Budapest Length or Budapest Roll

This month's theme for the Clandestine Cake Club was "cakes named after a place, or with a place name in the title".  I discounted the obvious such as Dundee Cake and Boston Cream Pie and set about finding something a little more unusual.

I used a recipe I found on a Swedish website, translated by google.

This is it:

6 egg whites
3 cups caster sugar (I used American cups)
4 tbsp custard powder or cornflour
100g ground hazelnuts

Filling
1 x 250ml pot double or whipping cream
1 tin mandarin oranges, drained of juice or syrup

Set the oven to 175ºC Gas 4.

Line a roasting tin with baking parchment.

Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.  Gradually whisk in the sugar, a little at a time.

Fold in the custard powder or cornflour and the hazelnuts.

Pour or more likely dollop the mixture into the roasting tin and spread out evenly.

Bake for 15-18 minutes.  Leave to cool slightly in the tin.

Place another piece of baking parchment onto a board large enough to take the cake. Turn the cake out onto this new paper.  Carefully peel off the paper you cooked it in.  Leave to cool.

Whip the cream and once the meringue is cold, spread the cream over it and top with the mandarins.

Using the baking parchment to help you, roll the cake up from one of the widest ends. It may crack a little, but this adds to the appeal.  Sprinkle with icing sugar or drizzle melted chocolate on the top.

Serve this cake fairly quickly as the meringue will go soggy the longer you keep it.

Just as an aside, I made Lemon and Lime Curd with the leftover egg yolks. My recipe:

http://betterbellyburst.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Lemon%20Curd

So what did everyone else come up with for the meeting:

Bakewell Tart Cake

Schokogugelhopf

Boston Cream Pie

Battenburg, with Liquorice

Mississippi Mud Pie Cake

Double Expresso and Brazil Nut Cake

Sri Lankan Love Cake

Whitley Bay Chocolate Ginger Cake

Yorkshire Parkin

Norfolk Fruit Cake

Dorset Apple Cake

Russian Cake

Dundee Cake

Jaffa Cake

A good night was had by all.

Spiced fish tacos with warm slaw and creamy avocado and coriander chutney

This is an adaption of a recipe from delicious magazine.

300-350g white fish, cut into 5cm slices or pieces
flour tortillas

Marinade

100g natural yogurt
2-3 tsp tandoori spice mix

Chutney
80g fresh coriander
2 ripe avocados
1 fat garlic clove, halved
3 tsp lemon juice
1-2 green chillies, halved

Warm Slaw
1 tsp veg oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp nigella seeds
160g red cabbage, thinly sliced
80g carrots, finely sliced
1 small red onion, finely sliced

Mix the marinade ingredienets and add the fish. Marinate in the fridge, ideally for 30 mins.

Whizz the chutney ingredients until smooth, season to taste.

Cook the fish on a griddle or grill until cooked, 8-10 mins.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a large pan and add the seeds.  Cook for 1 min then add the veg.  Cook over high heat for 3-4 mins, stirring then take off the heat.

Spread each tortilla with chutney, add the slaw an top with the fish.  Roll up and eat.

Would be nice made with chicken, beef, pork or lamb.

Cupcakes

It's a while since I've posted.  Work just seemed to get in the way, not good.

I'm not generally a lover of cupcakes, like the fairy cakes of the "old days" but with too much icing for my liking. I'm sure I would have loved that much icing as a child when I preferred icing to cake, but now I prefer cake.

Still, once in a while I will make some cupcakes, or my version of them. So here are a couple I made recently:

Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I found this recipe online.  There are few versions around.

Makes 12

1¼ cups plain flour
1½ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cardamom
pinch ground nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
¼ tsp salt
½ stick butter (60g)
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup unsulfured molasses (I used black treacle)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ cup very strong hot coffee
1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

Frosting
8 oz cream cheese , eg Philadelphia
1½ cups icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp thinly sliced crystallised ginger. (I didn't have any of this so I use the preserved stem ginger in syrup, drained of the syrup)

Gingerbread man shaped sprinkles

Mix flour, ground ginger cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice and salt in a bowl.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses/treacle and the egg and beat until smooth.  Combine the hot coffee and baking soda and stir until dissolved.  Add to the molasses mixture.  Combine this mixture with the flour mixture, stir until well combined.

Fill cupcake liners halfway. Bake o the middle rack of the oven 180ºC Gas 4 for approx 15-20 mins until a skewer poked into the middle of a cake comes out clean.

