Saturday 30 June 2012
'I was So Long at the Fair'
Wednesday 16 February 2011
Succulent Scallops and Completely Delicious Chorizo
Thursday 30 September 2010
Fwd: Sweet Treats
From: e-mail fimacd2005 <fimacd2005@ntlworld.com>
Date: 30 September 2010 21:03
Subject: Sweet Treats
To: fimacd2005.humphrey05@blogger.com
Ingredients
For the choux pastry
· 100g/3½oz butter
· 125g/4oz plain flour, sifted
· 4 free-range eggs
For the filling
· 250ml/9fl oz double cream
· ½ tsp vanilla essence
· 2 tbsp caster sugar
For the chocolate sauce
· 100g/3½oz dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
· 3 tbsp double cream
Sound like a lot of stuff but it's really not!
Pop the oven on to about 200c.
Put your butter into the pan with 1/2pt water and heat gently until the butter is no more. This shouldn't take too long so no panic about falling asleep at the hob. Add your flour to the mix and bash it about a bit with a nice wooden spoon so that it ends up like lumpy mash (delightful imagery).
Next add your eggs one at a time slowly and stir stir stir until everything is yummy and glossy looking. Drag some baking trays out of the cupboard and wet some baking parchment to put on top. If it's dry it gets all sticky so not a good idea. Then dollop the mixture about 1 teaspoon each on the tray and bake for 20 minutes until it's all puffed up.Hmm….
Cut a little hole in each profiterole to let the air come out then set them to cool for a few minutes. By now you will be salivating with delight, I know I am from simply typing this.
Normally doing anything as regards to whipping cream is much less hassle with a portable whisk although if you really want to spend more time whisking it yourself then you'll have to whip together the cream and the vanilla essence until there are wispy little peaks appearing. Next gently fold in the caster sugar but be careful not to fold away the peaks!
When the profiteroles are completely cold pipe the cream into the little slit you have made and pile up on a dish to scoff to your heart's content.
To make the chocolate sauce lightly simmer some water in a pan and place a heatproof bowl of chocolate and cream on top (rather like being at the circus isn't it!) Do not let the bowl touch the water or we will all die!!! Actually it will totally ruin the efforts of making the sauce so best you try not to. When the chocolate is melted then you are all set. Dribble it all over the profiteroles and creep up to your bedroom with a good film to watch and stuff. Divine.
Friday 27 March 2009
Apologies and Reviews
Monday 29 December 2008
Tis still the season to eat Christmas biscuits!
100g light brown sugar
Saturday 13 December 2008
Everyone loves peanut butter!
This recipe is for good old peanut butter cookies which are perfect for being shared around a blazing fire on a cold December afternoon.
Ingredients:
110g butter (make sure you let it soften a bit before you use it)
110g caster sugar
100g brown sugar
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
1 egg, beat it lightly
150g plain flour
3-4tsp baking powder
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 c, and beat the butter for a few minutes until its smooth. Add the caster and brown sugar and then whisk for about 5 minutes until its a creamy substance. Now add the peanut butter and the egg.
Get another bowl and combine the plain flour and the baking powder. Add the butter/sugar mixture and form into a smooth dough. Wrap in plastic film and chill in the fridge for about 3 hours.
Line a baking tray with powder and shape the dough into about 24 balls. Arrange them on the tray allowing a space of about 5cms. Bake in the oven for 10 mins. Allow to cool and demolish!
Monday 8 December 2008
Happy National Brownie day!
Tuesday 25 November 2008
a warming yet 'chilli' munch!
chopped red chilli
Monday 24 November 2008
Who is the best of the best?
Is it Nigella Lawson, with her sumptious and heavenly meals,
Jamie Oliver with his down to earth, natural and healthy approach or,
Delia Smith with her easy and quick dishes that anyone can try?
All vote now!!
Wednesday 19 November 2008
A feast for your eyes
Friday 14 November 2008
Wonderfully Warming Pudding!
