Strawberry Kisses

Strawberry Kisses

These were a bit of an experiment for Wear it Pink day. I used the recipe for Coffee Kisses in the good old Bero Book and omitted the coffee but added Strawberry flavour Angel Delight in place of some of the flour and some Hot Pink food colouring.  Here's the result.

Makes 12

150g which is a pack of Strawberry Angel Delight made up to the 150g with self raising flour.
75g caster sugar
75g butter
1 egg, beaten
Hot Pink colour

Heat the oven to Gas 4/180ºC

Mix the flour, Angel Delight and sugar and rub in the butter.

Stir in the egg and food colour and mix well.

Form into balls about the size of a walnut.  Place on a baking sheet lines with baking parchment and flatten slightly.

Bake for about 15 minutes.

Once they are cold you can sandwich them together with butter cream.  

I used ½ pack Angel Delight,
80g icing sugar, sifted
40g butter
Hot pink colour

Beat together and use to sandwich the biscuits together.

If you'd rather make the Coffee Kisses use 150g self raising flour and no Angel Delight.  Instead of the food colour use 2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water.

General Tso's chicken

General Tso's chicken

This dish, apparently named after a Hunanese general from the Qing dynasty, is one of my favourites from Ching's Fast Food.  It's a regular on the menu.

Serves 2-4

2 skinless chicken breasts cut into 1.5 cm cubes
salt and pepper
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp groundnut oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 dried red chillies or use crushed chillies to taste
1 tbsp chinese rice wine or dry sherry
4 spring onions, cut into 2.5 cm lengths

Sauce:
1 tbsp yellow bean sauce
1 tbsp lght soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp chilli sauce
1 tsp light soft brown sugar or runny honey
1 tsp dark soy sauce

Put the chicken cubes into a bowl and season with the salt and pepper.  Sprinkle the cornflour on and mix well.

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Heat a wok over high heat and when it is hot add the oil.  Add the garlic and dried chillies (or crushed ones) annd fry for a few seconds before adding the chicken pieces.  Stir fry for 2 minutes.

As the chicken starts to turn opaque, add the rice wine or sherry.  Cook for another 2 minutes then pour in the sauce and bring to the boil.

Cook the chicken in the sauce for a further 2 minutes or until it is cooked through and the sauce has reduced and thickened.  Add the spring onions and cook for about 1 minute before serving.

Feta Stuffed Burgers with Barbecue Sauce

Feta Stuffed Burgers with Barbecue Sauce

Mince is one of those go to foods and can be done up in so many ways.  I made these with minced beef but minced lamb would have gone well with the feta and maybe a little mint added.

Basically, I mix the mince with seasoning and finely chopped onion.  Some people like to add egg and breadcrumbs but I tend not to.  Form the meat into burger shapes.  If you want to try the mix for seasoning, fry off a little and taste it, adding more seasoning if you want.

Chop the feta into large cubes about 1" and form the burger around the cheese, in much the same way as you would for a scotch egg.  Now cook your burger in your chosen way: barbecue, grill, oven or fry pan.

For the sauce, I fried off a little chopped onion with a clove of garlic, when softened, I added a tin of chopped tomatoes,  a tsp sugar,  a little tomato puree and a good splash of Worcestershire sauce. Simmer until thickened and serve with the burgers.  

Alternatively, brown the burgers off, put in a cooking dish and pour the sauce over.  Cook in the oven for about 15 mins until cooked through.

Chilli Bean Cobbler

Chilli Bean Cobbler


This was on Sunday Brunch.  It makes loads so you might want to half the recipe.

Serves 6-8

For the chilli

2 kg large chunk brisket

200 ml strong coffee

2 ancho chillies, chopped

10 g ground cumin

10 g smoked paprikas

5 g oregano

1 bay leaf

2 onions, diced

1 red chillies, chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 x tins of chopped tomatoes

30 g soft dark brown sugar

2 peppers, sliced

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 x 400 g tins kidney beans, washed

200 ml strong beef stock

225 g polenta

225 g flour

1 tbsp baking powder

50 g sugar

1 tsp celery salt

1 tbsp chives, chopped

225 ml buttermilk, sour cream or yoghurt

Half a bunch coriander, chopped

1 egg

75 ml oil

75 g tinned sweetcorn

Soak the anchos in coffee.

Seal the beef by quickly frying it to brown the outside, then remove.

Fry the onion, garlic, chillies for 5 minutes to soften.

Add everything except the beans, stir well and bring gently to the boil.

Half cover and simmer for 2-3 hours until soft.

Stir in the beans.

Divide into 8 individual pie dishes or 1 large dish

To make the cobbler, mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk the wet ingredients together.

Mix together, but careful not to overwork.

Spoon ‘dollops’ on top of the chilli pots. Cook at Gas 4/180ºC for about 20 minutes to set.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole and limes to taste.

Chicken stuffed with pate

Chicken stuffed with pate

There are many things you can stuff into a chicken breast, try the haggis stuffed chicken on here or use cream cheese or Mozzarella.  On this occasion I used some pate that was in the fridge.

Make a pocket in the chicken breast, stuff with some pate and wrap with bacon or Parma ham.  

Wrap the chicken breast loosely in foil and add a little stock or water, or wine, whatever is handy really.  Bake in the oven about Gas 4/180ºC until the chicken is cooked through, about 25-30 mins.  Open the foil for the last 5 minutes if you want to brown the bacon or ham.  Serve with your favourite veg.

