients and then add the butter (easiest with a food mixer but you can do rub it in by hand) until you get a breadcrumb appearance.

Squeeze this all together to get your "dough". Then simply roll out to about 1cm thick and cut out the shapes you want. I usually use a 2inch pastry cutter. Place on a baking sheet and into the oven for about 20 minutes at 160C.
Place on a rack, dust with caster sugar and allow to cool.


Melt in the mouth Lemon Shortbread:

250g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
250g plain flour
125g polenta
pinch of salt
zest of 2 lemons
1/2 tsp lemon extract

Cream the butter and sugar, add the lemon zest and extract, then slowly add in the flour, polenta and salt until they come together as a dough. chill for 30 minutes then roll it out and cut to shape as above. However, these go in the oven for 15 minutes at 190C (and keep an eye on them as they will overcook and burn very quickly if you leave them in too long). Again, place on a rack, dust with caster sugar and allow to cool.

To make these look more impressive feel free to decorate them with patterns, almond pieces etc...They will also keep in an airtight tin for a few days (probably longer but I've usually eaten them by then!)

Sweet Orange Polenta Cake...

Orange Polenta Cake - just after turning it out...

I’ve been meaning to try and make one of these for a while and the first attempt a couple of weeks ago was a limited success as it didn’t turn out of the tin. Still, the bits tasted nice so I’ve had another go…

Ingedients:

250 grams soft, unsalted butter

300 grams caster sugar

3 large eggs (beaten)

100 grams polenta

250 grams ground almonds

1tsp baking powder

2 oranges

icing sugar

Method:

In a bowl mix the polenta, ground almonds and baking powder.

Now get another bowl and cream the caster butter and sugar together before adding the eggs a bit at a time making sure it’s all well mixed.

Now slowly add the almond / polenta mix - add a bit at a time making sure it is well mixed as you go along.

Finally add the zest of the orange and half the juice. Mix well and put into a well greased cake tin. 180C for ~ 50 minutes.

Take out of the oven, prick the top well and add the remaining orange juice. Finally take the juice of another orange, heat in a pan and add icing sugar until no more will dissolve. Pour this over the top of the cake and allow to cool.

Once cool remove from tin.

p.s. Some of you may find this too sweet with all the icing. You could easily halve the orange and icing sugar mix (or forego the icing altogether) to have it less sweet.

p.p.s. Polenta also means it is anoth entry for this month's alphabakes hosted by Caroline of Caroline makes and Ros from The more than occasional baker.

Jambalaya....

Jambalaya...

...maybe? I don’t know if anyone else would consider this to be a true jambalaya but it’s near enough for me and tasty to boot. Rice, meat, veg and a nice dose of chilli and paprika. Mmmmmmmmmm... I’ll describe the one in the photo but it is very adaptable to whatever you happen to have hanging around.

Start off by slowly sweating off some onions in a deep frying pan. Really let these sweat down before adding some garlic and diced peppers and frying these also. Next add the meat. In this case I used some chilli sausages that were in the fridge and chopped them up into rough meatballs. Traditionally the meat is chicken or seafood but I don’t see why you can’t use whatever you want...Just remember to add some chilli if it’s not in with the meat! Add a good helping of paprika as well at this point and cook the meat out.

Once cooked add some white wine to deglaze the pan. Put in the rice and give it a good stir so the rice starts to absorb the flavour. Next add some chicken or vegetable stock to the pan and let it simmer for 20 minutes by which time the stock will be nearly all absorbed and you have a lovely tasting jambalaya.

Part way through absorbing the stock..

Whilst it is simmering I also tend to add a little bit of finely chopped veg for extra colour and texture e.g. peas, finely diced carrot. As I said earlier, it’s a good way of using up what you have in the fridge...

Finally I've added some chopped tomato and chives over the top. Delicious!

Raspberry Puffs…

...or another thing to do with left over puff pastry.

Raspberry Puffs

Having bought some ready made puff pastry for the Tarte Tartin I had a bit left over in the fridge to use. These really are very simple:

Take the pastry and cut it into approximately 2 inch squares. Liberally make holes in the centre with a fork so that the centre doesn’t rise. Leave about a 1cm margin around the edge to rise.

