Apple and Cranberry Gravy

A neighbour left me a batch of apples on my doorstep the other day. I was just cooking up some sausages for tea, so quickly googled and found a recipe to go with the sausages.

Apple & Cranberry Gravy

• 6 extra lean (5% fat) sausages
• 1 large red onion, sliced
• 1 large sprig rosemary, leaves only
• 3 Pink Lady apples, cut into wedges
• 2 tbsp cranberry sauce
• 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 1/2 pt vegetable stock
• 2tsps cooking oil

1. Grill the sausages.
2. Meanwhile fry the onions in the oil until soft and golden.
3. Add the rosemary and apples, and cook for 3-4mins till the apple starts to soften.
4. Add the cranberry sauce, mustard and stock to the pan too, and stir.
5. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for 10mins. Add a little flour, if needed, to thicken.

It went down a storm with my 2 year old, who polished everything off on his plate.

Chicken and leek pie

I found this recipe on 'Feeding boys and a firefighter', here. For once, I've pretty much followed what it says... although I put in a bit less mustard because Small Person has rejected mustardy things in the past. Anyway, here's my attempt:

Also, not having two small ovenproof dishes, I've done it in one medium sized oven proof dish... Served with roasted baby new potatoes (cut the big ones into chunks the size of the small ones, put on a baking tray with some oil), broad beans and peas (from the freezer) and courgettes (from my Dad's allotment).

Beetroot and Choc Brownies

250g Good Qual Choc
250g Cooked and Grated Beetroot
250g Caster Sugar
250g Butter
150g Self Raising Flour
3 Eggs

Pre-heat oven to 180'c. Grease a 20 x 30 x 3cm (ish) tin and add parchment to the bottom of the tin. Whisk together the sugar and eggs. Melt choc and butter and blend in with the egg mixture.
Gently fold the flour and then the beetroot to the mix (add chopped nuts or chunks of white choc if you wish). Poor into tin. Stick in the oven for 20 mins ish. Dont over cook or it'll be tough. Its ok to have a slightly sticky skewer when poked in the brownie, nice and stodgy :-).

Courtesy of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

Brownie-and-Tiffin Tipper Truck Birthday Cake

The cake:

The Brownies: 

This recipe is from Jamie Oliver's "Little Book of Big Treats"

250g unsalted butter

200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids, Green & Blacks type stuff)

80g cocoa powder

65g plain flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder

360g caster sugar

4 eggs

Optional: Jamie suggests 75g dried sour cherries and 50g chopped nuts. I used 50g of white chocolate (chopped into chunks) and 50g of walnut pieces, but I think it could have taken twice that amount of additions!

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degC. Line a baking tin with greaseproof paper. Jamie suggests a 25cm square tin. I didn't have one of those, and neither did Tesco, so I used what Tesco called a 31cm tin. It's rectangular and about the size of an A4 sheet of paper, and did the job perfectly.

In a large bowl over simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder, then stir in the sugar. Add this to the chocolate/butter mixture. Stir together well. Beat the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency. I added the optional chocolate chunks and walnuts at this point (although Jamie says to add them to the melted chocolate), because I wanted half-and-half. I split the mixture in two and added chocolate chunks to one half and walnuts to the other, then...

Pour the brownie mix into the baking tray (half at one end and half at the other - they'll meet in the middle and some folk will get both), and place in the oven for around 25 minutes (I cooked mine for 30). Unlike cakes, a skewer shouldn't come out clean, because they need to be gooey in the middle. Once cooked, allow them to cool in the tray then transfer to a chopping board and cut into squares.

I baked these on Friday afternoon, cut them up and assembled the cake on Saturday, and they were still gooey and delicious on Monday evening, when we finished them up.

The Tiffin (Sookies):
Made following this recipe for sookies (last recipe in the post). I made double quantities with a few extra biscuits thrown in and this filled an A4 size baking tray. I then melted a bar and a half of dairy milk (large bar, and only because the posh chocolate went grainy rather than melting) and spread it over the top. The texture is more biscuity and crunchy than tiffin. These also lasted until Monday evening.

Dhal (easy lentil-based curry)

Large handful of red lentils
Chicken/veg (baby) stock cube
Onion
Curry powder (I use a Trinidadian one)
Chickpeas (from a tin)

Optional: other veg
Optional: meat

Basic quick method:
Cook the lentils in the stock until soft
In a separate pan, fry the onion*.
Add the curry powder to water to make a paste, then fry with the onions until you get a delicious curry smell**.
Add chickpeas, cooked lentils and some water and heat through
Eat, with rice or naan or roti. Garnish with fresh coriander if you're feeling posh.

*if you want to add chicken or other meat, add it here, and brown it off before adding the curry paste.
**if you adding veg which is raw (potatoes, courgette, whatever) add it here, then add some water and simmer until the veg is tender, before adding the chickpeas/lentils etc. Spinach should be stirred through at the end.

