Bake Rattle \'n Roll

Monster Egg

May 17, 2014 by sarah

When I opened the nest box today, I could not believe the egg that was there – a monster. I know this must be Mrs White’s egg as the other two are pullets so are laying medium sized eggs at present. This one though weighed a whopping 98g! Here they are enjoying the freedom of the garden before they started digging up my veggie beds.

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All the greens of Spring

May 14, 2014 by sarah

Having just come back from foreign climes, where the environment is much more arid than home, means I am fully reveling in the luscious greenness that is May in England. No dusty or faded colours paint the landscape green here. It is as if everything has been slapped with the freshest glossiest paint of every green shade imaginable. The frothy lace of cow slips fills the gap between hedge and path and hawthorn blossoms drip from every branch above and delicately fragrances the air. It seems I am not the only one rejoicing in the fullness of Spring; every little bird is singing at the top of his little voice as he flits from bush to bush busying himself with household chores. And the cows are chasing us along the footpath, though as I turn to confront them the breaks are applied so suddenly as to make the ground thunder under their hooves. What joys!

We are incredibly lucky to be living near one of the best bluebell woodlands in the country at Ashridge Estate. My heart was beating with anticipated excitement as we drove through the prettiest little village of Aldbury to get to Ashridge. And then it gave a little skip as we turned a corner on the path and there was the most amazing surreal blue sea spread out below the fresh young green of the tall beech trees. There was a fantastic display this year and yet every year it surprises me at how blue it all is. In another week or two it will be just a memory again.

While at Ashridge, we picked some wild garlic leaves as I always had in the back of mind that there must be something of use in them seeing as how they smell so strongly as you brush past on the footpath. And boy, I was not disappointed; raw the crisp leaves are crunchier than spinach with a green taste and pungent aroma of garlic; cooked, the softness is comparable to spinach and the garlic is tempered to a light scent. I ate handfuls straight from the carrier bag; I had leaves folded into a soft egg omelet. I was still left with half a carrier bag and yet wanting to preserve their uniqueness for longer than the leaves would last even in the fridge. And then I remembered a dish that John Wright from River Cottage cooked us when we went on the River Cottage hedgerow course a few years ago; wild garlic pesto. Of course, John made his with pig nuts which we spent many happy hours digging out of their water meadow but in real life only a sadist would want to waste time digging up a tiny pea sized bulb of a plant to make a dish. (Sadly, I have been known to go to such lengths) So I made mine with walnuts brought back from Iran, and I have to say I do not think the recipe suffered for the change. Indeed, if the feeling takes you then please make fresh gnocchi for the second recipe but also do not feel guilty using good quality ready made gnocchi; I don’t.

Wild Garlic Pesto

60g young wild garlic leaves (please look this up in a book to be sure what you are picking)

1 small garlic clove (if you don’t think the leaves are garlicky enough!)

50g nuts – pine nuts are traditional but walnuts, hazelnuts or almonds would work

60g parmesan cheese finely grated

zest of half a lemon

150-200ml light olive oil or rapeseed oil (do not use virgin olive oil, you will not taste it)

In a small food processor, blitz the garlic leaves and garlic clove with a good glug of the oil.When chopped down, add the nuts and blitz again until the nuts are fine. Add the cheese, lemon zest and a good pinch of sea salt and blitz again to mix. Add the remaining oil in small lots until the desired consistency is reached. Store in a sterilised jar with more oil over the top. Keep in the fridge and use within 2 weeks.

Gnocchi Primivera

A 300g packet of fresh gnocchi (do not use the long-life vacuum packed packets in the pasta isle)

2 tablespoons of fresh wild garlic pesto

100g English asparagus

a good shaving of fresh parmesan

Cook the gnocchi according to the packet – using just dump them in boiling water and they are ready when they float. Steam the asparagus. Drain, reserving a little of the boiling water.

Put the gnocchi back in the pan with the asparagus which you have chopped into short batons and stir through the pesto.

Serve up and liberally sprinkle over large shavings of parmesan.

Put the gnocchi

Category Home, Live life, Recipe Index | Tags: , main meals, others | No Comments
Appletini Time

May 9, 2014 by sarah

It is Friday evening and that means cocktail time! Only kidding, but it is a good way to start the weekend. This recipe is deliciously fruity and a bit sour, my favourite combination in a cocktail.

