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!

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

Orange Madeleines

Madeleines, for anyone who doesn't know, are small, light sponges baked in shell shaped moulds. A French patisserie classic they are wonderfully light, moreish and a delight at any time.

The traditional madeleine is made with vanilla but I have a couple of variations that also work well. I can't remember where I got my original recipe from (and I suspect it is probably a mix of several recipes) but here it is with the variations below.

I will add some photos tomorrow when I have time to take them.



Ingredients:
110G Butter (unsalted)
130G Plain flour
1/2tsp Baking powder
1/8tsp Salt (omit if you have used salted butter)
3 Eggs
120G Caster sugar
1tsp Vanilla extract

Madeleine pan - sorry, but, you do need the pan to get the shell shapes.


Method:

Cream the butter and sugar.
Add the vanilla and eggs and mix well until light and fluffy.
Keep mixing and add the dry ingredients.
Mix thoroughly and add the mixture to a well buttered madeleine pan.
There is enough mixture to make 24 madeleines.
Put the tray in the oven. 190C for 13 minutes.


These are at their best on the day they are baked but will keep OK for a couple of days in an airtight container.




Variations:
Orange Madeleines:
Swap the vanilla extract for orange extract and also add the zest from a medium orange (zest it finely!).

Lemon and poppy seed madeleines:
Swap the vanilla extract for lemon extract and also add the zest of a lemon (finely zested) and 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds.

Tea Loaf

Why tea loaf? The simple answer is that I really like it. Moist, moreish and suitable for any occasion. Easy to make, it also keeps well in an airtight container.

Having been fiddling with the recipe a bit I was eager to try it out and see what people thought. Therefore, having baked a loaf I left it cool, sliced it up and took it with me to the Meopham March. Needless to say, everyone really enjoyed it.

Sorry for only having a photo of a slice - I absentmindedly started to slice it before I photographed the whole loaf...Must remember I’m writing a blog!

Ingredients:

Wet:

2 mugs fruit (for example: raisins, chopped dates, candied peel etc)

½ mug caster sugar, ½ mug light muscovado sugar

125g butter

1 mug strong black tea

Splash of madeira

Dry:

2 mugs plain flour

1 ½  tsp mixed spice

half teaspoon salt

1 ¼ tsp baking powder

2lb loaf tin

Baking parchment to line tin

NB: 1 mug is 300mls

Method:

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

2. Put the wet ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes remove from the heat and allow to cool. Careful not to let it cool too much as it does thicken up as it cool but you need to let it cool enough to burn your hands as you mix into the dry ingredients.

3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix well, put into a lined loaf tin. 

4. Bake in the oven for up to 90 minutes at 160 degree C fan. A skewer should come out wet but clean (i.e. no mix stuck to it).

5. Turn out and allow to cool on a rack.