In the centre put some raspberry jam and on top of that place some raspberries. 

Then pop in the oven for 10-15 mins at 220C. Only having 4 in the oven these cooked a bit too quickly and are just starting to catch. Should have got them out a couple of minutes earlier!! Oh well…

Also, as puff begins with P I’ll enter them for Alphabakes hosted by Caroline of Caroline makes and Ros from The more than occasional baker.

I was going to enter a polenta cake but that turned out to be an epic fail (or didn’t turn out as the case may be…). Still, might have another crack at that later in the week.

An Honest Tarte Tartin...

The end result!

Something from Tuesday evening - Why a Tarte Tartin I hear you ask. Well, having seen the contestants on Celebrity Masterchef last week make a bit of a hash of it I uttered the words beloved of insurance companies everywhere…”How hard can it be?”

After all, caramel, apples, pastry, oven...nothing to it is there?

Well the answer to the question is not as hard as some of them made it look, but, not quite as easy as I thought it would be either…

To start off we need to make some caramel. Fine thinks I. Frying pan, 3 tablespoons or so of water and then add 150g caster sugar. Mix the sugar into the water and then gently heat until the mixture starts to caramelise. Mistake number 1: If you are going to add cinnamon, don’t do it now as the mix instantly turns a caramel colour and you can’t tell what the sugar is doing… Anyway, unable to see what it was doing I kept it on the heat stirring it to try and see when it got to the right consistency. What happened - the sugar crystalized all of a sudden. I assumed I had let it get a bit too dry so added some apple brandy to the pan and most of the sugar did seem to dissolve again. Mistake number 2 and disaster averted (a point to which I will return).

At this point off the heat and add the slices of apple to the pan. I suspect that apples such as Cox’s or Granny Smith would probably work best but I used what I happened to have (Mistake number 3), a mix of 2 overly ripe Braeburns and 2 Pink Ladies. In hindsight something a little less juicy would have been better. Try to arrange the apple slices neatly as they will be seen remember! (Mistake number 4).

Once done add the pastry on top of the apples. I used puff pastry from the supermarket but you can use shortcrust or even make your own if you are feeling daring! Once the pastry is in place put it in the oven (190C for 30 mins or until the pastry is golden).

So, at this point I’m feeling fairly smug; caramel rescued, cinnamon to go with the apples and a boozy little kick from the apple brandy. Sounds good to me anyway. So, having got it in the oven in the nick of time I could sit down and watch Great British Bake Off (I promise I don’t just watch cookery shows). First thing they have to make: Tarte Tartin! OK, lets see how they do? Some of them looked divine, others...not quite so sure. That said I’m not feeling quite so smug anymore as Paul Hollywood explains to one of the contestants that the reason their sugar crystalized is because they were stirring it. Apparently you just give an initial stir to mix the sugar and water, after that leave it alone!

You stand accused of stirring the sugar...How do you plead? Guilty M’Lud…

Anyway, 30 minutes is up and I get it out of the oven. Pastry looks nicely looked, certainly smells good. Get a plate over the pan and quickly turn it over...and dribble hot, runny caramel over the worktop. Could have been worse - could have been my foot and at least all this caramel (which I presume has come from the juicy apples) has dissolved all the sugar. The other problem is that this liquid is now turing what was a nice crispy top into a soggy bottom!

So why am I blogging this? Well, I’m not a professional chef and I don’t claim to be perfect in a kitchen. Secondly, you can learn from my mistakes. Thirdly, despite the above, it tasted great - lovely caramel apples, cinnamon and a bit of warmth off the brandy. So what if the pastry had gone a bit soggy, I still enjoyed it!

So, what would I do differently next time?

• Add the cinnamon later…
• Don’t stir the sugar…
• Less juicy apples and, having done a bit more reading, slice them the day before so they then can dry out a bit in the fridge. yes they will discolour but you won’t see that once cooked in the caramel...
• Arrange the apples nicely...

Idiots guide to cooking fish....

Take 1 piece of fish....

Place on a piece of foil along with a knob of butter...

