42 posts tagged “recipes”

Raspberry and coconut slice (aka Paradise Slice)

Grease and line a rectangular slab pan/baking tin.

300g plain flour
110g caster sugar
90g unsalted butter
1 egg (2 if you have bantams)
Raspberry jam

Topping:
220g desiccated coconut
3 eggs (4 if they're small)
70 caster sugar

Pre-heat the oven.

Put the flour, caster sugar and butter in the food processor and process until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg/s and process again until it forms a ball.

Press flat and firm into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake for 10 mins, or until it's just beginning to turn brown. Remove and set aside to cool. When the base has cooled, smear it with raspberry jam - I use the smoother one that's almost like a jelly - you don't need loads.

To make the topping, pop the coconut, eggs and sugar in a bowl and mix with a fork until it's well combined. Spoon over the jam and press it firmly to compact. Bake again until it's starting to go golden, then allow to cool in the pan before lifting out with the greaseproof paper and cutting into small squares.

Totally divine!

Man in the park...

Every year, around this time, I see an elderly man in the park collecting leaves. He arrives with a rake and black
bags, fills two and then goes, taking the bags with him; he only collects leaves from the oak and beech trees. I have been hoping to catch him and ask what he's up to. It's not like the park staff don't clear the leaves regularly, although they do seem to leave (sorry, unintentional pun!) these ones for him.

Yesterday in the park, he was there when I walked Ruby and he greeted her when she wandered up.... he's 62 (oldsters always tell you their age) and retired, living about 3/4 of a mile from the park, he collects the leaves to rot down in bags into leaf mould for his garden. That and reading books from charity shops seem to be his past-times. I got the impression that it had become a bit of an obssession as he was very detailed about the process, and how some bigger leaves need to be cut up by hand while listening to the wireless.

Amazing what you learn from strangers.... lovely old chap.

I had forgotten how lovely these are until I had some again recently, so I had to dig my recipe out. Their real name is Ricciarelli. I have translated the recipe into 'new money' measurements.

Ricciarelli Biscuits

They're great with tea or coffee, or crumbled onto ice cream.

Ingredients

2 medium egg whites
2 tbsp clear honey
175g icing sugar, plus extra for rolling and dusting
½ tsp baking powder
3 tbsp plain flour (Lesley, you can use gluten free)
1 orange, zest
50g chopped mixed peel
250g blanched almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 120°C/gas ¾ and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper or a silicone tray liner. In a food processor, blend all the ingredients except the egg whites until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, stir them into the almond mixture to form a soft dough.

Warning, these are totally delicious and very addictive!

I came over all Blue Peter the other day and made these egg baskets out of empty milk cartons. Borne out of necessity as people keep forgetting to give us back our egg boxes:

Egg baskets 2

Egg baskets

They work quite well and are filled with shredded paper and a few feathers from the girls.

I made summat nice yesterday, cheap too:

Butternut Squash and bacon bake
Two butternut squashes
8 rashers of free range British bacon
Carton of Creme Fraiche
Grated cheese or parmesan
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Halve the squashes and scoop out the seeds, score the squashes into the flesh, drizzle with olive oil, grate over some salt and pepper and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes, or until the flesh is soft.

While that is cooking, fry up the bacon, which has been cut into lardon sized bits, set aside

Scoop out the flesh, and mix up with the creme fraiche and bacon, return to the squash shells and top with grated cheese or parmesan before baking again for 15 or 20 minutes

This is totally delicious!

This made me laugh today. Biscuit loves boxes and bags too - he's forever stowing away in holdalls, but you can always tell he's in there as he's so heavy!

Baked some more banana bread the other day - nearly all gone! Delicious with butter on it:

Line a 2lb loaf tin and pre-heat the oven to Gas 4 or 180/350 deg
75g soft butter or marg
4 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
200g light muscovado sugar
1 egg, beaten
1tbsp vanilla extract (I use the one from Lakeland)
1 pinch salt
170g plain flour (you can also use spelt flour)
1tspn of all spice

Put everything except the flour in a bowl and mix together, then add the flour a little at a time. I did this in my Kenwood mixer.

Pour into the loaf tin and bake for roughly 50 minutes, or until a skewer in the middle comes out clean

Delicious served warm with butter

Bank holiday this weekend, and promised to be great weather too, can't wait to get out and about.

