Chocolate Brownies

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Recipe

Melt 2 oz of good quality Plain Chocolate with 3 oz of unsalted butter in a bowl over a pan of boiling water and allow to cool.  While cooling grease and line baking tin; measure out 6 oz of caster sugar (I use vanilla sugar); 2 oz of chopped walnuts (I prefer to break them up rather than ending up with tiny pieces if you chop them, they are of course optional); whisk 2 eggs; and in a separate bowl measure out 3 oz of plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder.  When chocolate has cooled but isn’t cold beat in the eggs and add the sugar and nuts then sieve and fold in the flour pour into tin and bake for 25-30 mins in a moderate oven.  Remember it is brownies you are making you want them to be cooked but still a little sticky when bitten into.  Cool in the tin, although they are rather tasty while still warm.

I like to cut it into small squares so I don’t feel guilty about having more than one piece.

Parmesan and Olive Loaf

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You will need 3oz of chopped olives, 4oz of grated Parmesan, 12oz of Plain flour, 2tsp Baking Powder, ½tsp Bicarb of Soda, a little pepper (you don’t need salt because of the olives), 2 beaten eggs, 1/2pt Plain yoghurt mixed with 3 tbsp Olive Oil.  Sift the dry ingredients, add the olives and cheese then the wet ingredients, place in 2lb loaf tin and bake for 40-45 mins at 180c/350f/gas4.

As the meerkats say, ‘simples’, so why not give it try?

I have promised myself two things as I return to work, firstly make time and mark it as precious for reading both theology and other books and secondly to not stop cooking/baking again.  It doesn’t need to take long and there is something extra tasty about stuff you have actually made, well I think so.

Red Hot

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Having enjoyed the produce of the garden over the preceding months the flash of red in the conservatory told me it was time to pick the first of our chillies and have something spicy tonight.  So beef curry with a beer to reward Hubby for his hard days work, you can find out what all the sawing and banging is about over on his blog.

Now in my book, a beef or lamb curry benefits from a reheat so this morning the curry is made so it can mature and be reheated tonight.

In a nice hot pan heat coriander, mustard and cumin seeds till they start to pop, put in a pestle and mortar and bash it up with however much garlic you like (we like 4 cloves) and some grated ginger.  If you can’t be bothered with popping spices at the start just add your preferred amount of ground garam masala or individual ground spices to the garlic and ginger. Fry sliced onions, lots of them, six medium for the two of us, as they start to soften and before they colour add chopped chilli to taste and the spice mixture.  Fry for a min or so then add the meat making sure all the meat gets nicely coated with the spices.  Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, turmeric and ground coriander with as little as water as necessary to cover the meat.  Bring slowly to a simmer and simmer for 30 mins.

This is when I leave it to mature for the day, but you could do the next bit now and eat it straight away.  When it comes to heat it up bring slowly to a simmer add, yoghurt and lots of chopped coriander the green stuff this time.  If you want/need a more detail of the recipe click here.  Although this post is titled Red Hot this curry isn’t, unless of course you put in lots of chillies but that is up to you.

Beef and Onion Curry

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Recipe

• 1lb sliced or diced beef
• 6 medium onions sliced
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• garlic – to preferred taste
• chilli – to preferred taste
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• tin chopped tomatoes
• small pot of plain yogurt
• lots of chopped coriander

In a nice hot pan heat coriander, mustard and cumin seeds till they start to pop.

Put in a pestle and mortar with garlic, grated ginger and pound into a paste.  If you can’t be bothered with popping spices at the start just add your preferred amount of ground garam masala or individual ground spices to the garlic and ginger.  

Slowly fry sliced onions in a little veg oil, as they start to soften and before they colour (this will take a while 15 mins) add chopped chilli to taste and the spice mixture.  Fry for a min or so then add the meat coating it with the spices, fry for a couple of minutes then add a tin of chopped tomatoes, turmeric and ground coriander with as little as water as necessary to cover the meat.  Bring slowly to a simmer and simmer for 30 mins.

Personally I like to now leave it to mature having got this far in the morning and then re-heat slowly in the evening adding the yogurt and chopped coriander, but you can add those and serve straight away if you wish.

Because of slowly frying the onions this curry has a sweetness and is a good one for those who aren’t keen on too much heat.

Easy Peasy Chicken and Mushroom

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As I put the coffee beans back in the fridge and spied the mushrooms which really needed to be used up I thought okay chicken and mushroom from the slow cooker tonight.  So while the coffee brewed I gathered the ingredients then as I cut the onion I saw a photo opportunity.  Originally it was just the onion that made me think that but then I thought again and took this shot for a blog post, flung everything in the pot tidied up and poured my coffee.  A smug feeling swept across me, well that was easy peasy I thought, all done bar the cooking in under 5 minutes.

Chicken thighs – yes I know they aren’t the organic free range ones I prefer but Sainsbury’s did a substitution on me – I like to skin them but leave the bones in for slow cooking.