You can also do this in a slow cooker: add the onion and spice mix to the meat, veg and raw lentils in the slow cooker and leave it until it's done.

Gingerbread men (Bimmerman)

Adapted from the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book. These gingerbread men are nice and gingery and still a little bit soft. They are good dunked in Daddy's coffee... Makes 12ish.

350g plain flour
1 tsp bicab of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
100g butter
175g light soft brown sugar (or whatever, I think I used a mixture of caster and demerera last time)
4 tablespoons golden syrup
1 egg, beaten

1. Grease some baking trays (2 or 3)
2. Sift/put the flour, bicarb and ginger into the bowl. Stir in the sugar
3. Melt the butter, then add to the mixture (the original recipe says to rub the butter into the flour, then add the sugar, but this works just as well)
4. Beat the egg and golden syrup together and stir in.
5. Mix to form a dough and knead until smooth
6. Divide in two, then roll out on a floured surface to about 5mm thick. Cut out shapes using a cutter (we did dinosaurs)
7. Decorate with currants for eyes etc if you want to
8. Oven (190 degC) for 12-15 mins until golden. Cool slightly then place on a wire rack.

Oat and raisin cookies

This is adapted slightly from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "River Cottage Everyday". I've found that this is a good one for baking with the littlies, because, while it does involve melting butter in a pan, it doesn't involve any rubbing the butter in to flour and making breadcrumbs, which little S doesn't approve of at all.

125g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of honey
100g caster sugar
75g light soft brown sugar (no, we don't always have several types of sugar, so go with what you have)
1 medium egg
150g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
50g jumbo oats
150g raisins
(or 100g of raisins and 75g chopped roasted hazelnuts)

Melt the butter with the honey in a small pan. Put the sugars in a mixing bowl, add the melted butter and beat well with a wooden spoon. Beat in the egg. Throw in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder (Hugh says 'sift') and stir in. Then stir in the oats and raisins. You should have a 'pretty sloppy sort of mixture'.

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and drop dessertspoonfuls of the mixture on to it, leaving about 4cm between each blob. Bake in a preheated oven at 190 degC for 8-10 minitesm until they are turning pale golden brown. Remove and leave on the baking sheets for a couple of minutes to allow them to firm up, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Lemon & Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:

150g / 5oz Dark brown sugar
150g / 5oz Margarine (dairy free if required)
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
150g / 5oz Self raising flour
1tsp Baking powder
75g / 3oz Porridge oats
75g / 3oz raisins (or other dried fruit)

Method:

- Pre heat oven to 180c /Gas 4
- Cream sugar and margarine. Mix in lemon rind.
- Mix in baking powder, oats and flour. Add raisins and mix.
- Grease baking tray, place heaped dessertspoons of mixture onto tray and flatten slightly (space well apart as mixture spreads).
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden.
- Leave to cool slightly before moving to wire rack.
- Cookies will feel soft to touch when warm, but will crisp up as they cool.


Add lemon juice for extra tang!
Substitute half of raisins for choc chips.
Try orange rind instead of lemon.

Ideas please!

We have a group of friends who we get together with regularly, and usually we just get a Chinese or Indian takeaway. I'm thinking about attempting to cook instead so am looking for ideas. There would be 8 adults, 2 of whom are vegetarians and could be a few teenagers in tow (there's a budding romance between the son of one family & the daughter of another) as well.

I'm thinking chilli plus bits. My little steamer couldn't make enough rice for everyone but maybe a big bowl of rice which I could then bulk out as a rice salad (so cucumber, peppers, sweetcorn, etc.), tacos and bread. Am looking for ideas for my Veggie friends and/or 'another main dish'.

Banana & Apple Cookies

Had my first crack at baking my own cookies today. I've wanted to replicate the Little Plum Spelt Biscuits with Apple, but haven't found a recipe close enough (nor a source of Spelt Syrup). So I've adapted an Amercian recipe, which also meant my conversion from 'cups' to ozs was a rough estimate, at best. The cookies are quite soft & sweet, I think you could cut down the sugar without affecting the taste.

Banana & Apple Cookies

Ingredients:
2 pouches of pureed of Apple & Banana (you could (and possibly should!) use fresh, I just wanted to use these pouches up).
6ozs of brown sugar
2ozs of butter
6ozs of spelt wholemeal
4ozs of white flour
8ozs of oats
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp of cinnamon


Method:
Preheat your oven to 170C and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Mash the banana in a bowl, add the butter & sugar and mix together.

In a large mixing bowl, bring together all the dry ingredients and mix together. Then stir in the banana mixture and combine. Spoon onto the prepared baking trays and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Adapted from: Parenting Our Kids

Slow Cook Leg of Lamb

It doesn't necessarily matter which joint of Lamb (or any other kind of meat) you use for this recipe as it is that easy and slow cooking will ensure any cut of meat will be succulent.