Cool the cakes on a wire rack. Completely cool before frosting.

Mix the ingredients for the frosting together and then spread or pipe onto the cooled cakes.  Top with the gingerbread sprinkles.

Now it's getting closer to Christmas, so here's some cupcakes with a mincemeat filling.  

Mince Pie Cupcakes

175g / 6oz self raising Flour

100g / 4os light muscovado sugar or light brown sugar

1tsp mixed Spice

175g / 6oz softened butter

3 eggs

2tbsp milk

140g /5oz mincemeat

Heat oven to 190ºC  Gas 5.

Line 12 bun cake tin with cake cases. 

Put flour sugar butter spice eggs and milk in a bowl and mix with electric mixer or wooden spoon for 2-3 mins until light and fluffy. 

Put a spoonful of cake mix in each cake case then a rounded tsp of mincemeat. Cover the mincemeat with a spoonful of cake mix and smooth. 

Bake for 15-18 mins until golden brown and firm.

The suggestion was to sprinkle these with icing sugar to serve, but I wanted to use my Christmas sprinkles so I topped them with glace icing and sprinkles.

Today I realised I had a pack of Light Mozzarella that needed using up. I decided to do a stuffed marrow. This is how I did it. I've propointed it for the WW amongst us.

Stuffed Marrow

Serves 3

5 propoints per serving

1 marrow

250g extra lean minced beef

1 onion chopped

1 clove garlic crushed

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp chilli flakes (or to taste)

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 beef oxo

125g Mozzarella light

Cut marrow in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and discard. Set aside.

Heat the oven to 200'C Gas 6

Dry fry the mince in a non-stick pan and once browned, add the onion and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until the onion softens. Add the tomatoes, oregano, cumin, chilli flakes, tomato puree and crumbled oxo. Simmer for approx 10 mins until the mixture is dryish and thick.

Spoon the mince mixture into the marrow and place in a roasting tin with a little water around it. Cover with foil and bake until the marrow is tender, approx 30-40 mins.

Remove foil and cover the top with the mozzarella......either sliced or pulled off into pieces. Return to the oven and cook a few more minutes to melt the cheese.

Serve.

Using butternut or other squashes, or courgettes or even aubergines, will not affect the propoints.

Add kidney beans to make it more like a chilli, but add the extra propoints.

Greekish Prawns and Feta

Another of my made up as I go along teas, loosely based on a Greek dish.

To make this, I gently heated a carton of chopped tomatoes and herbs with garlic, marjoram, chopped red pepper, a chopped red chilli, a tsp sugar, salt, pepper, a splash of balsamic vinegar with a squeeze of tomato puree. (Not very technical on the tomato puree and balsamic fronts, but I reckon it was about 1-2 tablespoons). 

When the sauce had thickened and the veg had softened, about 20 minutes give or take, I added some peeled raw prawns and cooked 2-3 minutes until they were pink and cooked.  You could use cooked prawns, just cook until they are heated through or they will go rubbery.

I served this concoction with pastini which is very like orzo, but rice or pasta would be just as good.  Serve the sauce over your choice and top with cubes of feta cheese.  Delicious if I say so myself !

Tonight's tea........spicy and tasty

Chicken Marinated in Yogurt with Georgian Plum Sauce

from "Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons" by Diana Henry

The plum accompaniment is a version of "skemalt", a thick, sweet, dark crimson sauce, which apparently separated good Georgian cooks from great ones!  Sometimes it is made with just plums, leaving out the prunes.  It would be good with fried chicken, grilled mackerel or lamb kebabs and keeps in the fridge for about 1 month.

Ingredients

250 ml natural yogurt (not greek)
4 crushed garlic cloves
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or chilli powder
salt and pepper
8 chicken thighs, skin on


Plum Sauce

400g plums
100g prunes
40g dark soft brown sugar
40ml red wine vinegar
40ml water
1/2 tsp cayenne or chilli powder
2 crushed garlic cloves
chopped herbs: coriander, dill, mint
a squeeze of lemon juice

Mix yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, spices and seasoning together to make a marinade. Put the chicken into this, cover and leave to marinate for 2 hours or overnight if possible, turning a couple of times.

Halve the plums and prunes and put into a pan. Add the remaining sauce ingredients except the herbs and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 mins.

Puree the sauce and add most of the herbs.  Check the seasoning, add salt or lemon juice to taste.

