The Cookery Thread

[Bunnylump]

Shhh....do you think we should tell him? I don't want to shatter his illusions...

[giraffe]

Cauliflower doesn't have much flavour and the bit it has isn't all that pleasant! OH loves caulifower chees, but it needs lots of cheese for me and somethign tasty like smoked ham with it too.

[MBH]

I popped raw cauliflower on a baking tray along with some cold new potatoes in their skins, some trout (wrapped in foil)

That sounded totally delicious until you got to the Bratkartofel. Why would you need any herbs or spices with a lovely set of ingredients like that? [YES..... I know I'm wierd ]

There's nothing wrong with cauli as a veg, and I regularly put a load of veg-stuff in the steamer over the weekend for use during the week. All i add to it is salt. Roasted veg is a rare (usually Christmas) treat since our oven is totally carp and takes forever to cook. I like them though.

[Bunnylump]

[YES..... I know I'm wierd ]

Well, you couldn't possibly be my official twin unless you were pretty weird... Like I said. I think we are Jack Sprat and his twin sister.

[Bunnylump]

Cloo'y Dumpling

8oz floor
4oz bradecrums
4oz suet
3oz currants
3oz raisins
2oz broon sugar
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
Rind and juice o' ane lemon
2oz treacle
2 eggs
Soor milk (buttermilk)

Prepare bowel etc for steaming.
Measure floor, chap (add) suet, and a' dry ingredients.
Add grated rind and juice o' lemon and mix to drappin' consistency wi' the treacle, egg and milk.
Steam 3 1/2 - 4 hoors or bile 2-3 hoors.
Turn on to hot ashet and serve wi' custard sass.

Notes
This was D's mum's recipe, and we usually do 1 and a half times the recipe. Make sure you keep the pot topped up, only add boiling water. We put an old plat on the bottom of the pot before putting the pudding in. The cloth should be about the size of a head square. Before dropping the mixture into it, wring it out of the boiling water in the pot and sprinkle plain flour all over it, this gives the pudding that hard skin when it is put in the oven afterwards.

[Cenwulf]

Here's the recipe we've been using since the 1970s.

Christmas Cake
7oz plain flour
Pinch of salt
½ level teaspoon mixed spice
½ level teaspoon cinnamon
6oz best margarine
6oz soft brown sugar
1 tablespoon black treacle
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
½ teaspoon almond essence
3 large eggs
2lb mixed dried fruit, soaked overnight in 2 tablespoons of rum
Grated peel of 1 small orange (optional)
2 tablespoons milk or sweet sherry

1) Set oven to 300F/150C/Gas 2
2) Grease a 7" round cake tin and line with a double thickness of greaseproof paper.
3) Sift flour, salt and spices onto a large plate.
4) Cream fat, sugar, treacle and essences together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
5) Beat in whole eggs singly, adding a tablespoon of flour mixture with each.
6) Stir in fruit and orange peel (if using).
7) Gently stir in the rest of the flour mixture with sherry or milk.
8) Spoon into tin, smooting evenly with a knife. make shallow well in the centre to stop cake doming.
9) Bake in centre of oven for 3 to 3½ hourts, covering with brown papre if top browns too much.
10) Leave in tin ½ hour before turning out and cooling on a wire rack.
11) Wrap in double foil and put in cake tin.

12) Next day, make holes in the base with fine knitting needle or skewer adn pur 3 teblespoons of brandy over it.
13) Re-wrap in the foil and cover wwith a double layer of cling film until about a week before Christmas.
14) Decorate according to your own preference.

Our decorating consists of a layer of marzipan (stuck on with apricot jam) and glace icing, whipped to resemble drifting snow - mainly because we don't like the ghastly ready-rolled stuff.

[Bunnylump]

Chicken enchilladas

Just had this, and it was very yummy. Apologies for vague recipe - it was made up as I went along.

Enough chicken breasts for one per person, chopped.
Tortilla wraps (plain), two per person
About 6 chestnut mushrooms, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped,
2 cloves of garlic
juice of one lemon
olive oil for frying
grated cheddar cheese (about 3 tbs per person)
packet of ready to eat slow dried tomatoes / sundried tomatoes, chopped
About 4 tbs of chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp of dried oregano
1 tsp of cumin seeds


Gently fry the onion, garlic and celery until softened. Add the chopped mushrooms and fry for a further 2 mins. Remove from frying pan and keep warm.
Toss the chicken in the dried herbs, then stir fry in a little olive oil.
Combine all the ingredients together with half of the cheese.
Share the mix between the tortillas, and roll them up so that the filling won't fall out of the sides.
Place on an oiled baking tray in the oven (gas 4), and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on the top.