Add any other flavourings (herbs / pepper / lemon etc )...

Wrap the foil around to make a parcel, sealing everything in with the fish...

Put that in an other foil parcel to ensure it is sealed...

Place in an oven at 180C for 30-40 minutes...

Take out of oven and enjoy a moist piece of fish...

Feather Steak

Back to food this time and a quick recommendation for a less well known cut of beef.

Feather Steak comes from the outside of the shoulder blade and the marbling of fat within it gives a feathery appearance, especially when thinly sliced.


Personally I recommend taking thin slices (~½cm) and cooking this quickly. BBQ or frying/griddle pan over a high heat, 2-3 minutes each side. Serve with potatoes or a salad. Add an egg if you are feeling decadent.


Warning: overcook it and will become very tough...

Bakewell Muffins

I'm putting this post up as a friend has asked for the recipe. Unfortunately, I haven't made these for a while (and a diet means I'm unlikely to in the near future) so no photos, but, hopefully the explanation will be clear enough.

The idea was for a muffin which played upon the idea of a Bakewell Tart or Pudding. i.e. an almond and raspberry muffin. The basic almond muffin was based upon a recipe off the WWW but I can't remember where I found it now to credit it. Sorry. Anyway, here is the recipe:


Ingredients:
(for 12 muffins)

250g plain flour
120g granulated sugar
100g ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
250mls milk
90 mls corn oil
2 tsp almond essence
1 egg
~3 tbsp raspberry jam
100g white chocolate

Method:

1) Mix together the flour, sugar, almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
2) In a separate bowl beat the egg and stir in the milk, almond flavoring and corn oil. Mix well.
3) Combine the wet and dry ingredients until evenly mixed.
4) Line a muffin tray with paper cases. Use half the mix to cover the bottom of each muffin case.
5) Put a small blob of raspberry jam in the middle of each muffin case on top of the mix that is already there. About a ½ tsp per muffin.
6) Use the rest of the muffin mix to fill the cases ensuring the jam is covered.
7) Put in a preheated oven at 200C for 20-25 minutes.
8) Place on a rack to cool.
9) When cool they are read for the topping. Place the chocolate in a ban marie and gently melt. Once melted put a blob on each muffin and spread evenly over the top. Allow the chocolate to cool and set again.
10) Eat and enjoy!


Hopefully I've not offended any Bakewell Tart or Pudding purists. This isn't meant to be "authentic", merely a really good muffin that has been inspired by the real thing.

An Egg and Ham Pie?

A dish of bits left over in the fridge at the end of the week...

You all know the feeling - left over ingredients which need using but what to do with them? This happened to me (again) a couple of weeks ago when I was looking at some left over short crust pastry in the fridge and wondering if there was anything I could do with it. In the end I decided to try and make a "pie" (for want of a better word) with the last 2 eggs, a bit of cheddar and some sliced ham that was also in the fridge.

The pastry was thinly rolled out in order to line a stoneware bowl. To this was added some slices of ham and a bit of grated cheddar. 2 beaten eggs were then poured in before some more ham and grated cheddar were added. On top of this some mornay sauce was poured (Mornay is a béchamel with grated cheese added). Finally, a bit more grated cheese on top.

Simply put in the oven at 220C. I gave it 20 minutes but it probably could have done with a bit longer. It was only just cooked as it was still a bit liquid (though hot) in centre. I'd guess an extra 5-10 minutes (especially if you shouldn't be eating raw egg for any reason).

Given the left over nature of the ingredients I have decided to enter this for Frugal food Fridays being hosted this month by Caroline of Caroline Makes on behalf of Helen of Fuss Free Flavours.

Slow Roast Beef

The idea for slow roasting a piece of beef came from a Mary Berry cookbook I'd been reading: Mary-Berrys-Family-Sunday-Lunches


The suggestion is that slow cooking is better for less tender cuts of beef. Now, I had a 2lb piece of topside which should have been pretty tender to start with. However, I fancied trying to cook the beef this way as it had the advantage that a precise cooking time wasn't quite so essential. So what if it spent an extra half hour in the oven whilst I faffed about getting the mash sorted...it shouldn't matter as it is at a lower temperature.