I have found some new post-puppy training classes; Julie, the hound-savvy trainer that I found is running them in Woodford Halse on Wednesday evenings. It will be great to have a smaller class and get to smooth the edges on Ruby's training. She still has trouble with paying attention and not recallling when I want her to...... too much Saluki in her!

I don't mind going to my dentist, really I don't. Except that it always costs so much as there aren't any NHS dentists with spaces in our town.

My lovely dentist always commends me on the condition of my teeth, then goes on to recommend a visit to the hygienist (does anyone else's do this?). I wouldn't mind, but a hygienist appointment costs the same as a week's groceries!

Last Saturday, Rosie and I went for our usual check-up and Nigel told us that out of all the people he sees, only 5% of them have clean teeth (I was at this) and that we were near the top of that group.

I was really pleased because we don't do anything special, except that neither of us really eat many sweets. We brush twice a day with our OralB electric toothbrushes and use Aloe Dent Aloe Vera toothpaste. Life is far too short for flossing unless it's absolutely necessary, so we don't do much of that either.


Anyone else have positive feedback from their dentist trip?

Just made Sarah's recipe for Thai Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup, the house smells divine and it tastes lovely. Will keep one portion in the fridge for immediate consumption and freeze the rest.

Put 1 tbsp of olive oil in a heavy based saucepan, & set over a medium heat

Add 500g of sweet potato (peeled & chopped into small chunks), a crushed clove of garlic & 1 red onion, partially cover with a lid & cook for 15 mins, stirring often.

When they are soft & turning golden add 1tbsp Thai red curry paste & cook for 3-4 mins until fragrant.

Add 1 400ml can of coconut milk (reduced fat is fine), a kaffir lime leaf & 500ml of vegetable stock & bring to the boil.

Check the sweet potato is cooked through, remove the lime leaf & then whizz in the blender until silky smooth.

You can top this with a THAI PESTO.....it really adds something to the soup.
This makes a lot, but it freezes well in small portions

Put 100g unsalted peanuts, 2 cloves garlic, 2tsp grated ginger, 2 large green chillies (chopped), 1 small bunch coriander, 1 large handful fresh mint, 1 large handful fresh basil, 2tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp lime juice & 1 tbsp soft light brown sugar all into a blender & whizz until finely chopped.

Just had my Ocado delivery.. the chap said it's trying to snow!!!! Thought it felt cold; I;ve just had a toasted hot cross bun and I;m going to fill up the hot water bottle before I go to bed.

'night

What great weather we had this weekend - positively balmy. Great news because my folks were up for the day on Sunday and we got to go for a walk after lunch, over the hills from Adderbury and Ruby got a great run in the fields.

Well, I had some excellent luck this weekend; a friend gave me the phone number of a dog trainer who specialises in hounds

I met this lady (Julie) on Saturday and she was brilliant, she watched me working Ruby and instantly spotted what Rube's triggers are (I was just too close to the coalface to see). We spent more than an hour working in one of her paddocks and by jove I think we've done it!!!!

She had some very helpful suggestions for a couple of niggles and it was refreshing to hear another opinion on how to work with hounds. I am now doing most of the commands using hand signals as her main driver is eye contact (stands to reason with her being a sight hound) and it seems to work to attract her attention.

I am also using higher value treats as she's not particularly food-led; so we're now on chopped up cheese and frankfurters!

It's so hard to find a hound trainer as they have a totally different psyche (the dog that is, not the trainer) and you really need to get into their heads. Not everybody will take that on.

My folks asked for the recipe of the fish pie that I made for them; it's a quick cheats recipe really:

Fish pie:

Haddock fillets

Prawns

Half an onion

One clove of garlic

Cheddar, grated

Parmesan cheese

Jar of M&S chablis sauce

Spring onions

New potatoes in their skins

Chop the spring onions and sprinkle in the bottom of the dish that you want to cook it in. Finely chop the half onion and crush the clove of garlic, fry in a little olive oil. Chop up the haddock in big chunks, add those and the prawns and cook slowly until tender. Pour the Chablis sauce over the top.

Transfer to the big dish and distribute evenly. Sprinkle with grated cheddar. Rinse the potatoes, leaving the skins on. Slice thinly and layer on top of the pie, then sprinkle with parmesan.

Cook for about an hour, start with foil on top, then take it off for the last half an hour.

