The Cookery Thread

[LAT]

This one is an old family favourite. It is dead easy to make and always goes down well.

Lemon Pie.doc

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[Bunnylump]

Another really easy pudding which we really like is this http://www.waitrose.com/content/waitros ... rifle.html You do have to like fresh, unsweetened figs and apricots and Greek yogurt rather than cream, but is is very fresh and summery, and the easiest pudding in the world.

BTW I ONLY use Total Greek Yogurt (the strained, creamy real Greek yogurt which is in a white tub with blue writing). All the supermarket own brand "Greek style" yogurts are too runny. Quite a few of the supermarkets stock the Bonne Maman fruit compote these days, but I get mine from Waitrose. And if you are toasting the flaked almonds in a dry pan, do watch them like a hawk and stir them. They can burn really easily if you're not careful. Other than that it's a case of bashing up the amaretti biscuits, chopping fruit and sticking stuff in a big glass bowl.

I sometimes ring the changes with the fruit and use sliced nectarines and figs instead, and sometimes sprinkle the top with pistachios.

[gill216]

I wasn't sure whether to go for the cookery thread or the clvrs**ds help!

I've run out of time before my holiday. I bought a load of of fresh oranges and lemons to make marmalade & lemon curd with because i got an inundation of orders for jams.

Can i freeze the oranges and lemons whole as all I want to do is cook with them, or do I need to zest and juice them and freeze the remains? Even my freezer cookbook doesn't answer my question. Anyone tried either method?

[clvrlad]

apparently yes

http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/ ... p#freezing

[gill216]

Wow. Thank you, I've been looking all day for something like that. I've just added that site to my favourites. The oranges are about to go in the freezer now. If oranges freeze then so will lemons.

[Laura]

Limes freeze too. Cut up into chunks for putting into G&T. You get the lime and the icecube all in one apparently. (I don't drink G&T, but I am reliably informed)

[giraffe]

I do that at Christmas with lemons and limes. Slice them and lay them on a tray to freeze, then gather them up and put them in a tupperware box after they have frozen and keep them in the freezer ready for drink time. We don't drink enough to get through a whole lemon or lime in one sitting and it seems wasteful to keep throwing them out with only a slice or two used.

[Bunnylump]

This is a really simple, but very yummy dish.
PESTO CHICKEN PILAF

Serves 4

4 chicken breasts
salt and pepper
a little olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4oz sliced chestnut mushrooms
2oz raisins
6oz basmati rice
1/2 small jar basil pesto
1pt chicken stock
toasted almonds

Preheat oven gas 6
Season chicken and fry gently in a little olive oil to brown (for about 5-10 mins)
Scatter onion, mushrooms, raisins and rice in a shallow ovenproof dish and arrange the chicken pieces over the top
Stir the pesto into the boiling stock and pour over the chicken and veg.
Pop in the oven and leave, undisturbed, for about an hour until the rice and chicken is cooked through and all the liquid is absorbed.
Sprinkle with toasted almond flakes.

[Bunnylump]

This is a much easier version than the original ones I made using beetroot! (Although it has to be said that the beetroot ones very very good),

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients: (cakes)
120g butter, softened
300g caster sugar
2 large eggs
20g cocoa powder
Red food colouring
1tsp vanilla essence
1tsp salt (well, that’s what the recipe said, I didn’t use that much!!)
240ml buttermilk
1tbs white wine vinegar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

(Frosting):
100g softened unsalted butter
600g icing sugar
250g full fat cream cheese

Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 5.

Line a muffin tin with cake cases.

Whisk the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Break the eggs in one at a time and beat well with a whisk.

In a separate small bowl, mix together the food colouring and vanilla essence to form a paste, then add this to the batter mix.

Sift the flour and salt into another bowl, then add to the batter in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk.

Mix the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda together and then add to the cake batter.

