Food…cooking…eating….tools – What works, and what doesn't!
March 28, 2013
Appetizer, Baking, Beef, Cheese, Dessert, Eggs, English, French, Fruit, Kosher, Lamb, Low Carb, Pork, Recipes, Salad, Seafood, Side Dish, Vegetable, Vegetarian Appetizer, baking, cheese, cooking, dessert, dinner, Easter, food, fruit, Gourmet, Kosher, low carb, party, pork, postaday, recipe, recipes, salad, seafood, side dish, spices, tomato, vegetable, vegetarian, wine 12 Comments
Getting ready for Easter? Take a look at some of the recipes below for your Easter Dinner. In reviewing I realized that I had not yet made a baked ham, so you won’t see one down there. I’ll rectify that this year.
Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
Baked Salmon with Orange Ginger Sauce
January 16, 2013
Baking, Dessert, English, Fruit, Kosher, Recipes, Vegetarian baking, cooking, dessert, english, food, fruit, Kosher, postaday, recipe, recipes, vegetarian 12 Comments
The more blogs I read, the more writing styles I recognize. In many ways it makes me reflect on my own style. I like to open each post with a short sentence that is meant to state the theme or grab some attention. I generally love to make my titles plays on words. I use parentheses a lot (I mean a lot). One that I don’t do, but find great is the intentional strikethrough and immediate revision but I like it. The funnier, the better. Rob from Eat, Sleep, Procrastinate has used this in the post below, causing me to spit out my coffee upon first reading. I love it and I know you’ll both the post below and Eat, Sleep, Procrastinate…
Over this last summer (and because I had a lot of work that I should have been doing) I became obsessed with a TV show called “The Great British Bake Off”. The show pits a selection of amateur bakers against one another in a series of challenges designed to test their skill, knowledge and creativity in the world of baking, to find out which of these contestants will be crowned as Britain’s Best Amateur Baker. I know, it sounds awesome right!?
One of the weekly challenges given to the bakers was to create their own regional bun, with many of them opting to create the timeless British Classic, the Chelsea Bun. This is where my obsession with them began. After my own attempts at creating a Chelsea Bun I finally got the recipe and method to a point where I was happy with the result each time they came out of the oven. But then I started thinking. What if we could put the exact same taste and thrill of a Chelsea Bun into some other form of food? Obviously there is no food easier to make or more popular right now than the humble cupcake and since my search for a “Chelsea Cupcake” wasn’t turning up any results it was clear that I had to take matters into my own hands.
Being a poor, financially challenged University Student I had to keep it cheap and simple, and like the majority of the recipes I post, this was quite easy to do. Obviously they had to taste good as I didn’t want my friends to think that what they tasted was the baked remains of a particularly sweaty tramp substandard and after much playing around and countless jiggling of the recipe (not to mention all the real coursework that I avoided) I finally developed my very recipe for Chelsea Cupcakes and I thought that I would share it with you all:
Ingredients:
(With my being English, these quantities may need adjusting to US measurements)
Cupcakes:
175g brown sugar (3/4 Cup)
175g self-raising flour (34 cup)
75g butter (5 tbsp)
2tbsp cinnamon
50g dried mixed fruit (3-4 tbsp)
1tsp baking powder
2 eggs
Buttercream Icing:
140g softened butter (9.3 tbsp)
280g icing sugar (1 1/4 cups)
1tsp vanilla extract
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. (350 degrees Fahrenheit for those of you that need the conversion!)
Put the sugar and butter to a large mixing bowl and cream together.
Crack in the eggs and sift in the flour, combining all the ingredients into a thick mixture.
Add the cinnamon and mixed fruit and stir through thoroughly.
Spoon a healthy dollop of the mixture into each of the cupcake cases and place into a cupcake tin.
Pop the cupcakes into the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until nicely browned and risen.
*Optional Step: Enjoy a lovely cup of hot tea*
(Coffee is an acceptable substitute as not everyone is quite as tea mad as us Englishmen)
Remove cupcakes from the tin and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar and the butter in another bowl and stir until combined. Add the vanilla extract and stir well.
Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and pipe onto the now cooled cupcakes. Decorate with a few pieces of mixed fruit.
Ta-Da! A true British classic in cupcake form!
