An Asda recipe. A 2-egg sponge with ground cinnamon and ginger and chopped ginger in syrup, and 6 pear halves on the bottom with a butter/sugar mix to caramelise.
I used dark brown sugar, not light, as I didn't have any light. I added some of the syrup from the jar to the butter/sugar mix for the top. I also made a mess in the oven because I used a springform/loose bottomed tin, and the butter/sugar leaked out. Sigh.
Might be better with a 3-egg mix to give more depth over/under the pears. Something like this yogurt cake could also be interesting (with added spice).
Update: same concept, but an alternative recipe combo of this caramel pear cake on allrecipes and this honey and spice loaf cake from Good Housekeeping. Brown sugar and butter melted to make a caramel, with sliced tinned pears arranged in it in the tin. Then a spiced cake mix also made with caramel to start (and ginger syrup instead of the honey). Used my square tin without a loose bottom, and it was much less messy. Cake was baked in about 30 minutes, less than the recipe (although a loaf would take longer). Came out easily once cool.
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
Saturday, 23 January 2016
Cheesy veggie burgers
A BBC Good Food recipe, part of an ongoing quest for less meat in our shopping trolley...
2 tbsp olive oil
2 leek, sliced
200g mushroom, sliced
2 large carrot, peeled and coarsely grated
1 tbsp seasoning
1 tbsp soy sauce
300g can pinto beans, drained
100g cheddar, coarsely grated
200g granary bread torn into pieces
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a shallow saucepan over a medium flame. Tip in vegetables, seasoning and soy sauce, then cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 mins until soft. Tip veg into a food processor with the beans, cheese and bread, season, then pulse to a thick paste.
With wet hands, mould mix into 8 burgers. These can be kept in the fridge for 2 days or frozen, stacked between greaseproof sheets for up to 2 months.
To cook, heat oil in a frying pan and fry 2-3 mins on each side until crispy.
190 cals each excluding any oil used for frying and the panko (see below).
Notes and edits for next time:
- A good recipe to use up stale bread and the ends of veg.
- This makes 8 really generous burgers but is too much for the processor to mix properly. Could either pulse together in two halves, or pulse the cheese & bread, take out, pulse the veg on its own, and then mix the lot together in a bowl instead.
- I used jerk seasoning and extra thyme, which came out well. Worcestershire sauce would be better than soy.
- I drained the veg after cooking, as there was a lot of liquid. I added some back into the burger mix but it was a bit too much - definitely drain, be very restrained next time!
- I think I'd prefer less leek and more mushrooms, for better body.
- Not really cheesy enough to be called cheesy veggie burgers. Up the cheese or maybe put a small square in the middle of each one.
- I rolled the burgers in panko breadcrumbs for extra crunch.
Tuesday, 29 December 2015
Stollen spirals and other festive gift goodies
Stollen spirals - really just festive Chelsea buns I guess...
BBC Good Food recipe
Take 1 (test run, not a gift):
All went fine except I crammed too many in the tin and the middle ones were too doughy. Next time space them out better/use more tins. Also use more fruit, and slice the marzipan rather than using a big wodge in the middle.
Take 2:
Made these dairy free by subbing in coconut oil for butter, and soya milk for the milk. Not a deliberate choice, just what I had in the house to make them for a dairy-intolerant recipient. Also made the changes as above, and happened to use more sultanas and cranberries, no mixed peel, no nuts, and no icing, purely for time reasons. They fit perfectly, with room to expand, at 12 to my big roasting tin, with the remainder (I hesitate to say rejects) in a smaller tin. The 12 were frozen as soon as they were cool, defrosted in the car while travelling, reheated in a low oven for half an hour or so, and hoovered up in no time, so this recipe is definitely a keeper!
Take 3:
Easterised as follows: soak the fruit (a sultana/cranberry/cherry mix) in a mix of tea and amaretto; sprinkle it in the buns along with grated marzipan and dark chocolate chips. Serve warm so the marzipan and chocolate are a bit gooey.
German cinnamon star biscuits
Outdoor Chics recipe
These went OK but cooked too quickly in my oven at 200°C, so were a bit toasty. They have a chewy macaroony texture. I put allspice in the icing, as I'd run out of cinnamon, and some lemon zest. The icing was very sticky to apply, and I also found the mixture a bit crumbly and liable to get stuck in the points of the star cutter,
Nigella's bar nuts
Recipe
Sweet, salty, spicy, herby roasted nuts. Yum. Again, made with coconut oil not butter - no difference.