Spoon into the cake cases until they are ¾ full

Frosting
Beat the butter and icing sugar until has a sandy texture. Add the cream cheese slowly, increase the speed of the mixer and then beat until light and fluffy.

Pipe or swirl the frosting on the cooked, cooled cakes.

[Bunnylump]

OK folks, I've got 17 people coming for lunch tomorrow and I'm doing a buffet of some description. Any suggestions / ideas for easy and yummy things to serve lots of people?

[giraffe]

Salmon and sweetcorn flan.

Pastry case blind baked
White sauce, add big tin of sweetcorn, big tin of slamon with skin and bones removed. stir it together. Sprinkle with lots of cheddar cheese. Bake. (My flan dish is about 15 inches diameter, so would fill two smaller ones I expect. Unless I normally double the contents, I can't rmember off the top of my head)

[Bunnylump]

Oooh, that sounds good. Thanks!

[gill216]

Fruit kebabs.

Any fresh fruit you fancy on a skewer. (wooden is best) Drizzle with honey and stick in the oven until the honey starts to caramelise. Even better on a bbq. I usually provide the bowls of fruit and the skewers and let everyone do their own. Keep the fruit from becoming discoloured by covering with lemonade. No need for fancy syrup.

[Bunnylump]

Can recommend both of the above. Thank you, ladies.
This was nice and went down well...although you might need to be prepared for the heart attack afterwards.

White chocolate and sour cherry cheesecake
Base
Veg oil to grease
200g chocolate digestive biscuits roughly broken
75g butter

Filling
150g white choc broken into squares
600g full fat soft cheese
150ml double cream
175g caster sugar
2 large free range egg yolks
4 large free range eggs

Cherry sauce
150g dried, sour cherries
100ml cherry brandy
3tbs morello cherry jam
2tsp ground arrowroot

Method
Oil 23cm spring form cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.

Pulse biscuits to crumbs in food processor. Melt the butter in a small pan and pour into the processor with the motor running. Blend until thoroughly combined. Spread evenly over the base of the tin, pressing down lightly; leave to set in the fridge.

Melt chocolate in heatproof pan of simmering water, leave to cool for 20 minutes but do not allow it to set.
Preheat oven to gas 4.

Put cheese, cream, sugar, egg yolks and eggs into a food processor and blend until smooth, with the motor running gradually add the cooled chocolate and blend until just mixed. Pour onto the biscuit base.

Put a large piece of foil onto the work surface, place the tin in the centre of the foil and bring up the sides of the foil to the cheesecake to protect it while it cooks. Place the tin in a roasting tray, and add enough boiled water to reach about 2cm up the side of the tin.

Carefully place the roasting tin in the centre of the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes. The cheesecake is ready when it is almost, but not fully set. Jiggle the tin and you should see the filling ripple under the surface. When the cheesecake is ready, turn off the oven, but leave the cake inside for a further 30 minutes. This helps to prevent the surface cracking as it cools.

Lift the cake tin from the water and remove the foil. Chill in fridge for at least 2 hours before serving with the cherry sauce.

To make the sauce, put the cherries and cherry brandy in a pan with 100ml of water and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the jam and cook for 1 minute more. Mix arrowroot with a tablespoons water in a bowl and stir it into the sauce. Cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes until the sauce is thick and glossy. Pour into a heatproof jug and leave to cool.

[Bunnylump]

Pork Fillet with Feta, Crispy Pancetta and Minted Courgettes


400g pork fillet, sliced into 8 rounds
4 slices pancetta halved
8 small cubes of feta cheese
Olive oil
Four large courgettes, sliced thinly into rounds (yellow and green look good if you can get them)
Half a large red chilli chopped very small,
5 cloves garlic, crushed
Bunch of mint leaves, chopped
About 12 sage leaves
2 packets of ready cooked brown basmati rice
2 tablespoons sun dried tomato paste
Juice of half a lemon
Balsamic vinegar
2 tbs of fat free plain Greek yogurt


Slice a little hole into the top of each piece of pork and squash a bit of feta cheese into each one. Cover over the top of the cheese with half a slice of pancetta, and mould it round the top of each piece so that it fits snugly with your hand.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and put the pieces of pork in pancetta side down. Fry on a medium heat until the pancetta is crispy.