January 11, 2013
Baking, Chocolate, Dessert, English, Kosher baking, chocolate, cooking, dessert, food, Gourmet, Kosher, postaday, recipe, recipes 4 Comments
Today we have a yummy recipe from Alex who blogs at ComoManger. There is nothing quite like grandma’s cooking. Your grandma, my grandma or anyone’s, there just seems to be something special about it. Take a look at what Alex has and check out her foodie adventure at ComoManger…
Hello! My name is Alex and I am an English foodie with a particular passion for travelling and tasting my way around the world! I have recently ventured on a self-constructed Food and Wine Tour of France and Spain in search of new flavours and favourites! This was most certainly achieved and the most fantastic foodie experience gained… From dining in (and midnight tours of) restaurants of Michelin star chefs; to picking produce, cooking and dining with locals in their homes; to buying ingredients from the market and cooking up roadside in a storm; and even farm and vineyard visits learning to make cheese, wine and cider and meeting a giant pig called Mo!
Being a keen foodie traveller, always itching to get away and dreaming of far off lands, what I love most about exploring is actually the return home to comfort and culinary classics that have always been a part of my life.
Home for me is the picturesque green and pleasant land that is Yorkshire, North England. We have many a treasure to boast from the grand York Minster to the peaceful rolling hills and rambling streams of the Yorkshire Dales. The regional cooking, however, is what I love most; hearty stews, pies and puddings to warm up the local folk and farmers from the infamous cold weather. Yorkshire cooking plays a huge part in the local culture, with many a gathering of family and friends around steaming goodness. Recipes are passed down through families and help to celebrate birthdays, graduations, weddings and all sorts!
The recipe that I would like to share with you today has witnessed many a family celebration and is my Grandma’s Classic Chocolate Cake. This very traditional English recipe is one that may seem simple, but it is SO good. Although this cake has never been entered in to a formal competition, every time it is eaten it wins the hearts of those who are lucky enough to taste… the older ladies at church coffee mornings, Bonzai experts who come from all over the world to my Uncle Tony’s convention and friends of mine and all of Grandma’s grandchildren… it’s a cake for all generations and everybody wants a piece!
Grandma whips them up with the speed of a lady in-the-know, but with all of the care and love a Grandma can give. This extra sprinkle of love between the layers is the magic ingredient, and that is what makes Grandma’s the best chocolate cake in the world!
Ingredients:
- 6 oz (170g) flora
- 6 oz (170g) caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 6 oz (170g) raising flour (including a’good tablespoon’ of cocoa powder in the measurement)
- 4 oz (115g) icing sugar (including another ‘good tablespoon’ of drinking chocolate in the measurement)
- 2 ½ oz (70g) butter (flora can be used as a substitute)
- A pinch of good will and a generous sprinkling of love!
Grandma’s Directions:
Tip: Just before the milk chocolate sets, gently mark out the slices with a knife so as to facilitate cutting later and to avoid a cracked landslide of lovely decorations!
Et voila… spiffingly English chocolate layer cake from a real English grandma!
December 30, 2012
Baking, Beef, English, Kosher, Low Carb, Recipes, Steakhouse baking, beef, cooking, dinner, food, Gourmet, Kosher, low carb, mushroom, postaday, recipe, recipes 9 Comments
Some dishes just look much more impressive than others. People who see them believe you spent much more time than other dishes you make. You could spend hours performing intricate steps in a dish, but if it doesn’t look like it, it is just not as impressive. To put it plainly, those recipes are often too much hassle.
Other recipes, work the other way and are golden! This Beef Wellington recipe is like that. It looks like it took hours to work on and in reality, it is a little sautéing and then folding the pastry dough over the meat. When you bring it to the table, you get “ooohs” and “ahhhhs”.
It was delicious. Tender meat, delicious mushrooms and flaky pastry – what’s not to love?
Such a simple recipe.
I used a different cut than the tenderloin, but it worked as well.
Frying up the veggies.
I rolled out the pastry dough and basted it with the egg.
Spreading out the veggies.
Folding it all up. The dough was probably spread a little too big.
Looks great!
So tasty!
Prep Time: 1 Hr 10 Min | Cook Time: 1 Hr 25 Min | Makes: 10 servings
Place the beef in a lightly greased roasting pan. Season with the black pepper, if desired. Roast at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 130 degrees F. Cover the pan and refrigerate for 1 hour. Thaw the pastry sheet at room temperature for 40 minutes or until it’s easy to handle. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Stir the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork. Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onion and cook until the vegetables are tender and all the liquid is evaporated, stirring often. Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry sheet into a rectangle 4 inches longer and 6 inches wider than the beef. Brush the pastry sheet with the egg mixture. Spoon the mushroom mixture onto the pastry sheet to within 1-inch of the edges. Place the beef in the center of the mushroom mixture. Starting at the long sides, fold the pastry over the beef. Place seam-side down on a baking sheet. Tuck the ends under to seal. Brush the pastry with the egg mixture. Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden and a meat thermometer reads 140 degrees F. Slice and serve warm.
Amount Per Serving Calories: 284 | Total Fat: 19.2g | Cholesterol: 70mg Powered by ESHA Nutrient Database