Apple Martini

Combine 2oz vodka and 1oz green apple snapps in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake until well chilled. Pour into a cocktail glass and top up with fresh apple juice. My personal preference is about 50% alcohol to 50% apple juice and some more ice. Garnish with green apple slices.

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I am back!

May 7, 2014 by sarah

I am back from my holidays; I need to tell you about Iran and show you some pictures. In the meantime, I am sorry but you will need to put up with some random pictures as I caught the most humongous cold on the flight back and I am currently the sneezing snot monster. Sorry for the icky description but I hope to be back on form soon.

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French Chocolate Tart

April 26, 2014 by sarah
When you read this, we will be on our holidays in Iran. Isn’t modern technology great? I have been so looking forward to this trip; exotic and unknown. I am also looking forward to sharing with you when I get back, especially on the food.

This recipe is a stand-by for dinner parties or get to togethers because it is thrown together with minimal fuss and made in advance. Despite the speed at which it is put together, the resulting tart is luscious and very chocolaty. The taste depends on the quality of the ingredients so do not skimp and buy the best chocolate and butter you can. Hope you have occasion to use it too; please invite me!

Ingredients
- 150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
- 135g unsalted butter, chopped
- 55g caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon brandy or orange-flavour liqueur
- 3 large eggs (total weight in shells 200-220g)
- ¾ tablespoon plain flour
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 ⁰C/fan 160 ⁰C.
2. Generously grease a 18cm diameter springform tin. Line the base with baking parchment and grease this too. Wrap the outside of the tin with tin foil so it will be water tight up to half its depth.
3. In a saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter, chocolate and sugar, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove to heat and allow to cool to below body temperature and add the liqueur.
4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs lightly until a little foamy. Sift over the flour and then beat in. While whisking the eggs, pour over the chocolate mixture and beat until smooth.
5. Pour into the prepared tin. Sit the tin in a deep roasting tray and pour boiling water around the edge to come 2cm up the sides of the tin.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are set but there is still wobble in the middle. Take the tin out of the water and cool the tin on a cooling rack until completely cool then remove the cake from the tin. Decorate with icing sugar if wished.
Category Home, Uncategorized | Tags: , chocolate, desserts, egg recipes, French | No Comments
Rhubarb fool

April 18, 2014 by sarah
The first rhubarb of the Spring is a special thing and deserving of a kind of reverence. The first crop from the garden; the start of hopeful bounty from the earth. And then the pale pink to deep red stems that haven’t yet been turned green with age. So here is my homage to the first rhubarb of Spring. Yes, you can buy it at Christmas in the supermarkets but that is not the same as harvesting your own. But if time is pressing, rather than saying there is no time to make a real pudding, cheat and use the excellent ready made custard available to buy. I admit it. I did.

Rhubarb Fool
- 180ml/ half pint of double cream, cold from the fridge
- Half the amount of the custard from the recipe below or half of a pint/500ml tub of good quality vanilla custard (e.g. Waitrose Madagascan vanilla custard)
- Medium bunch of fresh spring rhubarb
1. Cook the rhubarb – I like to chop the rhubarb into short sections and put in a shallow baking dish with a good sprinkling of caster sugar and bake in a medium oven for 20-30 minutes until soft. Alternatively you could do the same in a pan on the hob. Allow the rhubarb to cool fully.
2. Whip the cream until soft peak stage.
3. Fold together the whipped cream, custard and rhubarb which should be in roughly equal proportions i.e. a third of each. Carefully spoon into pretty glasses and refrigerate until required.
Proper English Custard

Ingredients
- 570ml/1 pint milk (whole milk or add some cream to reduced fat milk to same volume)
- 1 vanilla pod or ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 4 eggs, yolks only
- 30g/1oz caster sugar
- 1 level tablespoon cornflour
1. Bring the milk (with cream if adding) and vanilla pod to simmering point slowly over a low heat.
2. Remove the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into the milk.
3. Whisk the yolks, sugar and cornflour together in a bowl until well blended.
4. Pour the hot milk and cream on to the eggs and sugar, whisking all the time with a balloon whisk.
5. Return to the pan, (add vanilla extract at this point if using) and over a low heat gently stir with a wooden spatula until thickened. Take off the heat and cover with cling film so that the cling sits on the surface of the custard so that a skin does not form.
Category Home, Uncategorized | Tags: , cream, desserts, english custard, fool, rhubarb, spring | No Comments
Salted Caramel Popcorn

