Wednesday, 19 October 2016

Spiced Chickpeas with Cumin Spuds

Ingredients: Spuds
3 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
Oil for roasting
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper

Ingredients: Chickpeas
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic
1 red pepper, finely chopped
2 red chillies, finely chopped
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 x 400g tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed
200ml creme fraiche
Handful of spinach
1 tbsp chopped fresh lemon balm

Method
1. Preheat oven to 200C - season potatoes, and roast in oil - after 10 minutes add the cumin and garlic, shake to mix well, and roast for another 15 minutes until crisp and cooked.
2. Meanwhile, fry the onion, garlic, pepper, chilli, and celery for 10 minutes until nice and soft
3. Add paprika and tomato puree and cook for a further 5 minutes
4. Add chickpeas and creme fraiche, season and warm through, before finally adding the spinach and lemon balm
5. Serve a good spoonful of chickpeas topped with the crispy spuds.

Status
Serves 4 - made a couple of time - very tasty (don't think I've ever added the lemon balm, and have used greek yoghurt or philly instead of creme fraiche).

Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Bavarian Apple Torte

Ingredients: Crust
115g butter
40g caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
115g plain flour

Ingredients: Cheese mix
200g cream cheese
55g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients: Apple mix
6 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
40g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Method
1. Preheat oven to 210C
2. Cream butter, sugar, vanilla and flour to form a dough - press mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch flan case - set aside.
3. Blend cream cheese and sugar - beat in egg and vanilla - pour mix over crust.
4. Toss sliced apples in the combined sugar and cinnamon - spread over cheese filling.
5. Bake for 10 minutes - reduce heat to 180C and continue baking for 25 minutes until firm.

Status
Very nice!

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew

Ingredients 
2 cans 400ml tinned tomatoes
1 can coconut milk
2 large sweet potatoes
2 aubergines
1 bag of spinach
1 can 400g chickpeas
4 tbsp tomato puree
4 tsp turmeric
4 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne
4 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Cut sweet potato into chuncks and steam for 15 minutes - chop aubergine into bite size pieces
2. Put tomato puree, vinegar, garlic,spices and salt into a pot with some olive oil - heat for a minute until bubbling
3. Add tomatoes, coconut milk, aubergine, and sweet potato to the pot and heat until boiling.
4. Simmer for about 45 minutes, then add drained chickpeas and spinach - cook for a further 15 minutes.
5. Serve with brown rice or quinoa

Status
Should serve 4 - comes out well, and suitable for vegans.

Tuesday, 6 September 2016

Gooseberry Meringue Pie

Ingredients: Pastry
175g plain flour
100g butter
1tbsp icing sugar
1 egg yolk

Ingredients: Gooseberry filling
500g gooseberries
55g caster sugar
25g cornflour
25g butter
2 egg yolks

Ingredients: Meringue
3 egg whites
175g caster sugar

Method
1. Make pastry and put aside to chill - use to line a flan dish, chill for another hour then blind bake in a 180C oven for 15 minutes, remove foil / baking beans, then return to oven for a further 5 minutes or so until pastry is golden brown.
2. Top and tail gooseberries, cook with sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water for about 15 minutes.
3. Drain and reserve juices - leave gooseberries to cool, and top up juice to 300ml with water.
4. Blend juice with cornflour, then heat, melting in butter - bring to boil, then simmer for a couple of minutes until smooth - cool slightly.
5. Beat in egg yolks, and stir in gooseberries.
6. Whisk egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and then whisk in the sugar in two batches.
7. Spoon gooseberry mix into tart case, and top with meringue - bake in oven at 160C for around 20 minutes until meringue is crisp and slightly coloured.

Status
Made once - gooseberry mix is lovely, mucked up the blind baking a bit, forgot about how the pastry would shrink - otherwise very nice.

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

Simnel Muffins

Ingredients: Muffins
100g Dark brown sugar
100g Light brown sugar
120g Salted butter
450g Self-raising flour
1 tbsp Mixed spice
125g Glace cherries (roughly chopped)
50g Marzipan (cut into small pieces)
3 large eggs
1,5 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
170g Dried mixed fruit
200ml Buttermilk (50ml milk / 150ml yoghurt)

Ingredients:Topping
1 egg
25g Dark brown sugar
1 tbsp Plain flour
175g Marzipan (cut into small pieces)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan).
2. Make topping by beating egg and stirring through flour, sugar and marzipan
3. Whisk together sugars and butter - gradually beat in the eggs
4. Sift together flour, bicarb and mixed spice - coat the dried fruit and cherries in the flour mixture
5. Gradually add flour mixture and buttermilk to egg / butter mix until just combined
6. Half fill 12 muffin cases - dot with 50g of reserved marzipan - top up with other half of mix - spoon over marzipan topping
7. Bake for 30 minutes until sponge is cooked - cover with foil if browning too much - cool on rack.

Status 
Made once - recipe makes 12 muffins in tulip wraps - instead made lots of smaller cakes, which worked ok except topping was more difficult to handle . . .

Saturday, 5 March 2016

Ginger Biscuits

Ingredients
75g unsalted butter2 tablespoon caster sugar
75g wholemeal flour
2 teaspoon baking powder1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoon ground ginger1 1/2 tablespoon golden syrup
45g stem ginger, chopped

Method1. Preheat oven to 180C.2. Cream butter and sugar.3. Add sifted dry ingredients, mix, and add golden syrup / stem ginger - mix until combined.4. Roll into 16 balls - place on greased or lined baking trays and flatten slightly. 5. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.  Cool on tray.

StatusNot tried yet.

Thursday, 24 December 2015

Christmas Beef Madras

Ingredients
450g diced beef
1 tbsp butter / 3 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp madras curry powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder
2 large red chillies
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp cranberry sauce
Handful of dried cranberries
1 beef stockpot
1 x 400ml tin of tomatoes

Method
1. Seal beef in oil / butter - remove from pan, and fry off onion.
2. Add curry powder and cook for a couple minutes, before adding in stockpot and tomato puree - finally add tinned tomatoes, chilli powder, chillies, cranberry sauce, and cranberries.
3.  Bring to simmering point and add sealed beef.
4. Cook in a low oven for 2-3 hours until beef is tender.

Status
Should serve 4 - cooked at Christmas one year and came out well - can adjust spices to taste.