Well, after the deluge of wet snow yesterday and near blizzard conditiions at 7pm, today has been really sunny. Granted, we've still had that blisteringly cold wind, but the sun has been lovely and melted a lot of the snow. theres still about 2" of it on our back lawn and in the park, but lots of the pavements and roads are clearing now, although the shady side of my street is still covered in snow. Last week, we had snow falling on 5 consecutive days - not continously, but still heavy snow fall.

All this melting has its problems though and the Cherwell is on flood alert again and the park is like a bog in the lower lying bits! It's hard to believe that with all this cold and water, Australia is having its hottest summer in memory and is being ravaged by fires.

On a happier note, I have some lovely free range chicken liver sitting in the freezer waiting for me to do something with them. Here's a family recipe that I might just do for a treat:
 
Crostini, Degli'Innocenti style!

7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 anchovy fillets
1 garlic clove, minced
12 ounces free range chicken livers (gall bladders and nasty bits removed)
1/3 cup dry white wine or sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon of capers

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

1 Ciabbata loaf, sliced into 1/3-inch-thick rounds

Heat 4 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet/frying pan. Add onion, anchovies and garlic. Sauté until onion is tender but not brown, mashing anchovies with fork. Turn up the heat and add the chicken livers and sauté until brown, about 4 minutes. Add wine and cook until most of liquid evaporates. Simmer until chicken livers are cooked through and liquid is reduced by half, breaking up livers with fork into a sort of mince texture, about 10 minutes. Cool slightly.

Mix in lemon peel. Season mixture to taste with salt and pepper.

Arrange Ciabatta slices on 2 baking sheets. Lightly brush bread with remaining 3 tablespoons oil. Bake in the oven until crisp.

Spread the chicken liver mixture over toasts. Arrange toasts on platter.

I do love a bit of sunshine; everything and everybody seems so much happier! It's sunny again today - most of the snow melted yesterday (except in my back garden *roll), as night fell, it all froze over and was treacherous when I took the pup out. We had a brief snowfall in the night, enough for there to be 1cm this morning on top of the ice. The side roads are like skidpans today! Even the ocado delivery was cancelled last night because of the weather; they are due tonight though... phew! I really couldn't be bothered with fighting my way through the traffic, snow and the chavs at our Te$co.

Made these biccies last night, recipe courtesy of Lesley. They are super and I'm going to make them again with lemon rind and juice, with a lemon juice glace icing.

Quickie Bickies
Makes 30 biscuits

4 oz soft butter
2oz castor sugar
1oz ground almonds
4oz plain flour
Almond essence
Flaked almonds or demerara sugar

Grease a large baking sheet - turn oven on to 180C
Mix all ingredients in a processor until it forms a ball of softish dough.
Break off small pieces the size of a small walnut.
Place on baking sheet with enough room to spread slightly.
Flatten slightly with a fork and sprinkle with flaked almonds or demerara sugar.
Bake for 10-15 mins until light and golden.
Cool biscuits on a wire tray.

You can leave out the almonds and add another ounce of flour or cocoa and exchange the almond essence for vanilla.

It has been sunny, and even..... WARM here today but it's startiing to cool down now and we're forecast more snow tonight. The gritters are out already!

I had to give Ruby a lesson in who is boss today - I gave her a bone at lunchtime and she was gnawing it on the kitchen floor when Phil walked past her. She growled a warning at him to steer clear of her bone; Luckily Phil has been puppy trained too, and he flipped her over to make her submit to him so that she realised that he is more dominant. She went back to chewing her bone and I made a point of standing right over her, with my feet near the bone and stroking her while she was eating it. I will reinforce this tomorrow when I feed her some raw chicken - I'll feed the bones to her by hand and take it away so that I am dominant over her.

Just been baking as I have an order from one of my outlets... Lemon Drizzle cake, which I will ice when it is cool. And Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies:
175g Plain flour
1/2 tspn baking powder
Pinch of salt
120g softened butter
120g light muscovado sugar
1/2 tbspn honey
1 egg
1tspn vanilla extract
120g dried cranberries
120g white chocolate cut into small pieces.

Pre-heat oven to 160c/3fff/gas 3 and prepare two baking sheets with greaseproof paper or silicone liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the honey, egg and vanilla. Keep beating until smooth and well blended.
Fold the flour mixture into the butter and sugar mixture, adding the cranberries and chocolate.
Spoon equal-sized blobs of this dough onto the baking sheets, leaving spreading room between each one.
Bake for around 15 minutes then cool on a rack. They can be frozen.