April 12, 2014 by sarah

It is Saturday night and to me that means movie night. These days it is most often an ‘at home’ movie on DVD rather than a cinema experience. Apart from a special trip to The Rex, I don’t like going to the odious Odeon or the cynical Cineworld; over priced tickets for a standard chair, sticky carpets covered in popcorn, noisy customers, and no bar! Not nearly as pleasant as our own sofa, glass of wine in hand and a bowl of this delicious popcorn. I guess this is why our DVD collection would rival that of a well stocked rental shop!

By the way, if you haven’t been to The Rex, you really MUST!

Salted Caramel Popcorn

100g butter

100g soft brown sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1-2 teaspoons sea salt, depending on taste

Make a batch of popcorn, either old fashioned in a pan or a bag of plain microwave popcorn.

Oil a large baking tray and tip over the popcorn, discarding any unpopped kernels. Preheat the oven to fan 160 ºC.

Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a small pan, stir until melted and then boil for 4 minutes.

Pour this sauce over the popcorn and toss with 2 spoons (it will be VERY hot and cause burns) until the popcorn is coated or the sauce goes stiff.

Pu the tossed popcorn in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Take out and toss again, sprinkle over the salt and cook for another 5 minutes. Repeat again if the popcorn isn’t evenly coated.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes before attempting to eat – otherwise you WILL burn your mouth!

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Marmalade Loaf Cake and Crystallised Flowers

April 6, 2014 by sarah
OK folks, a brief posting for a cake I made last weekend as I am totally pooped! I would of thought I would have more energy now Spring has finally arrived, but as usual there is too much to do and too little time! I made some marmalade last Saturday so to make space for the fresh stuff, I went through the cupboards to find any of last years marmalade. There was only one jar left so a third went into this cake. I just need to find a recipe for the rest – any suggestions?

This cake is lovely and zing and oh so spring like, especially with the crystallised flowers (ahh, pretty). I saw a recipe in a magazine using them recently and jotted it down as something to do. I was thinking of how to decorate this cake and these flowers were surprisingly easy. Take one egg white and add a dash of cold water and whisk to break up the white. Use a small clean paint brush to brush the egg white all over the flowers and then hold over a second bowl and sprinkle over caster sugar. Leave on a baking rack to dry for 24 hours. Make sure you use edible flowers (see this website for a good list of flowers). I used primroses, daisies and violets. I then used the left over egg and sugar in the recipe so nothing was wasted. I am happy when nothing is wasted!

Marmalade Loaf Cake
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 115g margarine
- 85g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon orange rind, finely grated
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 good tablespoons thick cut orange marmalade
- 2 tablespoons milk
1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / fan 150 C. Grease a 1lb loaf tin (or a 6 inch/15cm round cake tin).
2. Cream the margarine and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Add all the other ingredients and use hand mixer to mix well but don’t over do it; it should look like thick batter.
4. Don’t worry about the occasional wee lump, remember there’s orange rind in the mix! Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
5. Bake in the center of the preheated oven until golden brown, about 1 hour. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then tip out onto a wire rack.
6. While the cake is still warm, spread a thin layer of warmed marmalade over the top. Allow to cool, then slice and enjoy.
7. Alternatively, when cool ice with glace icing and decorate with crystallised spring flowers.
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Quilting progress

March 30, 2014 by sarah

I have had an enjoyable weekend learning how to machine quilt from tutorials and videos available online. The web is such an amazing source of information, meaning I don’t necessarily need to find time to take a class or buy and read a book. It was good to use the other half of my brain while my haemotology course notes sunk in! Just the binding to be done at some point. I think I like the back more than the front!

