Miryani
This dish is like a Biryani with a Mexican twist.
I used a pork fillet thinly sliced. Marinated it with ginger, about 1" grated, 1 garlic clove, a few jalapenos, chopped, juice of a lime and a big spoonful of Chipotle paste.
Meanwhile I cooked the rice with some frozen mixed veg as I was a bit lacking in fresh veg.
After about 1 hour of marinating, I fried the pork until browned with some chopped green pepper.
Next I layered the meat and rice in an ovenproof dish, added about 100 ml stock, covered with foil and a lid and baked in the oven for about 30 mins at 200@C.
It was very tasty if I say so myself (and guess what? I do)
Plum & Almond Crumble Slice
It's described as a buttery tray bake, full of new season fruit and spice.
I made it for my turn at afternoon tea at work and it went down a storm together with the Mint Aero Cookies. One comment was "I'd pay good money for this !"
250g pack butter, very cold
225g caster sugar
300g ground almonds
140g plain flour, plus 25g
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
approx 6 plums, stoned and cut into 6ths
50g flaked almonds
Heat oven to Gas 4/180ºC. Grease and line with baking parchment a 20cm x 30cm baking tin.
Put the butter, sugar and almonds into a food processor, pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Remove half of it and set it aside.
Add 140g flour to the processor and whizz until it forms a dough. Tip into the tin and press down with the back of a spoon. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
To make the filling, put the butter sugar mix that you set aside earlier into the processor saving a few tbsp for the topping. Add the eggs, cinnamon and baking powder and whizz to a soft batter. Top the shortbread base with this then put the plum pieces on top of this.
Bake for 20 minutes then sprinkle with the remaining crumble mix and the flaked almonds. Cook for another 20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool in the tin before slicing.
This recipe is a variation on chocolate chip cookies and was passed to me by my niece Danielle.
Mint Aero Chocolate Cookies
Cream together 100g butter or margarine and 75g light soft brown sugar. Mix in 175g self raising flour, 2 tbsp milk, 2 tbsp golden syrup and a 113g bag of mint aero balls.
Place in lumps on a greased baking tray and bake at 180'C/Gas 4 for 10-15 minutes until golden. Cool for a couple of minutes on the tray then transfer to a cooling rack.
This is a Waitrose recipe and it's quite tasty........
Middle Eastern Meatloaf
125g Bulgar wheat (dry weight)
grated zest of 1 orange
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, coarsely grated
250g pack minced lamb
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp pine nuts
50g sultanas
2 beaten eggs
Preheat the oven to 190'C, Gas 5. Grease and line the base of a 1.5k (2lb) loaf tin. Cook the bulgar wheat in a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes until tender. Cool slightly then drain well and tip into a large bowl.
Stir the remaining ingredients into the bowl and mix well to combine.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf tin and press down very well with the back of a spoon. Bake for 40-45 minutes until cooked through and nicely browned. Turn out of the tin and slice.
They suggest serving it with lightly steamed Savoy cabbage, we had it with steamed Kale.
You could use cooked brown rice or even couscous in this recipe and I found I had no pine nuts so I used almonds instead.
To describe Teviot Pie, it's like Cottage Pie or Shepherds Pie but with a suet crust instead of potato. Like mince and dumplings pie. Googling has led me to various recipes.
To quote wikipedia.....
"The term Teviotdale was used in the past to define an area which was drained by the River Teviot, the River Tweed and their tributaries."
So I reckoned to begin with I would make this recipe from the website Scotland for Visitors.
http://www.scotlandforvisitors.com/recipes/teviotpie.php
This recipe has become quite a favourite in our house. It comes from a Weight Watchers recipe book, but don't let that put you off. This is the recipe as it comes in the book.
Chermoula Pork
Serves 6
6 x 110g lean pork steaks
1 tbsp medium curry powder
low fat cooking spray
300ml hot chicken stocak
150g low fat soft cheese
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
2 garlic cloves, crushed
30g jalapeno peppers from a jar
2 tbsp fresh coriander
2 limes cut into wedges to serve
Coat the pork with the curry powder. Heat a wide, deep, non-stick frying pan.
Spray the pork steaks with the low fat spray and cook in the pan for 10 minutes until brown all over. Remove, cover with foil and set aside.
Add a splash of stock to the pan to deglaze then stir in the soft cheese, cumin, paprika, garlic and jalapenos.
Gradually stir in the remaining stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 mins. Return the pork to the pan and simmer for 1 minute. Sprinkle over the coriander and serve with the lime wedges.
Notes:
I usually make the same amount of sauce for 3 or 4 people.....I like sauce.
For low fat soft cheese use Philadelphia light or extra light.
I used creole spice last night instead of coriander and omitted the spices from the sauce.
For the weight watchers among you, this recipe as written above will cost you 3 points (not propoints). Its aso a core recipe. (UK weight watchers)
A new series of this has recently begun and I have been inspired to make this 8 strand loaf. I have no idea what attracts me to baking bread as it is not my forte, but the idea of plaiting the 8 "tentacles" into something resembling Paul Hollywood's loaf called to me and here we are.
The recipe is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/eight-strand_plaited_57815
As I write, I'm waiting for it to double in size and then the fun can begin.
A bit slow at first but it's getting there.......
Ready to plait..........let the fun begin
Well........it looks a bit like it should. Prove for 1 hour.
And here's the finished article....... smells good, hope it tastes good.
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