The rest is stuff I always have around, a couple of rashers of good streaky bacon, onion, green pepper, garlic, mushrooms all chopped – lee and perrins, tin of condensed mushroom soup (great store cupboard item for a quick sauce for pasta or a veggie bake) and celery salt a desert island cooking essential in my book.  A bit of water and a slow cooker and it is really that easy peasy.  Will finish it off with some chopped parsley and probably have it with rice.

Slow Cooker Sausage and Beans

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RevRuth over on her blog listed using her new slow cooker as one of her New Year resolutions. Now I have always had a slow cooker and tend to use it is spits and spurts and the mention of it has brought about another such time.

So especially for Ruth, and for anyone else out there who is wondering what they might cook in theirs, here is a very easy and very tasty recipe of Sausage and beans.

• 1 pack of good sausages
• 2 onions sliced
• 1 tin of haricot or mixed beans
• 1 small carton of pasatta
• a good heaped teaspoon of paprika

Put everything, including the liquor from the tin of beans, into the slow cooker and leave it to do its stuff – low all day, high if you don’t remember until lunchtime.

Great with some crusty bread to soak up the juices.

Spiced Poached Pears

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Recipe

• Firm pears
• 1 litre of Cranberry juice
• Cinnamon Stick
• Rind and Juice of an Orange
• Fresh Ginger (about an inch roughly chopped)
• 3 Cloves
• 2oz Caster Sugar

Put everything apart from the pears in a saucepan to dissolve the sugar, bring up to boil then turn down the heat and add the peeled pears (I like to use an apple corer and make cylinders rather than keeping the pears whole) and simmer until cooked.

Remove the pears, strain the liquid and then return to the pan and reduce until it starts to go syrupy, pour over the pears and serve hot or cold.

Lime Compote

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Recipe

• 4 Limes
• 2oz Sugar
• 5 tbsp Water

Remove all skin and pith from the limes and segment them between the membranes.  Reserve the skin of one of the limes.  Dissolve the sugar in the water and let the limes steep.  Clean off all pith from the reserved skin and blanche it and then refresh in cold water, thinly shred and add to the limes.

Can be served hot or cold.

Elderflower Jelly with Gooseberry Fool

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Recipe

For the Jelly:

• 4 sheets of Leaf Gelatine
• 6 tps Elderflower Cordial
• 1/2 pint Champagne (sparkling wine)
• 1/4 water
• 2oz Caster Sugar

Soak the Gelatine in cold water for 5 mins then remove the gelatine from the water and squeeze dry, set aside.

Meanwhile put wine, water and sugar in a pan and gentle melt the sugar stirring all the time.  Turn up the heat and boil for 3-5 mins until it starts to go syrupy.  Remove from heat, add the gelatine and stir until it is dissolved, add the elderflower cordial and pour into dishes with raspberries if wanted.  Leave to set.

For the Fool:

Top and tail a punnet of gooseberries and cook with sugar in a pan.  When they are cooked remove from heat and puree, leave to cool.

Measure the amount of puree and whip an equal amount of cream, fold the two together and spoon on top of the set jelly return to the fridge.

Slow Cooked Duck

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This easy to make dish tastes as if you have been slaving for hours.

Duck Legs
Chicken Stock
Cumberland Sauce (or similar)
Small amount of Lime juice
Some Juniper berries

Put everything in a pot and cook all day on a very low heat (or use a slow cooker). I wouldn’t advise serving the liquid as it will be about half duck fat!

Pancake Fillings

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Mushroom and Bacon

• Bacon Lardons
• Mushrooms
• Single Cream
• Flour
• Seasoning and Chopped Parsley

Fry off the bacon, add the chopped mushrooms, stir in some flour and cook off add the cream (and a splash of brandy is there are no children about) season and add a generous amount of chopped parsley.  Also makes a good sauce for pasta as well as a pancake filling.

Blue Cheese and Pear

• Pears cored and chopped
• Soft Blue Cheese
• A Little Milk

Melt the cheese very slowly and stir in the milk, add the chopped pears while the mixture is hot then remove from the heat.  Season with Black Pepper.

Ratatouille

• Chopped Courgettes
• Chopped Peppers
• Chopped Onion
• Chopped Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Seasoning

Fry the onions and garlic, add the peppers, and courgettes stir int he chopped tomatoes and add the seasoning, let simmer for at least an hour topping up with a good vegetable stock if needed.  Makes a great soup too!

Butterscotch Bananas

• Caster Sugar
• Butter
• Cream
• Bananas

Put the sugar in a big saute pan place on a high heat and melt shaking the pan all the time until the sugar has melted and turned brown do not stir! Add a large knob of butter and keep shaking the pan the butter will spit so stand back.  Once the butter has melted add the cream the mixture will boil up as the boiling starts to subside add the chopped bananas and take straight off the heat.  (If there are no children around you can add some rum before adding the cream).

Boston Baked Beans

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Last night at the Candlemas Bring and Share Supper at All Saints, Hubby took along a pot of his wonderful Boston Baked Beans.  He was asked for the recipe and has now posted it on his blog site here.  So if you were asking for it last night you will find it over there.

This and Hubby’s post has resurrected an old idea – the Rectory Kitchen Blog is back you will find it here.