Ginger cupcakes
A Jamie Oliver recipe
I was a bit worried by the amount of oil in these but they didn't come out greasy at all. Would be good with some sort of spicy dark chocolate topping.
BBC Good Food recipe
Take 1 (test run, not a gift):
All went fine except I crammed too many in the tin and the middle ones were too doughy. Next time space them out better/use more tins. Also use more fruit, and slice the marzipan rather than using a big wodge in the middle.
Take 2:
Made these dairy free by subbing in coconut oil for butter, and soya milk for the milk. Not a deliberate choice, just what I had in the house to make them for a dairy-intolerant recipient. Also made the changes as above, and happened to use more sultanas and cranberries, no mixed peel, no nuts, and no icing, purely for time reasons. They fit perfectly, with room to expand, at 12 to my big roasting tin, with the remainder (I hesitate to say rejects) in a smaller tin. The 12 were frozen as soon as they were cool, defrosted in the car while travelling, reheated in a low oven for half an hour or so, and hoovered up in no time, so this recipe is definitely a keeper!
Take 3:
Easterised as follows: soak the fruit (a sultana/cranberry/cherry mix) in a mix of tea and amaretto; sprinkle it in the buns along with grated marzipan and dark chocolate chips. Serve warm so the marzipan and chocolate are a bit gooey.
German cinnamon star biscuits
Outdoor Chics recipe
These went OK but cooked too quickly in my oven at 200°C, so were a bit toasty. They have a chewy macaroony texture. I put allspice in the icing, as I'd run out of cinnamon, and some lemon zest. The icing was very sticky to apply, and I also found the mixture a bit crumbly and liable to get stuck in the points of the star cutter,
Nigella's bar nuts
Recipe
Sweet, salty, spicy, herby roasted nuts. Yum. Again, made with coconut oil not butter - no difference.
Ginger cupcakes
A Jamie Oliver recipe
I was a bit worried by the amount of oil in these but they didn't come out greasy at all. Would be good with some sort of spicy dark chocolate topping.
Sunday, 6 December 2015
The best squash lasagne?
The original recipe comes from Serious Eats, a food site I enjoy but which is US-based and it does show - like in this recipe, which I think is a bit too rich. So while it's badged as the best, I'm not so sure.
The lasagne consists of layers of a cheese sauce, creamy buttery squash puree, and sauteed squash with apple. As well as the overwhelming use of butter, cream cheese and Gruyere, the proportions of each layer seem off. There was lots of cheese sauce (which was quite thin), not so much squash puree (which was not as smooth as I'd like), and the sauteed squash and apple was more like a garnish. So while I'd try it again, I'd modify it as follows:
- make my usual cheese sauce (more butter/flour to milk, and some mustard powder for zip). ditch or reduce the garlic, which was a bit overpowering.
- roast more squash, for longer.
- try and find pumpkin or kabocha, as I could only get butternut this time and it is more solid.
- make the pumpkin puree less creamy and rich, perhaps by adding more (bramley?) apple in there, maybe a splash of cider vinegar, and skipping some or all of the cream cheese/butter.
- have more of the chopped apple and squash.
- add variety and boost the veg count by adding cooked leeks, or or add protein in the form of canellini or butter beans.
- less cheese on top, maybe some breadcrumbs with the remaining cheese.
So, worth another try, but more work needed to achieve "the best" I think.
The lasagne consists of layers of a cheese sauce, creamy buttery squash puree, and sauteed squash with apple. As well as the overwhelming use of butter, cream cheese and Gruyere, the proportions of each layer seem off. There was lots of cheese sauce (which was quite thin), not so much squash puree (which was not as smooth as I'd like), and the sauteed squash and apple was more like a garnish. So while I'd try it again, I'd modify it as follows:
- make my usual cheese sauce (more butter/flour to milk, and some mustard powder for zip). ditch or reduce the garlic, which was a bit overpowering.
- roast more squash, for longer.
- try and find pumpkin or kabocha, as I could only get butternut this time and it is more solid.
- make the pumpkin puree less creamy and rich, perhaps by adding more (bramley?) apple in there, maybe a splash of cider vinegar, and skipping some or all of the cream cheese/butter.
- have more of the chopped apple and squash.
- add variety and boost the veg count by adding cooked leeks, or or add protein in the form of canellini or butter beans.
- less cheese on top, maybe some breadcrumbs with the remaining cheese.
So, worth another try, but more work needed to achieve "the best" I think.