Thursday 13 November 2008
Gorgeous and grand Graduand
After the ceremony my parents and I pushed through the manic throng of people who were blocking half the road and made our way down to Edwinn's, the snazziest and smartest restaurant in Cambridge. Entering the restaurant I was immediatly aware of the elegance and delicacy of the place. Taking our reserved seat by the window we browsed the menu hungrily (we hadn't eaten since about half past six that morning). After finally deciding what we wanted I was surprised but amused to see two other graduands seat themselves on the two adjoining tables complete with large, adoring families. Although both my parents opted for the set menu I found myself ordering from the main one, as a delicious meal had caught my eye - Chicken with cream cheese, hazelnuts and potato Gnocchi. I was desperate to try Gnocchi after seeing Nigella use some on one of her recent programs and could not understand how something that looked so tasty had been overlooked by me of all people!! This was to be served with Potato Dauphinoise (which I had also never tried but consisted of potato, milk and melted cheese) and a serving of vegetables. As the meal arrived I was so hungry I jumped straight in and started demolishing it all. The entire meal was exsquisite, such a variety of colour and taste. The gnocchi and Dauphinoise especially were divine and even tastier than I could have imagined. The gnocchi were plump and satisfying whilst the Dauphinoise was absolutely dreamy, melting in my mouth. To be honest the actual chicken as the blandest ingredient in the meal which was a shame but everything else made up for it! As is the custom with me I will always find room for a dessert, even if I really cannot eat another mouthful, and so it was to my parents amazement and slight disgust I imagine that I ordered a delicious dessert of Sticky Toffee pudding with Toffee sauce and Double Cream. This combination was probably the nicest I had ever tasted. I am used to Sticky toffee pudding bought from the supermarket but this was proper handmade, genuine Sticky Toffee! The pudding was presented in a thick slab with toffee sauce drizzled over the top and complete with a pot of double cream to pour on top. I cannot explain how thick and creamy this dish tasted, but there was such a richness to the pudding which was contrasted by the coolness of the cream which really did this dish justice. Although expensive this restaraunt is worth every penny (although in fairness it wasn't me who paid!) as the food is served to perfection and the service was quick and friendly, the waitor even took time to ask me about my graduation and course!!
The hardest part of the day for me and my mum was struggling to walk to the car after being filled full of such lovely food, it took us about an hour to walk ten minutes!
Monday 10 November 2008
A warming treat for a freezing day
You'll need:
1 slice focaccia bread cut in half
3 small chicken fillets
15 ml mayonnaise
10g basil pesto
30g sun dried tomato pesto
55g roasted red peppers
125g crumbled feta cheese
20g fresh basil leaves
Method:
Fry the chicken lightly in a pan until browning. Mix mayo and basil pesto in a small bowl and spread onto half of the focaccia. Spread other half with sun dried tomato pesto and arrange the roasted red peppers onto the bottom piece. Pop the pieces of chicken on top and then cover with feta cheese then fresh basil. Lastly top with remaining slice of focaccia. Easy, elegant and by gum its tasty!
Sunday 9 November 2008
Spicy saturday stir fry supper
This supposedly serves four but its so tasty that I could eat the whole thing alone!
Ingredients:
200g/8oz long grain rice
175g/6oz frozen peas
2 tbsp veg oil plus an extra drop
1 onion, chopped
3 rashers bacon, chopped
1 tbsp tikka massala curry paste
250g/9oz cooked tiger prawns, thawed if frozen
1 egg beaten
soy sauce to serve
Tip the rice into a pan of boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes and at the last three minutes put the peas in. Drain. At the same time heat up the two tablespoons of oil in a large wok (you can use a frying pan but a wok is brilliant for this type of dish, added to which you get far more in!)and add the bacon and stir fry for about 4 minutes until the onion is going light brown and the bacon has started to cook. Start to stir in the curry paste and cook for a few seconds and then put the prawns in and heat them up for just over a minute.
Next you need to move the whole mixture of the prawns etc to one side of the wok and add the other drop of oil to the other side. Pour the egg into the oil and stir until it is cooked like scrambled egg then mix with the prawns so that all the mixture is together. (How much do you just want to stuff it all in your mouth now!) Lastly add the rice and the peas and mix it all together so that it doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the wok.
Serve it as soon as you can get it on your plate with lots more malibu (that's just for me of course) and a good film on one of the many cold and gloomy nights that we have to look forward to in the near future!
We shall remember them.
Friday 7 November 2008
an autumnal dish for a winter's day
Thursday 6 November 2008
Remember remember the 5th of november, Spinach and Mushroom quiche!
0.8g ground nutmeg
Tuesday 4 November 2008
Luxurious Lasagne
Occasionally when it's blowing a gale outside and I'm all warm snuggled up on the sofa I begin to think about food (ok, not occasionally, more like every minute of the day, whether I'm inside or out, whether it's night or day) and I turn to the idea of comfort food. My favourite cook, Nigella Lawson was particularly fond of this idea, choosing to eat particular foods which matched her individual moods, but more importantly were surprisingly comforting. Because of this, I am happy to say I feel accepted in the world of cooking to comfort eat as much as I possibly can, whether it be smooth mashed potatoes, crispy bacon or an indulgent chocolate cake.