Suffice to say this was the most tender and flavoursome piece of beef I have ever tasted and it was very easy to do. If you've not tried it then do. Sorry there are no photos but I had been faffing (generally, not just the mash!) and was trying to get it served before Great British Menu started!








Start by sweating off chopped onion and garlic in a frying pan along with some mixed herbs and black pepper. Use this mix to cover the bottom of the roasting pan. Then quickly sear the beef in the frying pan before placing it in the roasting pan on top of the onion mix.


Next add some liquid to the roasting pan. About 400mls of beef and vegetable stock along with a generous slug of port. Cover with a well fitting lid and put in the oven. My piece of beef staying in for ~3½ hours at 160C.


While the beef rests on a plate pour the roasting liquid through a sieve and slowly add to a roux to make the gravy.

Rhubarb and custard...

A classic combination with which you just can't go wrong...


What can I say, the first rhubarb of the season in now in the shops and I've treated myself to some. I say treated myself as, yet again, I've had to get over my annual fright about the price. I just can't help but think of the rhubarb which grew for free in my parents garden (along with the gooseberries, raspberries, plums, redcurrants and blackcurrants all of which seem hideously expensive to buy).

Anyway, rant over.



Rhubarb - the easiest way to cook rhubarb is to simply stew it. Take your rhubarb and chop it up into 1 inch lengths and add to a saucepan along with some sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water. I also tend to add some apple which has been chopped up fairly small (roughly 1cm) cubes. Put this over a very low heat and leave for an hour or so stirring occasionally. Taste towards the end and add more sugar if you want it sweeter. Rhubarb without any sugar tends to be very tart, but, if you like it that way you can omit the sugar completely.

Rhubarb stew ingredients:
Rhubarb - 1 inch lengths
Sugar (to taste)
Splash of water (or apple brandy if you want a hint of booze)
chopped apple (optional)



Custard - why does anyone use ready made custard? Seriously. Custard is easy to make and freshly made custard is so much nicer and takes about the same amount of time.

100-200mls per person (depending on how much custard you want). I tend to use full fat milk as I always have it in the fridge but you can substitute some milk for cream if you want a richer custard. Put this milk in a pan and start to gently heat it up.

In a separate bowl have some egg yolks (1 yolk per 100 mls) and caster sugar (1/2 table spoon per 100mls) which have been mixed together. When the milk is just short of boiling take it off the heat and pour some of the milk into the bowl with the egg sugar mix. Mix it well and pour back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.

Back on a low heat and keep stirring. I then add some plain flour to thicken it a bit more (about a teaspoon per 100mls). Add this gradually while stirring well or it will be lumpy and keep stirring until you take the custard off the heat and serve.

Want a really decadent custard then add some vanilla to the milk also...

Custard ingredients:
Milk/cream - as much as is needed
Egg yolks - 1 per 100mls
Caster sugar - 1/2 tablespoon per 100mls
Plain flour - ~ teaspoon per 100mls (remember thickness is a personal preference, I generally like a custard that has been thickened a bit but which still pours easily)
Vanilla (fresh or essence) to taste

Strawberry and mint swirls.

Simple, quick and easy to make these are a great summer snack / party food.

Inspired by the Lemon and Pistachio Pinwheels in Marian Keyes' Saved by Cake (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saved-Cake-Marian-Keyes/dp/071815889X) these are sweet yet somehow refreshing with the mint.

Ingredients:
Ready made puff pastry - 1 sheet (this is supposed to be quick and simple and, frankly, you can buy some really good ready made pastry).
Strawberry jam - 2 tablespoons
Mint, finely chopped - 1 teaspoon.

Method:

Mix the strawberry jam and the mint.
Thinly spread this mix over the sheet of puff pastry.
Roll the sheet of pasty up and then slice up. Make the slices about 1cm thick.
Place the slices on a baking tray and out in the oven at 210C for 20 minutes.

Job done. I said they were easy! Ignoring the cooking time, making them takes about 5 minutes. The only cautionary note I will add is not to add too much filling - if you do it just oozes out and is prone to catching if you are not careful.