Rosie is out this evening at a birthday party - she's not doing the sleepover option on this one as she is going to one of those tomorrow. I have to walk round the corner to collect her at 10pm. My big girl!

My new (well last year) lavender araucana has just come into lay *grins*. I noticed that her vent was twitching a lot yesterday and she was looking distracted - hoped that an egg was on it's way... this morning she came out of the cube just before I left for work, Dizzy was cackling like mad so I went down to look - one beautiful, warm blue egg. Her egg is a much better colour than Bunty's - more turquoise than muddy green. I couldn't believe it when Bunty laid first as she'd alway been the younger and less mature of the two. So when old Dolly gets her act together and comes back into lay, I will have 3 blue egg layers.

Golly it's cold today - after the overcast day yesterday, it cleared over in the evening - Venus, or at least I think it's Venus was shining right down our street at 6pm (SW facing) and when I went out to shut the chooks in, Orion was very clear over the house. If I'd had time, I would have driven out into the lanes to see it properly without the light pollution in town. +1.5deg when I went to bed last night and -1.5deg when I got up, thick frost and clear skies at first, but a mist came up around 8am and it's still here late morning. I have got into the habit lately of wearing socks to bed and then putting a pair of thermal skiing socks on top when I get up; hardly glamourous, but it keeps me warm LOL

I did some cooking last night - more iced cup cakes as I have some people coming over for a meeting tonight. Pork sausages braised in local cider too (for lunch today). This is a first with this recipe for me and I was impressed at how darned easy it was and my QCing confirmed that it was as delicious as it smelled!

Sausages braised in cider
6 pork sausages (I used local free range plain pork ones)
1tbspn olive oil
4 rashers of bacon cut into cubes (local again and same farm as the sausages)
225g small button onions, peeled
1 heaped tsp plain flour
275ml dry cider (I used a local brew by Hogan's Cider brewed by our mate Alan Hogan)
1 clove f garlic, crushed
1 bayleaf
A few sprigs of thyme
seasoning
To garnish:
1 Cox's apples, cored and cut into rings (no need to peel it)
A little butter

Pre-heat the oven to 180c/gas 4. Take a large flameproof casserole and heat the oil in it ansd brown the sausages all round. The, using a slotted spoon, remove them to a plate while you brown the bacon cubes and onions lightly. When they are done, sprinkle in the flour to soak up the juices, then gradually stir in the cider.

Now pop the sausages back in, plus the garlic, bayleaf and thyme and a little seasoning; put a lid on when it all comes to simmering point and then transfer to the oven for 30 minutes. Whe the 30 minutes is up, remove the lid and cook for a further 20-30 minutes.

Before serving, fry the apple rings in butter until soft, and garnish the casserole with them.

This cost me under a tenner and will serve Phil and I for lunch 3 or 4 times.

Stop press..... ANOTHER blue egg at lunchtime - flummoxed as to who has laid this one as it's a different blue again. Unless old Dolly has come back into lay, but I wasn't expecting that until much later. Perhaps the warmer weather we had the other day has prompted her to start.

Oh, and had the recipe above for lunch with home made potato wedges and vegeies - VERY nice indeed *licks lips* finished it off with home made toffee apple crumble and custard; now very full and feeling sleepy.

I had to assert my dominance over Ruby today - I had given her some raw chicken wings and bits to chew on and as usual, I petted her while she was eating (recommended training to make sure that they realise who's in charge). She started growling at me and didn't like it at all. I did the dominant dog thing and made her lie on her back, got on top of her and made sure that she submitted to me, then took her chicken bits away before giving them back to her on my terms and stroking her while she ate them. It's all part of her growing up, testing the boundaries and learning who is in charge. I'll be sure to take charge of her food again later and perhaps feed her by hand so that she gets used to being fed by me too.

Someone came up with a funny analogy for their dog today - reminded me so much of Ruby; she's just like the donkey in Shrek - everything is optimistic, bouncy and has exclamation marks after it. She is starting t do the lurcher Eeyore thing though (another donkey analogy) and doing the woeful look that they perfect as they get older; they're not sad, just bred to be sight hounds and to focus on things that are far away, so look a bit down in the mouth and unloved. She's useless to play games with though - she will chase something a couple of time and then wander off - she's bright and has worked out that there's no reward in it for her per se and looks at me as if to say 'well, that's enough of amusing you; I'm off to do my own thing now'.