Hollywood Chelsea buns

Very quick post, this weekend, to commiserate the end of the Great British Bake Off series and inspired by Paul (of the Hollywood variety) I decided to have a go at (making) his Chelsea buns. I wrote down the recipie as I watched him make them, but he didn't say how much milk to add!!

Anyway I feel they turned out well for a first go?

Leftovers supper

So this is the last night of my gardening leave and I had intended to go out with a bang - by making sushi with the fresh fish we were going to pick up from our visit to the seaside today.

Unfortunately the only fresh fish they had was shellfish and after my eye had a very strange reaction to shellfish on Friday morning, (as I was getting ready to be a bridesmaid for my friends wedding - can't wait to see those photos) I thought I'd leave that one well alone.

Also I have only just had chance to make dinner now and have pulled together a supper 'Nigel Slater style' from what was left in the fridge. Luckily as Nigel Slater says - if you buy good ingredients you will always have good leftovers!

So tonight we are having chilli and paprika fried chicken drumsticks, I coated the drumsticks with egg, then a mix of flour, paprika and chilli powder and baked for 10 mins before pulling them out of the oven, coating them with oil and then putting them back in for 15 mins to make them crispy.

To go with it I made a chorizo, potato and onion omelette and a little salad with the dressing made for the two salad post from last week.

This was going to be my last post as I never really get the chance to cook 'new' recipes when I am working, but I have enjoyed doing this blog so much and seeing as I have had 329 views (I must be entertaining someone) I am inspired to continue - but perhaps only once a week.
Thanks for reading!

Chicken stew with salsa verde

This is a rushed post as I am back from the (most fantastic) wedding (ever) and the in laws are over so thought I would write that I have made this - chicken stew with salsa verde and it has gone down very well!

One tip - fry/brown the chicken so that the outside is crispy!
Recipe I am not ashamed to say is from the Tesco Real Food magazine again ;)

Baked cheese cake

Before I begin this post I should tell you that my in laws are coming to stay tonight to look after the wee man while hubby and I are at a very good friend's wedding (I'm a bridesmaid!).  My in laws are fantastic, lovely, approachable people, but something happens when I cook for them, it all goes horribly wrong! So forgetting this I thought I would bake them a cheese cake. And this is how it went ...

Whizzed up 12 dark chocolate digestives in the food processer and mixed the resultng crumbs with 3 oz of melted butter. Then pressed this mix into a cake tin (with removable bottom). All good so far.

Then I mixed 4 packs of full fat soft cheese with 7oz caster sugar, 3 table spoons of plain flour, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 4 eggs (or 5 of our bantam chicken's very small eggs) and 85g of grated white chocolate. I placed the mixture on top of the biscuit crumbs in the tin and baked it at 180 degrees for 45 mins. 

Then took it out and let it cool - looking good no?

Topped it with a few cadburys flakes and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Then I couldn't help myself and sliced into it .... and well um .... lets call it a fondant baked cheese cake shall we?

I haven't got a picture of the runny mess as I shoved it in the freezer to try and make it set before they get here!

Boo hoo ;(

Leek and potato soup and soda bread

As I have spent the day under the impression that my son had chicken pox, I wanted to make him a hearty soup for lunch to make him feel better.

I baked 5 potatoes and sautéed an onion, 3 leeks and 2 cloves of garlic, then added the baked potatoes (skinned and sliced) to the leeks with a handful of peas and mixed them together with a pint of veg stock. I brought the pan to the boil and then simmered for 20 mins adding pepper and ground cumin for an extra bit of flavour. To finish it off I whizzed it all up in the blender and added a cup of hot water.

For the soda bread I mixed plain flour, bread flour and self-raising flour (as I was running low on the other 2 - you shouldn't normally use self raising) to get 500g of flour, with 2 teaspoons of baking soda and a pinch of salt. Made a well in the middle and slowly mixed in 400ml of cultured butter milk (you can use live yogurt).

