Wednesday 27 February 2013

The latest of my doodles, working with a new ink pen of mine.

Monday 25 February 2013

Here's an idea for you, for when chips or mashed potato doesn't quite do it for you anymore, and you just happen to have spinach that needs eating.

These are also a great one for kids, and it's surprising how many vegetables can be liquidized into them; whether carrots, broccoli or swedes, they'll fit!

Take one stale loaf (I'm guessing at 200g, but have some extra on standby)
100g spinach
1 regular baking potato
30g cheddar cheese
and if like me you love bacon, then you may as well put a few choice crispy bits in.
Any extra veg. (it will need to be pre-cooked, so this is a good way to use leftovers)
15g butter
1 large egg
Small dash of milk (10ml?)

Preheat your oven to 220'C.

Boil your potatoes and mash them, or if you're in a hurry then microwave your quartered potato in a suitable dish with a dash of water for say 3 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked.

Break your stale loaf into more food-processor friendly chunks and blitz them till they resemble chunky breadcrumbs: this will give your finished result a lovely crunchy texture. Set aside in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, break and whisk the egg.

Heat the butter in a saucepan on a low heat and wilt the spinach.

Mash the potato (add any other veg. at this stage) and add the milk to help bring it together, then incorporate the wilted spinach and residue butter thoroughly. Mix in the cheese.

Take a parts of the mixture and form around 6 or 7 small balls, depending on the size of the potato: this should be a lot less messy than it sounds. Roll a ball in the egg and then breadcrumbs, coating well, roll in the egg and breadcrumbs once more, and set aside on a baking tray.

Once you have used all the mixture put the [I haven't decided what to call these, so name them what you will] into the oven for 15 minutes, or until they are a golden brown colour and crisp.




The great thing about these things is that you can go pretty much anywhere with the recipe; in the near future I am considering adapting these to make vegetarian scotch eggs?

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Apparently 3rd year is more time consuming than previously anticipated... However I have for you a couple of modifications from an old post about a perfect cookie recipe, sans some pictures because we ate them too quickly (Sorry, sometimes you just can't resist)! 

Triple Chocolate Orange Cookies (a mouthful to say and a mouthful to eat, yummy!)

Ingredients:

115g softened unsalted butter
100g demerara sugar
100g light soft brown sugar
1 medium egg
2 tsp good quality orange essence
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/4 tsp baking powder 
150g plain flour
50g unsweetened cocoa powder 
100g plain choc chips 
100g white choc chips 


Preheat oven to 160'C.
Cream the butter and sugars together until they form a smooth paste, and beat in the egg and orange essence. 
Fold in the cocoa powder and chocolate chips (the mixture will be quite stiff, so I've found it's a lot easier to put the choc chips in at this stage)
Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Cook for 14 mins and enjoy with a glass of cold milk or just on their own.

I usually make these cookies a medium size but feel free to make them as big as small as you want, though beware as the cooking time will vary then!
 
White chocolate and lemon cookies:

115g softened unsalted butter
100g demerara sugar
100g light soft brown sugar
1 medium egg
1 tsp good quality lemon essence (I bought mine from Waitrose, though Lakeland are also a good option if there isn't one near you)
1 tsp vanilla paste (from Waitrose)
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/4 tsp baking powder 
200g plain flour
100g white choc chips 

Instructions as above.

Pics of white choc and lemon cookies to follow soon, hurray.

These cookies are particularly good for:
- eating whilst watching a film
- dunking in milk
- making others jealous whilst working (share the love if you're feeling generous)