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Spice 5 – Cinnamon – Cinnamon Rolls

March 30, 2014 by sarah

Cinnamon. A beautiful warm, sweet spice, which I am sure we are all familiar with. Essential in many of the recipes we know and love, such as apple pie and mulled wine. True cinnamon comes from the bark of young saplings of Cinnamomum verum, a tree native to Sri Lanka (also known as Ceylon), which is stripped and rolled by hand to form quills. The cinnamon available in Europe can only come from this source, but it is also possible to get ‘cassia’ which is harvested from other Cinnamomum species, but is less aromatic and subtle than true cinnamon and the bark is much tougher. Cinnamon has many health benefits including anti-clotting and anti-oxidant actions, helping to control blood sugar levels in diabetes, and anti-viral and anti-microbial actions. However, too much cinnamon can be harmful due to it containing coumarin which can cause liver and kidney damage in high concentrations. The EU has set limits to reduce exposure to this but at levels that will actually affect the taste in the produce – so if you want your cinnamon baked goods to actually taste of cinnamon, you know who to blame so make it yourself! See this article on cinnamon!

I decided to make cinnamon rolls as they were made recently on a blog I follow irregularly. However, this and all the other recipes I could find were American so had the usual problems with measurements in cups and using something called all purpose flour. Also, this is an enriched dough and in the past I have had great trouble getting enriched dough, such as for hot cross buns or stollen, to rise. Where do you leave your dough to raise – an airing cupboard or low oven? I found that using a reptile heat mat obtained online for a small sum gave me a specified level of warmth so that even on the coldest winters day when the heating has been off for hours I can still rise dough and make bread. This time I used our conservatory as the sun had been warming it all day but did the second proving on the mat as it was evening by then.

Grown-up Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

500g strong white bread flour

100g caster sugar (golden/unprocessed if you have it)

75g butter, melted

2 medium free-range eggs, beaten

200ml milk

1 sachet/7g dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

zest of 1 lemon

Filling

50g unsalted butter, softened

100g soft brown sugar

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze

150g soft brown sugar

1 tablespoon whiskey or other alcohol of choice

1 teaspoon vanillar extract

30g butter

115g icing sugar

Make the dough. Heat the milk until body temperature/tepid and add the yeast; leave until starting to foam (how quickly depends on type of yeast). In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest and make a well in the middle. Into the well add the now activated yeast, the two beaten eggs and the melted butter. Mix with fingers/hand until comes together then turn out onto a well floured surface. Knead for about 5-10 minutes until comes together and is silky smooth. The dough will be quiet wet/tacky to begin with but keep working and will firm up. If it feels very sticky, add a little more flour when kneading.

Place the kneaded dough into an oiled bowl and cover with oiled cling film. Leave somewhere warm until at least doubled in size.

How log this takes varies with a lot of factors but allow at least 2-3 hours.

Make the filling. In an small bowl, beat the dry ingredients into the softened butter.

Make the rolls. Punch down the proven dough and roll/stretch out on a work surface until forms a rectangle 15″ long by 9/10″ wide. Sticking the edge closest to you down to the table and then rolling away works best. Spread the filling evening over the rectangle, leaving a 1/2″ border at the long edge furthest from you. Starting at the long end closest to you, tightly roll up the dough over the filling. Seal the final unfilled margin but dampening with water and then pressing the dough firming into it.

Cut the dough across the roll up to make 1″ sections. This amount should make about 18 slices.

Lightly grease a couple of pan such as square brownie pans. Put the slices in the pans, allowing a good 1/2″ around each to allow for expansion.

Cover with greased cling film and leave somewhere warm until doubled in volume – about an hour.

Cook the rolls. Preheat the oven to 180 C or 160 C fan. Bake until golden brown, take about 20-25 minutes.

Make the glaze. While the rolls are cooking, make the glaze. Combine all the ingredients except the icing sugar, in a small pan and gently heat until the sugar has dissolved and the butter melted. Take off the heat and beat in the icing sugar, sieving over the top to stop lumps forming. Alow the rolls to coll for 10 minutes in their pans then pour the glaze over so that it covers all the buns and soaks through to the bottom. Allow the glaze to set for 20 minutes or so before serving with a large mug of coffee.

Category 40 Spices, Home, Uncategorized | Tags: , bake, baking, spice, spices | No Comments

Older Entries

Newer Entries

Wild Garlic Pesto

Gnocchi Primivera

Apple Martini

Salted Caramel Popcorn

Marmalade Loaf Cake

Grown-up Cinnamon Rolls