I then freaked out because Hugh Fernley Big Nostrils told me to get it in the oven straight away! While the baking soda was still doing its thing! and I had been side tracked by a baby waking up from a too short nap. So I shoved the mix into the oven without kneading and without really caring to shape it - hence the weird crusty blob that resulted.

I did dust it with too much self-raising flour before it went in however, and I then baked it for 45 mins.

 Then we sat and had lunch.

... and it turns out he doesn't have the pox, he was just a bit pimply this morning!  

Two salads: Quinoa and New Potatoes

In light of the gorgeous Spring/Summer's day we've had today I have made two salads for tea. A Butternut squash, chorizo and quinoa salad with a spring onion, pea and new potato side. One fairly healthy and low calorie (minus the chorizo) and the other, not so much.

  

Butternut squash, chorizo and quinoa salad

• Roast butternut squash seasoned with sage for 30 mins and throw in some halved tomatoes smothered with 2 chopped cloves of garlic 10 mins towards the end.

• Meanwhile fry a large chorizo and cook 7oz of quinoa, then toast some sliced almonds (an alternative to sunflowers seeds as I had run out).

• Slice the butternut squash and mix all ingredients together with a little dressing of grain mustard, wine wine vinegar and olive oil.
 

Spring onion, pea and new potato salad

• Boil the new potatoes then slice

• Chop spring onions and parsley

• Mix with mayonnaise

Recipes adapted from Tescos Real Food (again): Quinoa. New Potatoes.

Fabulous fish pie

If she reads this it will be with her mouth open in shock and awe - my sister that is.

Reason being, we both hate fish pie. It has been a long and drawn out hatred that stems from childhood, it does cut me deeper as until recently I have disliked fish, where as she has always been able to cope. But one thing we both couldn't cope with was Mum's fish pie. (Sorry Mum).

I can't really tell you why we hated it, but I can tell you we used to pour it into sandwich bags and hide it in the draws of the wall unit in the lounge so Mum would think we had eaten it. She found the bags months later, all rotten and stinking and thought they were our hidden school sandwiches that we didn't want. She will now know the truth. (Sorry Mum).

Anyway this obviously explains why I have never made fish pie before. And today is the day fish pie and I made friends.

Recipe taken and adapted (replaced shelfish with an extra leek, took out the double cream and used goats milk so my son could have some) from Tesco Real Foods magazine Oct-Nov 2011.

Choc chip shortbread cookies

We had some friends over this afternoon, and as the boys and I had been swimming beforehand and it had taken quite a bit longer than expected, I was late making lunch for everyone so I made a batch of cookies to entertain their stomachs. (Obviously I would normally open a pack of hobnobs - but everyone knows I am writing a blog now so I have to keep up appearances darling!)

Again I haven't made shortbread before and they were so easy.

• Mix 4oz butter, 2oz caster sugar, 50z plain flour, 1 oz ground rice (for crunch) to make bread crumbs.
• Chop up some dark chocolate to make 'chips' add them to the breadcrumbs with a bit of milk to make dough.
• Roll the dough into a sausage, cover with clingfilm and chill in the fast freeze for 10 mins.
• Take out and slice 1cm pieces, place on baking tray and cook for 15-20 min.

Recipe taken from (and adapted) an old Tesco Real Food mini magazine - I am so impressed by their recipes!!

English tea loaf

I was in Queens Park this week, I visited Gail's Artisan Bakery for my morning coffee and was inspired by all the beautiful breads they had laid about the place (extortionately priced by the way, but beautiful none the less!).

So I thought I would make something befitting their shop - not sure I managed to achieve the same aesthetics on this my first try, but it was tasty none the less.

 

Recipe taken from Lorrane Pascale's fantastic book - Baking Made Easy.

Mix 180g plain flour, 180g bread flour, 7g fast acting yeast, teaspoon ground ginger, teaspoon cinnamon and zest of 1 lemon

 

Make a well in the mix and add 150ml warm water, 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of treacle.

Mix and knead by hand for 5 mins (I took mine out of the bowl and stretched it like bread dough).

Then mix in 2 oz chopped dates and 3 oz of raisins.