Put leg of lamb in medium slow cooker. Add an onion thats been cut in half, veg / or other stock (500ml ish), couple of garlic cloves if you choose - whatever you choose to put in the stock is up to you, they will only enhance the flavours: you can just use hot water, will still work.

Put the slow cooker on high for 4hrs
or
High for 1hr and then medium for another 7hrs
(Length of time depends on size of meat - this is based on 1 /2 legs in a medium sized slow cooker)

Both work wonders. However I always like food in a slow cooker to actually cook slowly so I would always choose for the 8+hr.

Take the meat out and dish up. Throw away the stock, unless you want to make gravy out of it.
*cue someone who can make gravy from this kind of stock*

Focaccia

Focaccia is a lovely tear and share bread to be an accompliment to a main dish or as a dipping / starter bread.

Make the dough using the Basic White Loaf recipe up to stage 2.

After kneading the dough for the second time stretch the dough out onto a greased baking tray so that it touches the sides, then cover and leave it to rise for 30min.
Then poke the dough with your fingertips to make indents. Drizzle olive oil and scatter your chosen herbs / garlic / cheese on top. The indents collect the lovely flavours.
Bake in a preheated oven for 20-30min, 190'c (ish), until golden and cooked through.

Tear, share and enjoy :-)

Basic White Loaf

In a large bowl:
500g Strong White Flour
1 sachet of Yeast
2 tsp Salt
Mix these ingredients slightly

In a jug
300ml Warm Water
2 tsp Sugar
2 tbsp Olive Oil
Mix these ingredients slightly

Stage 1
Add the water mix to the flour mix. Either use your hands or combine with a spoon in the bowl.
On a lightly floured surface turn the dough out and start kneading. You need to understand the texture and feel of the dough as you knead it. If it feels too sticky add a bit more flour to the surface and carry on kneading, it will pick up the dough as you knead. You will be kneading for a good 10mins to get a good silky feeling dough. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with cling film / tea towel. Leave to rise for 1.5/2hrs.
After the time has passed you should have double the size of dough as you started with. Take it out of the bowl and knead it again for 5 or so minutes to knock out the air bubbles.
Stage 2
Seperate into equal sized balls (for rolls) or long sausages (baguettes). Alternatively just leave as one big ball or put into a greased bread tin. If you are doing balls or sausages make sure there is enough room around them to rise and not stick together. Sprinkle with a touch of flour and cover again. Leave to rise for 30mins.
Preheat oven on the highest temp and when the loaf is ready put it in and then turn down to 200'c ish (depending on oven). Cook for 10-15 / 25-30 mins depending on size of loaves. Take out when browned on top and hollow when its bottom is tapped ;-)

I am very approximate when it comes to baking so when it comes to the cooking times - when its cooked I take it out (or forget and burn it, as I do every now and then!).

Soda Bread

Bread in 30 minutes

200g white flour
200g wholemeal flour
1tsp bicarb of soda
1tsp salt (I use less)
1/2 pint of milk
1 dessertspoon lemon juice

Mix dry ingredients, and make a well in the centre
Add lemon juice to milk, then pour into the well
Mix with a fork
Tip onto a floured board and knead for less than 20 seconds
Put onto a greased baking tray and shape into a round. Cut a cross in the centre
Oven (180 degC) for 25-30 minutes

Variations (I've not tried these yet)
1. Use all white flour and add a handful of raisins
2. Cut into 4 bits, then cook over a medium/low head in a lightly oiled pan for 15 mins each side

Dairy Free Brownies

These are very yummy & gooey! Great for egg or dairy allergy suffers!

Ingredients:

250g plain flour
350g demerara sugar
65g plain cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
250ml water
250ml vegatable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C / Gas 4

In large bowl stir flour, sugar. cocoa powder, baking powder & salt.

Pour in water, vegetable oil and vanilla.

Mix until blended and spread evenly into 23x33cm / 9x13in baking tin.

Bake for 25-30min until top is no longer shiny.

Cool for 10mins before cutting into squares.

*hazelnuts, walnuts or sunflower seeds can be added to dry ingredients*

Banana Bread

This recipe goes down well every time with Matthew.

• 1 ripe banana
• 3 dessert spoons sunflower oil plus a little for greasing
• 50g golden caster sugar
• 110g plain flour
• 1 level teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 3 ish rounded dessert spoons of raisins (I also added glaze cherries)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

First peel the banana and put it into one of the bowls. Use the fork to mash up the banana. Add the sunflower oil. This is now called the 'wet bowl'.

In the other bowl, put the golden caster sugar and mix together with the flour and baking powder to make a 'dry bowl'.