Saturday, 7 November 2015
Supersize sausage casserole
A bit like the chilli from a couple of years ago, just for the record here is our recipe for sausage casserole, served at the WYC quiz and supper.
Serves 36 in total (same base for veggie and meat - just vary the sausages and stock). Around £2 a head, made with good quality sausages (50p each) and with plenty of bread to mop up.
Ingredients:
2.5kg onions
2kg courgettes
1kg carrots
2kg peppers (mixed)
1.3kg mushrooms (a wholesale box)
12 x 400g tins tomatoes
6 x 400g tins borlotti beans
seasoning to taste - we used 3 stock cubes, smoked paprika, mixed herbs, marmite, wholegrain mustard
72 sausages (we had 60 pork and 12 Quorn Cumberland-style)
Cornflour to thicken.
Method:
While cooking the veg as below, cook the sausages in the oven until browned. Allow to cool and then cut into 3 or 4 pieces each. It is fine to be a little pink in the centre as they are going to get cooked again in the casserole,
Chop the onions and cook slowly in a little oil plus paprika and herbs, until they start to turn translucent.
Chop and add the courgettes - they can be quite chunky as they'll get a long cooking time.
Grate the carrots and add to the onions and courgettes. Cover so that the steam condenses back into the pan.
Chop the peppers, again chunky, and add them to the mix.
Cook the mushrooms separately: layer them in a pan with a sprinkling of salt or 2 or 3 times, add a splash of water then cover and simmer until the mushroom shrink and lose water.
Add the mushrooms, with a slotted spoon, to the vegetables, and then add the tomatoes.
Make up 3 stock cubes with just enough mushroom water to dissolve (discard the rest), and also stir in a spoonful or two of marmite and a good dollop of mustard before mixing the whole lot into the casserole. Taste, and adjust as needed. We used 2 pork stock cubes (Knorr ones are really nice and smoky tasting) and one veggie one, and so here we started to keep the two casseroles separate.
Add the beans. Simmer for a while and then use some of the tomato/vegetable liquid to make up cornflour (mix to a paste with cold water, then add hot liquid, mix well and return to the pan, stirring thoroughly. We perhaps used 5-6 tbsp or a bit more, between the whole lot).
Add the sausages and simmer until they are thoroughly cooked.
Serve with crusty bread and butter. We allowed one 400g bloomer for 6 people (cut into 12 chunks), but could have got away with one per 7 people and still had some left.
Serves 36 in total (same base for veggie and meat - just vary the sausages and stock). Around £2 a head, made with good quality sausages (50p each) and with plenty of bread to mop up.
Ingredients:
2.5kg onions
2kg courgettes
1kg carrots
2kg peppers (mixed)
1.3kg mushrooms (a wholesale box)
12 x 400g tins tomatoes
6 x 400g tins borlotti beans
seasoning to taste - we used 3 stock cubes, smoked paprika, mixed herbs, marmite, wholegrain mustard
72 sausages (we had 60 pork and 12 Quorn Cumberland-style)
Cornflour to thicken.
Method:
While cooking the veg as below, cook the sausages in the oven until browned. Allow to cool and then cut into 3 or 4 pieces each. It is fine to be a little pink in the centre as they are going to get cooked again in the casserole,
Chop the onions and cook slowly in a little oil plus paprika and herbs, until they start to turn translucent.
Chop and add the courgettes - they can be quite chunky as they'll get a long cooking time.
Grate the carrots and add to the onions and courgettes. Cover so that the steam condenses back into the pan.
Chop the peppers, again chunky, and add them to the mix.
Cook the mushrooms separately: layer them in a pan with a sprinkling of salt or 2 or 3 times, add a splash of water then cover and simmer until the mushroom shrink and lose water.
Add the mushrooms, with a slotted spoon, to the vegetables, and then add the tomatoes.
Make up 3 stock cubes with just enough mushroom water to dissolve (discard the rest), and also stir in a spoonful or two of marmite and a good dollop of mustard before mixing the whole lot into the casserole. Taste, and adjust as needed. We used 2 pork stock cubes (Knorr ones are really nice and smoky tasting) and one veggie one, and so here we started to keep the two casseroles separate.
Add the beans. Simmer for a while and then use some of the tomato/vegetable liquid to make up cornflour (mix to a paste with cold water, then add hot liquid, mix well and return to the pan, stirring thoroughly. We perhaps used 5-6 tbsp or a bit more, between the whole lot).
Add the sausages and simmer until they are thoroughly cooked.