Take the chicken out of the marinade and grill on each side, on high heat at first then lower to ensure the chicken is cooked through.  I cooked the chicken in the oven in a roasting tin.  Gas 6-7, 200'C for approx 40 mins, turning halfway through.

Warm the sauce, sprinkle on the remaining herbs and serve with the chicken.


Mine is served with sliced new potatoes, cooked in stock, lemon juice and olive oil.  Cooked in the oven with the chicken. Covered at first then uncovered so that they go brown and crispy on the top.

Bacon Chocolate

Yes you read that one right as well!  Another Nadia G, Bitchin Kitchen recipe.  It messes with your head a bit this one, but is actually quite pleasant!

Serves 24

6 slices maple cured bacon, minced
2 cups milk chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 crisped rice
Fleur de Sel

Small pan
Double boiler
Silicone mould

Heat pan on medium. Add bacon and render until crisp. Set on paper towel and remove excess grease.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler over medium heat. Take off heat when chocolate is 80% melted, continue stirring until fully melted. Add bacon to melted chocolate. Delicately fold in crisped rice. Pour mixture into silicone moulds, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes

Habanero Cheesecake

Yes, you read that right!  Habanero's in a cheesecake.  Another Nadia G, Bitchin Kitchen recipe.  Always one to try something different, I inflicted this on the family when we had our barbecue the other day.  It went down very well.  The chilli flavour is subtle but delicious.

 

  30 chocolate wafers (enough to make 1 1/2 cups of chocolate crumbs

 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Coulis/Sauce

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

2 key limes, juiced

Candied hibiscus flowers, or dried cranberries
      

Filling

5 egg yolks

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup key lime juice

1 tablespoon key lime zest

1/2 habanero pepper, minced, seeds removed

2 cups whipped cream cheese, softened

1 cup mascarpone cheese
  

*Cook's Note: Use gloves to remove seeds from habanero pepper

   

Meringues

 5 egg white

 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon white vinegar
 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

To make the crust: Put all the chocolate wafers in a resealable bag and then crush them into fine crumbs. Pour the crumbs into a medium mixing bowl and add the melted unsalted butter, then mix to incorporate. Mold the crumb crust into the bottom of a springform pan, about 1/4-inch thick. Bring it up the sides a little bit, about a 1/2-inch. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and cool on counter. 

To make the coulis/syrup: Heat a pot over medium heat. Pour in the water, sugar and bring to a boil. Add the key lime juice and candied hibiscus flowers, stir. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, until slightly reduced. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

To make the cheesecake filling: In a large bowl add the egg yolks, brown sugar, key lime juice, lime zest, and habanero pepper and whisk together. Add the cream cheese and mascarpone then mix with electric beater for another 15 seconds. Set aside. To make the meringues: Whip the egg whites together with 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and white vinegar. Delicately fold this meringue into the cheesecake mixture. Pour evenly into the springform pan, over the chocolate crust. Place 2 layers of wide aluminum foil into a large roasting pan. Put the cake in the middle of the foil. Bring the foil up the sides to create a seal, do not cover cake. Pour water into the roasting pan, half way up the sides of the cake pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour, 30 minutes depending on your oven. Allow the cake to cool completely on the countertop, then refrigerate overnight.

Serve each slice of this cheesecake drizzled with a tablespoon or 2 of key lime and hibiscus coulis/syrup.

One or two notes:

For chocolate wafers on the base, I used double chocolate chip cookies, a 230g pack.  

I didn't have any hibiscus flowers so used dried cranberries.  Around 75g is enough.

To get enough lime juice for 1/2 cup, I used 4 limes

I couldn't get a habanero so used a scotch bonnet, which is similar heat wise. 

I used 1 pot mascarpone 250g and 2 x 200g tubs Philadelphia cheese.

As you can see the top of my cheesecake is brown.  This is due to my oven seeming to be too hot and cooking the whole thing a bit too quickly.  It didn't affect the eating of it though!

A sort of a Chicken Tagine

So this is a sort of Chicken Tagine type of dish.

I've gently fried some chopped onion in a non-stick pan for about 5 minutes, added some chopped garlic and chopped chilli, and cooked for 1-2 minutes. Then added some chunks of skinless chicken thighs and browned them off.  I added about 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp ground cumin and 1/2 tsp ground allspice and cooked for 2-3 minutes.