Break the egg in the cup and beat with the fork then add it to the wet bowl. Add the raisins too.

Measure the vanilla extract into the wet bowl. Stir all of the wet ingredients together. Now tip the 'dry bowl' into the 'wet bowl'. Give your mixture a big stir.

Oil a loaf tin with sunflower oil and pour in the mixture. Now put it on a baking tray and into a pre-heated oven at 180ºC fan/ 200ºC/Gas 6 for 30–40 minutes, or until completely cooked through.

Cool and slice

I have frozen this and defrosted it overnight when required and it still tastes good, if not nicer.

3 Minute Spelt Bread

The 3 Minute Spelt Bread was really quick to make, but came out very doughy with a very hard crust (this may be down to my own inexperience at making dough!) Despite my reservations about the texture, it went down really well with Lentil...

Chocolate treats

I've taken these from my other blog

Chocolate cake (makes 2 cakes)

CAKE:
½ lb unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup sour cream
2 cups sifted self-raising flour
3-6oz dark chocolate
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup black coffee

ICING:
4oz dark chocolate
4 cups icing sugar
Milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F / 180C / Gas mark 4
2. Grease cake tin
3. Melt chocolate and cool until tepid
4. Cream butter and sugar
5. Add sour cream, eggs & choc and beat until smooth
6. Add flour in small amounts, mix until smooth
7. Over the bowl, add baking powder to coffee (it fizzes) then add to bowl, mix until smooth
8. Bake for 30 mins, until mixture pulls away from the side. Do not open the oven until the last 5 mins
9. Cool on wire rack
10. Beat together all icing ingredients. Ice cake.

Gravity-field chocolate torte

For grown-ups only

Smash up a packet of Maryland hazelnut cookies (or cookie of your choice). Melt some butter and mix with the biscuit crumbs, then press this into the bottom of a 8 inch springform tin. Put in the fridge.

Melt 3 bars of Lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate and a good chunk of butter in a bowl over boiling water. Allow to cool slightly before adding a small pot of double cream and two beaten egg yolks. Fold together and don't think about the calories

Pour chocolate mixture over hardened biscuit base and chill in the fridge. Dust with cocoa powder and cut into slices with a warmed knife.

As a variation you could add a white chocolate layer - 2 bars of Lindt white chocolate, butter, double cream and vanilla extract.

Sookies

Also known as chocolate tiffin.

This is a recipe which has been hanging around, hand written in my Mum's cookbook, for as long as I remember. I could have come from Blue Peter.

5oz digestive biscuits, crushed, but not to a fine powder. Leave some lumps.
4oz chocolate (my recipe actually says plain cooking chocolate, but I'd be dubious)
1tbsp sultanas
1oz butter
1tbsp golden syrup

Melt the butter and syrup until frothy, then remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until it melts. Add the biscuits and sultanas and mix well. Put into paper cases or press into a (greased) baking tray. Leave in fridge for half an hour.

Old, New & MishMash recipes:

Today I have a poorly boy, so we'll be in most of the day. Which means more time for cooking!

Old recipe: Blueberry Muffins, I halved the amounts in this recipe to make 6 good sized muffins & I mash the fruit instead of slicing, it then 'bleeds' nicely into the muffin.

New recipe: 3 Minute Spelt Bread, the idea of a quick (lazy) loaf appeals greatly so we will have to see how this one comes out! I've used wholemeal spelt.

MishMash recipe: Carrot, Potato & Butternut Squash Soup, because that's all I have in the cupboard.

Coffee & Walnut Cake

I've been promising to pass this recipe onto Anna for ages. This recipe is more for the Mummies than the Little Ones...

Ingredients:
180g butter, at room temperature
180g caster sugar
3 eggs (I always use large eggs)
180g self-raising flour
60g walnut pieces
2 teaspoons of instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons of boiling water
Walnut halves to decorate

Icing:
2 tablespoons of single cream
2 teaspoons of instant coffee
90g butter, at room temperature
180g of icing sugar

2 x 20cm sandwich tins, greased & base lined with greaseproof paper

Method:
Preheat oven to 180C (350F Gas Mark 4)

Beat together the butter & caster sugar in a large bowl until pale & fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift the flour into the butter mixture and fold in, then stir in the nuts and dissolved coffee. Divide between the prepared sandwich tins and spread out evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden & the sponge springs back when pressed gently. Cook on a wire rack & remove the greaseproof paper.

To make the icing, warm the cream and coffee in a small saucepan, stirring until the coffee has dissolved. Pour into a bowl, add the butter and sift the icing sugar into the mixture. Beat together until smooth and creamy.

Slice a thin slither off the top of one of the sponges to create a flat surface. Spread with slightly less than half of the icing, then place the second sponge on top. Spread the remaining icing on top & decorate with walnut halves.

Source: 'Easy British Cooking'