Cheese Scones

Cheese Scones

Sometimes you just want something familiar, something "old school".  There's nothing like a warm buttered scone.  The Bero book is the hero in this case.

150g self raising flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp dry mustard
25g butter
75g grated cheese, a nice strong one
1 egg
50 ml milk

Preheat the oven to Gas 7/220ºC

Mix the flour with the salt, pepper and mustard powder.  Rub the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir in most of the cheese, keeping a little for the top of the scones.

Mix to a soft dough with the egg and milk, reserving a little for glazing the tops of the scones.

Once the mixture comes together, try not to over handle it.  Roll out to a round just over 1cm thick, and cut into 8 triangles or cut with a scone cutter into rounds. (If you are using a cutter, try not to twist it when cutting the scones as this can stop them rising properly)

Place on a greased baking tray, brush the top with the remaining egg and milk mixture, trying not to let it run down the sides of the scones.  To with a little of the reserved cheese and bake  for 10-15 minutes.

Apple and Blackberry Traybake

Apple and Blackberry Traybake

This recipe is from a lovely book by Anne Shooter called Sesame and Spice.

It's a lovely moist cake which would be lovely as a desert with custard or ice cream, as well as eaten as cake.

150g softened butter
200g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon and the juice of ½
175g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 large or 2 medium Bramleyy apples
200g blackberries
2 tbsp demerara sugar

Heat the oven to Gas 5/190ºC.  Line a shallow 20cm baking tin with baking parchment.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, a little at a time, beating between each addition.  Stir in the vanilla extract and lemon zest an then fold in the flour and baking powder.

Peel, core and dice the apples then toss in the lemon juice.  Add half the apples to the cake batter, stir gently to mix them in and then very gently fold in half of the blackberries.

Pour the batter into the tin and top with the remaining fruit.  Sprinkle with the demerara sugar.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and the centre is firm to the touch.  Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out and allowing to cool completely.

This will keep for about 3 days if you wrap it in baking parchment and foil.

Biscotti

Watching the Great British Bake Off contestants making Biscotti inspired me to give them a go.  They are pretty easy to make and you can put any selection of fruit and nuts into them you like.  I based mine on Nigella Lawsons recipe from her Nigellisima book.

Cranberry and Pistachio Biscotti

1 egg
75g caster sugar
finely grated zest of an orange
125g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
fresh nutmeg
75g pistachio nuts ( I used a mixture of nuts)
50g dried cranberries

Preheat oven to Gas 4/180ºC

Whisk the egg and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the orange zest then slowly fold in the flour, baking powder and a good grate of nutmeg.

Fold in the fruit and nuts.  The dough will be quite sticky.

Flour your bench and maybe even your hands.  Form the dough into a flattish oval a bit like the shape of a ciabatta, about 25cm x 5cm, tapering slightly at the ends.

Line your baking sheet with baking parchment and carefully put the dough onto it. Cook for 25 - 30 minutes until it is pale golden in colour. Remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes and then cut it with a serrated knife into fingers about 1cm thick. Put these cut side up onto the baking parchment covered tray and cook for 10 minutes and then turn them over so the other cut side is exposed and cook for another 5 minutes.

Cool the biscotti on a wire rack then store in an airtight container.  They would make lovely presents, but make more of them because they are very moreish.

Turkish Spiced Cabbage and Minced Lamb Stew with Tomatoes

Turkish Spiced Cabbage and Minced Lamb Stew with Tomatoes

This recipe comes from Rick Stein's new book "Venice to Istanbul".  It's a recipe you might not consider making as it contains cabbage, the much maligned vegetable, but give it a go because it is really delicious and resulted in clean plates all round.  Definitely one to make again.

The ingredients for 4 as per the recipe

45ml olive oil  (I didn't use this)
250g minced lamb
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp red pepper paste (recipe below but I used Harissa)
½ tsp chilli flakes
4 tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped (I didn't peel)
1 tsp salt
6 turns black pepper mill
375ml water
1 medium Savoy or white cabbage, coarsely chopped.

What I did

First off I bought the minced lamb in the supermarket and there was 475g in the pack.  Quandry..... do I use 250g per the recipe and freeze the rest for some as yet unidentified recipe, probably finding it in the freezer some months later or do I just use the whole pack?  Answer..... I use the whole pack.

In a large pan, heat the olive oil over high heat and fry the minced lamb until brown all over.  (I didn't use the olive oil because I think minced lamb is fatty enough as it is, in fact, I drained some fat off once the meat was browned).

Turn the heat down and add the rest of the olive oil, onions and garlic and stir until softened.  (Again, I didn't use any additional oil here)

Add tomato paste, red pepper paste ( I used Harissa here), chilli flakes, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes start to break down. Add 250ml water and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 mins.

Add cabbage and the rest of the water (I didn't add any more water as it still seemed quite liquid) Simmer for another 30 mins.  Sprinkle with chilli flakes and serve.

If you want to make the Red Pepper Paste:

660g red peppers
50g tomato paste
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
30 ml olive oil

Roast the peppers for 20-30 mins at 220ºC/Gas 7 until dark and softened. Transfer to a bowl and cover with cling film, leave until cool enough to handle.

Remove the charred skins, stalks and seeds and blitz in a blender with the remaining ingredients.

Store this in a jar, in the fridge for around a week.