Next I added chunks of butternut squash and cooked for 5 minutes before adding a tin of chopped tomatoes and about 400 mls water.  I brought this to the boil and simmered gently, covered for about 20 minutes until the butternut squash is tender.  Then I squashed some of the squash :) which helped to thicken the sauce and added a chopped green pepper and a chopped courgette.  I covered and cooked for about 5-10 minutes to soften the pepper and courgette.

I served this with bulgar wheat, with chopped parsley and coriander through it.

Spicy Chicken Barley Risotto

Another Nadia G Bitchin Kitchin recipe, great for using up cooked chicken.

 A set of measuring cups is a useful addition to your kitchen gadgets here!

Ingredients:

1 cup pearl barley
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
3 shallots, finely chopped.  ( I used 1 onion)
1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
1/4 cup good red wine
2 cups canned San Marzano tomatoes, hand crushed ( 1 x 400g tin)
1 cup chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tbsp raw sugar ( I used golden caster)
1/4 tsp sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1/2 cup finely grated smoked Gouda ( I couldn't get any of this so used smoked cheddar)
1 roasted chicken breast, shredded
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins (optional)

Barley
Cook the barley in an uncovered saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, adding water as needed.  This can take 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Spicy Tomato Sauce
In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic and jalapeno and saute for 2 mins until fragrant.  Add the shallots or onion and smoked paprika and saute 5 more minutes.  Deglaze the pan with the wine, stir, then reduce for 2 minutes.
Add the crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaf, thyme, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper and stir.  Simmer for 20 minutes, partially covered.

Skiaffing it together.
Add the barley, cheese, chicken and currants to the sauce.  Turn the heat down to medium low and delicately mix for a few minutes until the cheese has melted.

Bitchin Kitchen with Nadia G: Nonna's Penne al Forno

My current favourite show........cooking and comedy.  I love the recipes and can't wait to try more of them.

Here's the first one:

Nonna's Penne al Forno

Serves 6

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 red onion, minced
1 lb. ground sirloin
3 cups canned San Marzano plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1 bay leaf
1/4 tbsp raw sugar
1/2 tbsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. penne (approx. 1 package)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup mozzarella, finely grated
1/2 cup finely grated parmigiano

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and chili flakes, and sauté for about 1 minute, until the garlic is golden and fragrant. Add red onion and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes, until onion has some crispy edges. Add ground sirloin and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, until beef crumbles.

Pour in plum tomatoes, then add parsley, oregano, bay leaf, raw sugar, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir and simmer for 15 minutes, partially covered.

Cook penne in a large pot of boiling salted water until almost al dente, about 10 minutes. (You don't need to fully cook the pasta because you'll also be baking it.) Drain.

Preheat the oven to 180c/350 F/gas 4. Add penne to a large bowl and mix in half of the bolognese. Generously grease a baking dish with unsalted butter. Add a 1-inch layer of penne, 1/2 cup of sauce, 1/3 cup of grated mozzarella and a heaping tablespoon of grated parmigiano. Repeat this until all the pasta is used. Top it off with grated mozzarella and parmigiano cheese. Bake in oven for 30 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbling.

  

Or its in the Cookin'for Trouble recipe book.

It went down well in our house, so I reckon it will appear on the menu again.

Cod with Black Bean Noodles

Some of my favourite ingredients:

For this dish, I cooked the skinned cod in a foil parcel with a splash of dry vermouth (use white wine or water if you don't have this), slices of lemon, slivers of fresh ginger, chopped garlic and chopped chilli.  This went in the oven at 180'C for about 15-20 minutes. (I think it was in a bit long to be honest as it was falling to bits when I served it :( )

For the noodles, well, I say noodles, but I discovered I had none when I looked in the cupboard, so I improvised by using pasta vermicelli.  I cooked them first then, cooled quickly in cold water.

I stir fried finely shredded green cabbage in about 1 tbsp oil for a couple of minutes until it was wilted and then added the "noodles" and some of my favourite black bean and garlic sauce and a little water, stirring until everything was heated through.  I sprinkled a little sesame oil on and then served the cod on top of the noodles.

Preserves

I came across a link to this website in a magazine:

http://www.punkdomestics.com

There are recipes for pickles and preserved fruit and vegetables, home made cheese, pesto and many more things.

These recipes caught my eye and so I gave them a go.

Fig and Olive Tapenade

• 1 cup dried mission figs, stems removed
• 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives
• 1/4 cup dried apples or apricots
• 2 tbsp capers
• 2 tbsp good quality sweet balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 tbsp good quality olive oil

Add all ingredients except the olive oil to a food processor and pulse until the mixture is fully blended but course. Drizzle in the olive oil and pulse one more time to stir.