This particular dish conjures up the epitome of comfort and cosy nights. I would definately call this comfort food as you may find yourself going back for seconds and even thirds without feeling the slightest bit guilty!
This dish should serve about 12 but if your starving its going to feed even less!
You'll need:
340g lean ground beef
455g sweet italian sausage
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 can / 6 ounces tomato paste
364g canned tomato sauce
120ml water
25g white sugar
1g dried basil leaves
1g fennel seeds
2g italian seasoning
20g salt
0.5g ground black pepper
15g chopped fresh parsley
12 lasagne noodles
455g ricotta cheese
1 egg
3g salt
340g mozzarella cheese, sliced
75g grated parmesan cheese
It may take some time to make but believe me it's worth it and you'll be gonig back for seconds, thirds and maybe even fourths!
What you need to do is:
Cook the sausage, beef and the garlic over a medium heat until well browned. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and the water. Season with the sugar, the basil leaves, the fennel seeds, the italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer while covered for about 1 and a half hours, make sure you are stirring occasionally. I'm sure by this stage you are wanting to sit down with a large glass of wine, and now is the perfect opportunity to because next all you've got to do is to bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil and cook the lasagne noodles for about 8-10 minutes. After your sit down and on condition that you haven't drunk a whole bottle of wine you'll need to drain the noodles and rinse them in cold water.
In the mixing bowl you have to combine the ricotta cheese with the egg, remaining parsley and half a teaspoon of salt. Preheat your oven for 375 0F. Spread one and a half cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish and arrange six of the noodles lengthwise over the meat sauce (understandably 6 noodles is rather a peculiar amount but it gives a really good texture once you've repeated the process). Spread with half of the ricotta cheese mixture and top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon one and a half cup of meat sauce over the mozzarella and sprinkle with a quarter cup of parmesan cheese. Repeat the layers and then pop the rest of the mozzarella and parmesan on the top. (It should look really fat and yummy now and although it's hard your going to have to wait to cook it before you dig in, maybe more wine would be advisable?) Lastly you'll need to cover the dish with foil, but make sure it doesn't touch the cheese or it will end up sticking and becoming gloopy! Bake in the oven for 25 minutes and then remove the foil and bake for another 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before you serve it and then get eating!!
Monday 3 November 2008
A Sexy Spanish sumptuous snack
Ingredients are few and therefore you can make a fantastic meal for hardly anything!
All you’ll need if you’re going to want to serve about 4 people (or 1 of me) is:
2 large potatoes
6/7 eggs
A quarter of a bulb of garlic (or even more if you really want that kick!)
A bottle of oil standing by as you can never tell how much you will actually need.
You’ll need to make sure you have either two large frying pans that can fit a large tortilla in and that are pretty much the same size so you can slot them into each other or you could buy a special tortilla pan from any supermarket if you think you are going to be making a lot of tortillas!
All you need to do is cut your garlic up into small squares and tip into the frying pan complete with a few dips of oil. Have the heat up pretty high. Then you’ll need to cut your potatoes up into manageable chunks and pop them into the microwave in a suitable container for a few minutes (normally about four) until they are reasonably soft. By this time the garlic should have been considerably browned and you will be ready to put your potatoes into the pan. You will need to turn the heat down to about 4 and lightly fry the potatoes for between 7-10 minutes until they are starting to look brown. Around about this time you can start breaking your eggs into a small bowl and whisking them around until they resemble a river of egg. By now the potatoes will have browned well enough for you to tip the mixture of egg into the pan, being careful to cover all the potato with your mixture. Then you’ll need to get a spatula and move the mixture around making sure it is still firm and not sticking to the pan and that it also resembles a circular shape. After about ten minutes or so add some more oil round the edges of the tortilla and then, making sure it is still firm, put the other frying pan on top and tip the tortilla over. Repeat the original process of moving the mixture around and tipping some oil around the tortilla for about another ten minutes or some. Then take the original frying pan and tip the tortilla back into it. With any luck the tortilla will now be sufficiently browned on either side but if not just carry on tipping until you are satisfied.
Serve on a large plate cut into wedges with a good chunk of bread – Perfection!
Friday 31 October 2008
Trick? more like a treat!