Bake for 25 mins. Serve with soured cream and salsa.

[Laura]

Bunny, we had the same thing for tea! Well, pretty much. But slightly bizarre all the same.

[Bunnylump]

Good choice, I say!! I am so stuffed I can't move.

[LAT]

I've been asked for this one

Pork with mustard and cider cream sauce
Ingredients (for 2)
1 tsp oil
225 g/8 oz pork medallions cut into thin slices
150 ml (1/4 pt) cider
1 x 15ml (1 tbs) Dijon mustard
1 Eating apple cored and cut into thin wedges
4 x 15 ml (4 tbs) Crème Fraiche
1 x 15 ml (1 tbs) chopped fresh chives

Method

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and brown pork on each side.

Pour over cider, add mustard and apple pieces and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.

Add the crème Fraiche and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Stir in the chives.


I actually use pork tenderloin fillet and usually rather more meat than this. (it was from a healthy eating recipe which also called for half fat crème Fraiche)
The recipe suggests serving with tagliatelle but it is equally nice with sauté/small roast potatoes.

[Bunnylump]

Thank you, LAT. This was what L cooked for me when I stayed with her. It was really nice, and I can strongly recommend it.

[Cenwulf]

Having acquired some windfall cooking apples from a friend, here's a recipe which uses them up and is very scrummy in the bargain!

Dorset Spicy Apple Cake
4oz/100g plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2oz/50g butter or margarine
2oz/50g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
8oz/225g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1oz/25g Demerara sugar

Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt onto a plate.
Cream butter or margarine with sugar until light and fluffy.
Gradually beat in egg.
Fold in apples and flour mixture.
Turn into a greased and base lined 7"/18cm sandwich tin and sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400F/200C/gas 6 for 30-35 minutes until firm and golden brown.
Allow to cool before removing from tin.

Delicious when just cooled, cold, or reheated and served with custard.

[Bunnylump]

Mmmm that sounds good. I had some Dorset apple cake two weeks ago when I was at Sandbanks. I'll definitely be trying this one.

[tricia]

Has anyone got a recipe for chicken pate and Venison medallions. Our Dutch friends are comng over at Christmas again and would like venison again. I have done venisone with Juniper berries , but I wondered if anyone had a different version

Tricia

[Bunnylump]

Hoping you found a good recipe, Tricia.

Now here was a weird discovery. I hadn't been shopping for AGES and had no food in the house. So I made up some pizza dough before I realised that I had no tomato puree to spread on the base. So, I improvised and used some chilli jam* instead. Over this, I put grated cheese, olives and some bits of tomato. And do you know what? It was really yummy. I'm not a big fan of big lumps of chilli on pizzas, but this gave some heat and sweetness without the big lumps of HOT.

Then, having no salad to go with it, I mixed some ready to eat puy lentils with a tin of three bean salad, snipped in some chives and a little balsamic vinegar. That was nice too.

*Left over from what I made to put in Christmas hampers - it's made from red peppers and chilli peppers. Recipe attached if anyone's interested...

[tricia]

I found an easy recipe for chicken Pate for the good Food site. As for the Venison medallions Hans took over and I didn't have to do a thing

Tricia

[Bunnylump]

Now, THAT is a definite result!!

[tricia]

It was just as well because Hans had made Scropino a mixture of vodka proseco and lemon sorbet prior to the venison as a palate cleanser. Scroppino was wonderful hic

Tricia

[Bunnylump]

Spent all day cooking. I've made a mezze:

Pinchitos morunos (Moorish pork skewers)
Tabbouleh
Beetroot with yogurt
Carrot and cumin salad with coriander
Grilled marinated swordfish with sweet tomato sauce
Aubergines with garlic, mint and chilli
Flatbread

Then for pudding we are having
Torta de naranjua (orange and almond torta)

I have made everything apart from the pork skewers before, and liked them, particularly the pudding (which is great if you like sharp, citrus flavours).

If anyone wants any of these recipes, just shout.

[chazzie]

Don't want the recipes - I'm coming over

Sounds brilliant - hope you have a great evening........