Spoon mixture into two short, wide-mouth 250 ml / 8 oz canning jars. Label and refrigerate until party day. Can be made up to 3 days ahead. Serve with crackers or bread and a medium sharp cheese like cheddar or gouda.

From:  http://www.myownlabels.com/blog/olive-and-fig-tapenade/

The recipe makes just over a jam jar's worth......not very technical I know, but there it is.  I thought it was nice, but quite sweet what with the dried figs and apricots, so I added about 1/2 tsp of Psycho Monkey sauce to it, to give it an added kick.  To be honest, I think I prefer plain tapenade.

This is a very hot sauce, I bought it at a food festival/craft fair, but you can buy it online from:

http://www.spicymonkey.co.uk/#/shop/4560146274/Psycho-monkey-sauce/1165125

The second recipe I tried is this one:

Sweet Chilli, Garlic and Ginger Jam

225g chilli peppers.  Use any you like depending on how hot you want it.  I used straight forward, red chillis.  Deseed them if you want to or not if you like the extra heat.

400g red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped. (About 4 medium sized peppers)

600g onion, roughly chopped

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1500g sugar

750ml vinegar, use red or white wine vinegar or cider vinegar

60g fresh ginger

1 whole head of garlic, cloves peeled

1 tbsp sea salt

Roughly chop the chillis and peppers, add to a food processor and finely chop then added to the pan.

Roughly chop the onions, garlic and ginger and then finely chop those in the food processor.  Add to the pan.  

Add the vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir with a wooden spoon and bring to a gently boil. Simmer for 45-60 minutes until thickened. While it's cooking, skim off any scum that rises to the top.

Sterilise your jars, wash well in hot, soapy water, rinse and place on a baking tray in the oven at 180'C for 25-30 mins.

Carefully, add the hot jam to the hot jars, seal and leave to cool, before storing in a cool, dark place.

The jam is ready to eat the next day, but I ate some the same day.......couldn't wait!

Once opened store in the fridge.

This goes great with all sorts of food......cheese, sausages, burgers, ham.  I'm sure the list is endless.

It could be a contender to knock Nigella's chilli jam off the top spot!

From: http://chipbuttiesandnoodlesoup.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/how-to-make-my-ultimate-hot-and-sweet.html

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Lamb Koftas in Pitta with salad

Lamb Koftas can be made in many ways and there are loads of recipes out there.  I didn't bother with a recipe on this occasion.

I finely chopped an onion in a food processor, added some of the spice mixes I have........Turkish, Mexican and Creole........I know.....what a concoction, but believe me they were very tasty.  Mix in your mnce, I used lamb, but any mince does the trick, except maybe quorn mince, but that's a whole other tale. If you don't have spice mixes, use cumin and coriander, chilli and paprika, cinnamon, curry powder, even mint......dried or as mint sauce. These are yours to eat so add what you like.  Who says you have to be authentic?

If you want to check the seasoning before you commit, take a small piece of the mix and fry it off in a dry non-stick pan, taste and adjust the seasoning until you are happy with it.

Chill the mixture until you are ready for it.  You can form it into patties as I did here, so that they will fit nicely into your pitta bread, or wrap, or you can form them into sausage shapes and fit them on skewers as kebabs. (Remember, if you are using wooden skewers, you need to soak them first to prevent them burning when you cook the kebabs). Cook on a barbecue or in a pan until they are well cooked through, stuff your pitta, or wrap and eat.

You could form them as big burgers or small meatballs.  Stick the cooked meatballs on cocktail sticks and serve with a dip, or make a sauce to go with them and serve with rice or pasta.  Tomato sauce, chilli sauce or even a curry sauce.  

Enjoy!

Pork with a Creamy Mushroom and Mustard Sauce

This is another of those meals I made without a recipe in mind.

Brown off pork steaks in a large non-stick pan. Add in sliced or quartered mushrooms and some garlic.  Cook for a few minutes then add stock.  Cover and simmer gently for approximately 20 minutes until the pork is cooked. Stir a couple of tablespoons of wholegrain mustard in and then stir in some Philadelphia cheese.  If the sauce is too thin, thicken with cornflour mixed with a little cold water, simmering gently to cook out the cornflour.

As you can see, we like a big plateful !