 

Cover with clingfilm and put somewhere warm until the dough has doubled in size, then pull out of the bowl and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Bake for 30 - 40 mins.

 

Serve warm! and yes we do have breakfast like this every morning ;)

Marinated chicken and mushroom pizza

Very quickly as we've been here before and it didn't get good reviews but what can I do - it's what the family want?

Same recipe as last time, added a few herbs into the dough when knocking it back. Rolled it out into a slightly strange shape - but got it much thinner this time.

Marinated some chicken strips and onion with paprika, chilli, pepper and garlic. Used this as topping with mozarella and mushrooms.

Ate half of it to soak up the cocktail!

Cocktail hour: Side Car

 

Friday night at the Patton house is Pizza night, and because I am going to bore you with another pizza I thought I would first start with a little cocktail!

The Side Car is two parts brandy to one part Cointreau and half a lemon (or more depending how you like to measure a 'part').

Mmmmm - I needed this after a day with a teething infant!

Spicy tuna and noodle broth

How does the title sound for this? I just made it up. I also made the recipe up, and it tasted very good!

I had to make one up because try as I did to find something inspiring and healthy that I haven't cooked before, was nigh on impossible, and if we ate one more baked good this week then I think we will need our cholesterol levels checking!

Saying that I am thinking of doing bread tomorrow.

Anyway, to make this I began with the marinade an hour and a half before by finely chopping coriander, ginger, garlic and red chillies and crushed it all together in a pestle and mortar with some olive oil. I spread the marinade onto both tuna steaks and let them chill in the fridge.

An hour and a half later I cooked clear spring soba noodles in half a medium pan of water and added a sachet of clear spring miso soup.

I then briefly stir fried bok choy, baby corn, courgette and carrot strips, sugar snap peas and french beans in a little Thai 7 spice, until the veg was coloured but still crunchy.
I added the veg to the noodle miso broth and fried the marinated tuna steaks - in much the same way you would fry a beef steak - oil the fish not the pan, make the pan as hot as h*ll, do it quickly.

Brandy Snaps

I've come over all vintage - or should that be retro? They feel so 70's 'Margo and Jerry after dinner delights' (although apparently they have been around since the 1800's - of course).

These mysterious folded delicacies are actually so easy - and so blooming quick to make that I had to shove them back in the oven to soften again!

To make melt equal quantities of sugar, honey and butter until the sugar has melted.
Then mix in the same equal measure of flour and a tea spoon of ginger.

Then put heaped teaspoons of the mixture on a baking tray 10 cm apart. Bake at 180 degrees for 7-10 min, take out and let them cool but stay soft.

Wrap them round a wooden spoon. Let cool. Fill with whipped cream!

Invite Tom and Barbara over! Cheers!

Chicken with green olives & preserved lemons

So after the slam dunk which was last nights lamb, I returned to the Leon book for inspiration for a sucessful chicken recipe.

I have also found a handy way to cheat a little with the recipe by using olives stuffed with lemons instead of preserved lemons - taking slicing out of the equation.

Start by sauteing 1 onion with 2 table spoons of olive oil until soft
Add 2 smashed cloves of garlic
Add 1/2 teasoop of ground ginger and 1 of cumin simmer for a few mins
Add 6 chicken thighs I used boneless, a tin of chick peas and some saffron and cook for 10 min

Then add sliced olives (2 of the above tins), 1 table spoon of cream, 2 table spoons of yogurt and cook until the sauce thickens

Serve with cous cous and a little mint

Lamb by Leon

So I was told this weekend that the pizza entry just didn't cut the mustard. Apparently everyone made pizza at school and if I expect people to take note then I should up my game.

Well Heather Conacher (aka super woman - and I sincerely mean that), this is for you! xx

I started by poking garlic and mint into some lamb shanks

then I sauted onions with olive oil and added tomatoes

3 and a half hours of lamb cooking and basting later, plus the addition of some macaroni and mint - and hey presto!

Recipe was taken out of my neglected Leon book but it is also available online: http://www.mydaily.co.uk/2010/08/28/rigass-lamb/