In another pan, fry the courgettes in a little olive oil, stirring, until they begin to soften. Add the mint, garlic and chilli and cook for a further minute or so.

Turn the pork pieces and cook on the other side until cooked through.

Put the courgettes on a big serving plate, and place the pork pieces on the top. Leave somewhere warm while you prepare the rice.

Add a little water from the kettle to the pan you cooked the pork in and stir. Add the tomato purée and lemon juice and stir again. Open the packets of rice and add to the pan, stirring to break up any lumps, and to incorporate the liquid. Cook, stirring for a couple of minutes to heat through.

Stir a couple of tablespoons of yogurt through the rice and put it into a separate serving dish.

Drizzle a small amount of balsamic vinegar over the top of the pork and courgettes and serve.

[Bunnylump]

Tonight's "Burns' night" menu. This is my take on a mixture of several recipes.

HAGGIS STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH CLAPSHOT AND WHISKEY SASS

CHICKEN

4 skinless chicken breasts
16 rashers of smoked bacon
200g haggis (I'm using vegetarian)

Butterfly each chicken breast, put between two sheets of clingfilm and batter the hell out of them with a rolling pin until they are about half an inch thick. (This is very theraputic ).

On new sheets of clingfilm, lay out the bacon pieces in fours, trying to avoid gaps.

Remove the chicken from the clingfilm, and lay them on top of the bacon.

Divide the haggis into four and roll into a little sausage. Put one of these on the top of each chicken breast, then use the clingfilm to help you roll the bacon covered chicken tightly around the haggis.

Put the chicken breasts in the fridge for at least 15 minutes, still in the clingfilm.

Preheat oven to gas 3. Remove clingfilm from the parcels and place on a baking tray with some foil and bake for 25 mins.

Remove chicken from the oven, spoon the cooking juices back over them and grill them for a few minutes until the bacon is crisp.

CLAPSHOT
1lb floury potatoes, peeled and chopped.
1lb 2oz neaps (swede) peeled, chopped.
2oz butter
2fl oz double cream
salt and pepper
1tsp chopped chives.

Boil tatties and neaps in separate saucepans until soft. Actually, I cheat and do the swede in the microwave. Mash them together and stir in the butter, salt, pepper, cream and chives.

WHISKEY SASS

500 ml double cream
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
1tbs dijon mustard
2tsp whiskey
salt and pepper
1 tbs chopped chives.
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Heat the cream in a small saucepan. Stir in mustard, whiskey and cook for a further minute.

Remove from the heat, season and stir in the chives and lemon juice.

[Scurra]

There's no such thing as a "vegetarian Haggis". That's like having a "vegetarian Black Pudding".

[gill216]

You mean like there is no such thing as vegetarian sausages? Personally, having looked at the recipes for making both versions of haggis, I'll go for the veggie option every time.

[Bunnylump]

The most important thing that gives the haggis flavour is the oatmeal and the spices. So vegetarian haggis is actually really yummy. I do also have a "real" haggis so that folk can have a taste too. The reason I've used vegetarian haggis (apart from the fact that both D (die-hard Scot) and I really like it!) is that one of my guests has an intolerance to red meat*. But obviously you could most certainly use "real" haggis in this recipe if you want to.

I've made all my haggis / chicken / bacon roll thingies and they are currently residing in cling film in my fridge. So at least there is not much last minute preparation.

I have also given D the "address to a haggis" to practise!!

*And yes, I do realise that bacon is red meat. It's specifically lamb and beef which causes the trouble!!

[clvrlad]

i hope the Mighty Fuhrer of the Sausage People does well