Tuesday 28 October 2008
the coolest winter dessert
It's peculiar how cold weather like this makes me want to produce many cold dishes when in fact I should be eating food that is going to warm me up, not chill me to the bone! Although this dish is not something that you should be eating gallons of when the weather is below - on the thermometer, it is still a terribly easy companion to the end of a tasty (and hot!)meal. The temptation may be to sit obediently next to the freezer waiting for the stuff to harden sufficiently so that you can take it out and stuff it down your throat, however it will probably take quite a while for the mixture to become stiff and so it maybe useful to do something else (like pretending to clean the kitchen) while you are waiting. My friends I give you... the most cooling treat of the summer (in the winter)... The strawberry sorbet.
This dessert is great because you hardly need any ingredients at all!
750g strawberries washed (and pull the storks off too!)
175 ml water
175g sugar
60 ml fresh lemon juice
Stick the sugar and the water into a pan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved and then bring the pan to boil, then immediately afterwards take off the heat and set aside so it can cool down. At the same time you need to be very clever and multi-task a bit! Add the strawberries to a food processor and the lemon juice and process until its nice and smooth like....well... a smoothie!
Add 250ml of the syrup to the fruit puree then have a taste. If it tastes really tart then you'll need to put more syrup in and mix it all together! Pour the mixture into a non metallic freezer-proof dish then cover with a lid and pop into the freezer. Freeze it for a bit until the sorbet is almost firm (it should still be a bit like liquid though). Cut the sorbet into some nice slabs and put them into a blender. Process until smooth and then repeat the process of putting the sorbet back into the freezer until it is nearly firm. Once again go crazy and chop your sorbet into pieces (which cleverly gets rid of all the lumps of ice and makes its ultra- smooth) and then put back into the processor. Put it in the freezer for the very last time and freeze completely. Then to serve take the sorbet out and leave for about 5 minutes. Finally the moment you've been waiting for, tuck in! Or if you absolutely must, wait for your guests to appear and serve in little dessert glassses with a nice sprig of mint on top (they'd better hurry though!)
Monday 27 October 2008
Cheesy prawn delight
You'll need:
Prawns
cheese
pesto
rice
oil
that's all!!
This is such a simple dish that anybody (even people claiming not to be able to cook) can make.
All you need to do is boil some rice for roughly 10 minutes and while you are doing so rinse the prawns, trickle a bit of oil into your frying pan then when the oil is frying nicely tip the prawns in too. Give the prawns a little mix up until they are turning a light brown colour and add a couple of teaspoons of pesto to the pan. Mix this up until the prawns are all pestoey and yummy and turn off the heat. Make sure the rice is ready and tip everything into a bowl and sprinkle lots of cheese (preferably red leister) on top!! Trust me, it's a gorgeous dish because the prawns compliment all the other ingredients and its healthy as well!!
a new take on an old-fashioned cake!
For those of you that feel the need to consume a sneaky cake or three before the initial ‘afternoon tea’ operation (or even first thing in the morning if you have had a particularly disturbing dream the night before) I have dug around through many shoeboxes and found a recipe which will make any man’s mouth water and leave women drooling openly until they hear the ting of the timer. Not counting the amount of time it will take to drag out the old (and probably past the sell-by date)bag of caster sugar and other implements this recipe should take roughly 15 minutes, not long even for lazy people who have a tendency to wander off in the middle of watching the oven (me included!)
You’re going to need:
8 oz self raising flour
3 oz caster sugar (see, it does come in handy eventually!)
4 oz margarine (as this is not butter you are creating the reassuring illusion that these cakes won’t be as fattening!! Result.)
1 egg, beaten
Baking sheets
Wire rack
2/3 dessertspoons of milk
Raspberry jam
You’re also going to need even more caster sugar to drizzle on the top allowing a nice Christmassy feel!
Set the oven to 425f or Mark 7 (or even John). Grease and flour the baking sheets. Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the margarine (you have to admit that’s the most enjoyable part of the process!). Add the sugar and then the beaten egg with enough milk to make a stiff consistency (you don’t want the whole thing getting stuck all over the worktop and everything you touch being left with a gunk-like residue!) You then need to divide the mixture into walnut sized balls and put them on the baking sheets allowing them to room to spread. Make a hole in the centre of each ball and put some raspberry jam in, then try your hardest to pinch the sides back together again without the whole thing exploding in your face, (this rarely ever happens). Dust some more sugar on the top and bake for about 10 minutes. You’ll then need to simply turn the heat down to 350 f (or mark 4) and then bake for another 5 minutes or so. The buns should look nicely golden in colour and you’ll need to stick them onto your wire rack to cool so that you don’t stuff a burning one into your mouth (although the temptation is quite ridiculous!!).
Enjoy them and try to share them with family or friends (if there are any left by the time they arrive.)