Serve with crusty bread and butter. We allowed one 400g bloomer for 6 people (cut into 12 chunks), but could have got away with one per 7 people and still had some left.
Tuesday, 1 September 2015
Avocado and quinoa salad
From Prima, of all places, this is a filling and interesting recipe, perfect for lunch.
Avocado, quinoa, bean and goat's cheese salad
It takes a pack of Merchant Gourmet red and white pre-cooked quinoa, and adds two avocados, fresh beans, and cheese, dressed with oil and lemon juice plus fresh parsley.
I swapped in edamame beans for the listed broad beans, because life's too short to pod broad beans and I can get shelled edamames in the freezer section... I also used a log-style goat's cheese but next time might use the crumbly feta-style one (I'm not sure what "semi-soft" means here). I omitted the red onion as I hate raw onion in salads, but next time I might try them pickled.
The pre-packed quinoa was OK but a bit bouncy - I prefer the softer texture when it's freshly cooked, but I literally just took the grains out of the packet so perhaps they are better when heated. But essentially this was a very easy and satisfying recipe.
Avocado, quinoa, bean and goat's cheese salad
It takes a pack of Merchant Gourmet red and white pre-cooked quinoa, and adds two avocados, fresh beans, and cheese, dressed with oil and lemon juice plus fresh parsley.
I swapped in edamame beans for the listed broad beans, because life's too short to pod broad beans and I can get shelled edamames in the freezer section... I also used a log-style goat's cheese but next time might use the crumbly feta-style one (I'm not sure what "semi-soft" means here). I omitted the red onion as I hate raw onion in salads, but next time I might try them pickled.
The pre-packed quinoa was OK but a bit bouncy - I prefer the softer texture when it's freshly cooked, but I literally just took the grains out of the packet so perhaps they are better when heated. But essentially this was a very easy and satisfying recipe.
Spicy mango chicken tray bake
A good one-pot, oven-cooked dinner here: mango chicken, bean and rice bake, from BBC Good Food. For once, I don't have any major additions or suggestions!
Marinade: whizz up 4-5 spring onions, 2 large garlic cloves, a thumb of peeled ginger root, a deseeded chilli (optional), stalks of a small bunch of coriander, 1.5 tbsp allspice, juice and zest of a lime, and 2 tbsp oil.
Use this to marinate 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs for an hour or more (or go skin-on, bone-in for more flavour but more fat).
Place 240g rice (I used brown) and a rinsed can of kidney beans in an ovenproof dish, add a peeled and chopped mango, and lay the chicken on top. Make 500ml stock (I used 2 cubes, chicken + ham), use it to gather any remaining marinade (especially if you used a bag rather than a dish), and pour it over in between the chicken. I also added the pulpy scrapings from the inside of the mango peel, so as not to waste any!
Cover the dish with foil, tightly, and bake for 30 mins at 180°C. Then uncover, spoon mango chutney (amount to taste) over the chicken, and bake uncovered for another 40 mins at 200°C. Scatter with the coriander leaves to serve.
Delicious and filling! We served it with peas for some extra veg. As I said, no major changes, but next time I might try it with black beans instead of kidney, and some coconut milk replacing some of the stock. I omitted the chilli as I didn't have one, so would try it with that next time.
Marinade: whizz up 4-5 spring onions, 2 large garlic cloves, a thumb of peeled ginger root, a deseeded chilli (optional), stalks of a small bunch of coriander, 1.5 tbsp allspice, juice and zest of a lime, and 2 tbsp oil.
Use this to marinate 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs for an hour or more (or go skin-on, bone-in for more flavour but more fat).
Place 240g rice (I used brown) and a rinsed can of kidney beans in an ovenproof dish, add a peeled and chopped mango, and lay the chicken on top. Make 500ml stock (I used 2 cubes, chicken + ham), use it to gather any remaining marinade (especially if you used a bag rather than a dish), and pour it over in between the chicken. I also added the pulpy scrapings from the inside of the mango peel, so as not to waste any!
Cover the dish with foil, tightly, and bake for 30 mins at 180°C. Then uncover, spoon mango chutney (amount to taste) over the chicken, and bake uncovered for another 40 mins at 200°C. Scatter with the coriander leaves to serve.
Delicious and filling! We served it with peas for some extra veg. As I said, no major changes, but next time I might try it with black beans instead of kidney, and some coconut milk replacing some of the stock. I omitted the chilli as I didn't have one, so would try it with that next time.
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