Prawn, mango & spring onion pakoras

I was browsing the Good Food website looking for inspiration for my upcoming Chinese dinner party when I found this recipe. It sounded unusual, and I had the ingredients in the cupboard/fridge. I have made pakoras in the past, so I have a large bag of gram flour (the best type for pakoras) already. These were tasty, if unusual tasting. I didnt make the dip, I served them as a side dish to our curry last night.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3188/prawn-mango-and-spring-onion-pakoras


I swapped the spring onion for finely chopped onion though. Not sure what difference that would have made, but I loved them anyway!

Balsamic & honey roasted sausages & veg

Adapted this recipe I found in an old Good Food magazine. It's supposed to be red vegetables, but I needed to use up some other coloured veg! It was very very tasty served with mashed potatoes. I used Morrisons pork, honey & english herb sausages.

 

• 3 red onions , cut into wedges (I used both white & red)
• 3 red peppers , deseeded and cut into quarters (I used yellow & red)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 8 sausages
• 250g cherry tomatoes
• few thyme sprigs (optional - I left this out as I had no fresh)
• 1 tbsp clear honey 

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the onions and peppers in a roasting tin, drizzle over the oil and vinegar and season well. Roast for 10 mins.
2. Nestle the sausages, tomatoes and thyme, if using, in and around the veg, drizzle over the honey and cook for 25 mins more or so, turning the sausages halfway, until the sausages are cooked and everything is golden and sticky. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Balsamic Vinegar

New Cookbooks!

I love the sales! I went to WH Smith today and bought 3 new cook books. I also recieved Jamie Olivers Ministry of Food for Christmas from my mum, plus money to buy more of my choosing. I am chuffed with all of them!

What are your favourite cookery books?

Sweet Cherry Bread

Today I made a sweet cherry almond loaf from a recipe that my cousin shared with me. Oh my, it's delicious! If you dont like marzipan though, you can use flaked almonds instead.

Ingredients

oil, to grease,

350g (12oz) strong white plain flour (bread flour) plus extra to dust,

1/2 tsp salt,

2tsp ground mixed spice,

1tbsp cinnamon,

25g (1oz) golden (or unrefined) caster sugar,

75g (3oz) unsalted butter at room temp diced,

25g (1oz) fresh yeast, OR, 15g (1/2oz) dried yeast,

200ml (7floz) full fat milk, Warmed,

125g (4oz) Almond paste, roughly chopped,

125g (4oz) Glace Cherries

3 tbsp honey, warmed,

75g (3oz) icing sugar sieved,

Method

1, Grease a 20.5cm (8inch) deep cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper (an average sized spring form cake tin will do). Sift the flour, salt, spices, and caster sugar into a bowl (add the dried yeast at this point if using) and rub in the butter. Dissolve the fresh yeast in the milk, then add to the flour to make a dough (if you find the dough is too dry add a little more milk).

2, Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes. Don't be afraid of being a bit rough with the dough. For speed you can place the dough in a food processor that has a dough hook or use a hand blender with the same for 2-3 minutes (personally I would recommend doing it by hand. it may be slower but its MUCH more satisfying, especially if the kids have been frightful, you can get out a lot of annoyances of bread dough). Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl cover and leave in a warm place for 2 hours or until it's doubled in size.

3, Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead lightly (no punching this time, you do NOT need to 'knock back' the air in this recipe). Shape into a 60cm (24inch) long oval. Scatter the almond paste (or roughly chopped nuts) and cherries on the surface and roll the dough up lengthways, then form a tight coil. Put in the prepared tin, cover and leave in a warm place for 30 mins or until doubled in size and spongy to touch. Preheat the over to 180C (160C fan oven) mark 4.

4, Bake the bread for 40 mins or until golden and the bread sounds hollow when tapped underneath. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. When cool glaze with the warm honey.

5, to make the icing (yes this NEEDS icing lolz think 'Danish'), mix the icing sugar with a few drops of water to form a paste, then drizzle over the bread. leave to set before serving.

Birthday cakes!

It's my wonderful husbands birthday today, and he has quite the sweet tooth! So me & the girls baked him some goodies last night.



First off, me & Brogan made lemon cupcakes. They were delicious!

We used this recipe ...

• 150 g butter, softened
• 150 g sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 150 g self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light, fluffy and pale.

3. Gradually mix in the beaten egg alternating with the flour to stop the mix from curdling. Finally, stir through the vanilla extract and milk.

4. Place 12 paper cupcake cases into a muffin tin and divide the mixture between them.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. 



After that, me & Bethan made Millies type cookies (Crisp edges & soft middle). We made about 15 small cookies plus one giant one. She decorated it herself!

We used this recipe I found on mumsnet -
Note: 1 cup measures 200ml

2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
250g/8 oz butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups (yes loads!) choc chips = about 12 oz/375g - we used less than this in our batch.

• Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C) = moderately cool
• Sieve flour, soda and salt together and set aside.
• Using electric mixer, blend sugars and butter to make a grainy paste
• Add eggs and vanilla and mix until blended
• Add flour mixture and choc chips and mix with wooden spoon - do not overmix
• Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie shee, 2 inches apart.
• Bake 15-22 mins or until golden (mine always take a little less)
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
If you want lovely chewy cookies, they need to ba a little under-done (soft to touch when hot) rather than well-done as they will then be dry and crispy.


I attempted cake pops - what a disaster! I'm not sure how to get the cake balls to stay at the top of the lollipop stick? Anyway, they were delicious even though they looked a mess!

2nd attempt at Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

I have made lemon meringue cupcakes before, but decided to try them again. This time they were more wonderful than the last time! Lovely crisp meringue on top, moist cake & gooey lemon inside.

Chicken Parmo

I saw a discussion about this dish on Mumsnet this evening. It sounded interesting and disgustingly fattening. With my plans for a healtier eating plan after my husbands birthday on Tuesday, I decided to give this meal a try!

It was quite simple to make, I bashed 2 chicken breasts into quarter inch flat pieces. Dip into beathen egg, flour & breadcrumbs. Shallow fry until both sides are golden. I quickly knocked up a bechmel sauce (infused milk (bay leaf & onion), butter & flour) which you pour on top of the breaded chicken, then top with grated cheddar. I put it into the oven until the cheese was all golden & melty. Decided on just a side salad, as this looked like a coronary on a plate! Glad I did, as it is quite filling!

It was quite nice, would probably have it again with crispy bacon or some other topping added.

Christmas Cards designs

These are some Christmas cards I designed this year, but never got round to printing out! It's quite difficult to find somewhere online who will print outwith the usual  photograph sizes.

Peppermint Cupcakes

Messy peppermint ice cupcakes! My excuse is that I am still hungover. They were very tasty though! New cupcake stand was a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law. I love it! Also got a matching pinny & oven gloves :)

Christmas

I didnt take a single photo over Christmas at all! I was ill with a cold, Josh was ill with a flu-type bug and no-one else bothered :( We still had a fab time though, and I actually managed to cook the full works dinner with no stress! I've no idea how, as usually I get very ranty & stressy but this year everythign just fell into place. We had a 3 bird roast that I glazed with a Phil Vickery marmalde glaze, a gammon cooked in CherryCoke (Nigella recipe) and made a saausage & walnut stuffng as well as all the usuall side dishes. It was all very delicious!