Saturday, 27 December 2014

Cheese Biscuits


These biscuits taste like cheese straws and they are just as morish. The quantity of ingredients listed here will provide you with plenty of biscuits, but they store really well in an airtight container.

What you’ll need:
400g flour just plain no need to sift
6g baking powder mix this into the flour
250g butter straight out of the fridge, no need to bring it to room temperature
1 medium egg, separated into yolk and white (always take the eggs out of the fridge hours before using them for baking)
100g soured cream
80g finely grated cheddar cheese (mild or mature depending on how intense you want the flavour)
Poppy seeds or sesame seeds to sprinkle on top of the biscuits before baking




Method:

I use a food processor if you can as this considerably speeds up the making of the dough. Simply whizz together the flour and butter until a crumbly texture is achieved (this can also be done by hand of course). Add the egg yolk, soured cream and grated cheese and whizz into a dough ball.
The dough is pretty soft at this point so I like to divide it into two balls, wrap each in cling film and place them into the fridge to chill and firm up.
Approx. 30 mins later, remove one of the dough balls from the fridge and roll it out on a floured surface (try not to use too much flour) to an even 3mm thickness. I use a 5 cm diameter champagne flute (or cookie cutter) to cut out as many circles as I can before re-rolling the dough. Place the circles onto a baking tray quite close to each other – the pasty will shrink rather than expand during baking so the biscuits will not stick together. I use a silicon sheet, but due to the high butter content, there is no need to oil the baking tray. Brush each circle with the lightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds or both.
Bake at 190°C fan until golden (10-12-mins). Repeat with second dough ball for second batch.

Enjoy!

Leek and Garlic Potato Gratin



Ingredients
Serves:
 4 

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 leeks, sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic, grated
  • 300ml (1/2 pt) milk
  • 300ml double cream
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 6 medium sized potatoes
  • 1 handful grated cheese (optional)

Method
Prep:15min  ›  Cook:1hr  ›  Ready in:1hr15
min 

  1. Heat butter in a pan and add in sliced leeks; cook till slightly softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add the grated garlic for the last minute of cooking. Remove from heat and set aside
  2. In a bowl mix the milk, cream, salt, pepper and the leeks and garlic you've just cooked together. Set aside.
  3. Peel potatoes and slice 2-3 mm thick. Put an even layer of potato in the bottom of a casserole dish and top with cream and leek mixture. Continue repeating with another layer of potato and mixture till finished. Top with grated cheese (optional).
  4. Bake in 180 C / Gas 4 oven till golden and bubbly, 40 to 50 minutes.

Tips and suggestions to make this dish even easier and more delicious to achieve:

·         Use the slicer attachment on your food processor to speedily slice the leeks. Cover the pan while sautéing the leeks on low heat, remember to stir occasionally otherwise it’ll catch at the bottom of the pan.
·         Peel the potatoes while the leeks are on the hob, and use the food processor again to slice the washed potatoes. The potatoes are really floury so it’s a good idea to wash and drain well once it’s sliced. I’ve found that if this step is missed, the potatoes taste starchy in the finished dish.
·         Mix the milk and double cream in a measuring jug and stir in the grated garlic to infuse the liquid rather than adding it to the sautéed leeks.
·         I generously butter the baking dish and alternate the potato and leek layers. I pour the liquid over the already layered dish and then place it in the oven.
·         Half way through cooking, I’ll sprinkle on the grated cheese so it doesn’t burn.
·         Check how well the liquid is  being absorbed and top it up with some hot milk if there is not much liquid left and the potatoes still have a way to go until cooked.






Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Glossary



 Dutch-processed or Alkalised Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Colour reddish-brown and mild flavour. The beans are treated with an alkaline solution during the roasting process which neutralise the acids. Due to it’s neutrality this type of cocoa has to be used with baking powder (not bicarbonate/baking soda). Recommended for European cakes.
Brands: Cadbury’s

Natural or American-Style Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Colour rich brown and bitter flavour. Natural cocoa (an acid) has to be used with bicarbonate/baking soda (an alkali) to achieve the batter to rise in the oven.
Recommended for brownies, cookies
Brands: Hershey’s

Gel versus Liquid versus Paste versus Powder food colouring: Tip: use a cocktail stick to gradually add colour to your mix
Liquid: mixes well with liquids, great for adding to cooking water for dying Easter eggs
Gel: produces rich, vibrant colour, does not alter the consistency of the batter or dough
Paste: very concentrated, produces deep and vivid colour
Powder: super concentrated best used for painting or mixing with sugar
Brands: Dr Oetker

Pork cuts




Hocks
Slow-cooked pork hocks are sweet and tender. The meat is excellent in pea and ham soup, roasted or braised until the meat is falling off the bone.
Shoulder
With a slightly higher fat level, shoulder joints are great for roasting and braising. Diced shoulder is superb stir-fried, slow-cooked or stewed. Pork shoulder steaks are delicious simply grilled – and are perfect for the barbecue as a steak or as kebabs.
Loin
The loin is often cured to make back bacon. It’s also made into pork roasting joints, steaks, chops, cutlets and spare ribs. The tenderloin, or fillet, sits behind the loin towards the back; it’s beautifully tender and lean.
Ribs
Ribs are fantastic roasted, grilled or marinated and cooked on the barbecue. Loin ribs or spare ribs, come from the front of the rib cage and are long. Belly ribs are shorter and come from further towards the leg.
Leg
These are usually cured and then cooked to make ham, but can also be cut into pork roasting joints or leg steaks. Ham, gammon joints and steaks are only ever made from the leg. Ham is cured and cooked, usually served cold, gammon is sold cured but uncooked and usually served hot. The leg is much leaner than the belly and shoulder. Cheaper gammon joints are often formed from different cuts.
Belly
As it’s highly marbled with fat, pork belly is perfect for slow-roasting. The fat keeps the joint moist and succulent whilst cooking and delivers lots of flavour. Slow-cooking a belly joint with the rind on will deliver the best crackling too. Streaky bacon is also made from the belly.
Fillet
The tenderloin, or fillet, sits behind the loin towards the back; it's beautifully tender and lean.

Brassoi apropecsenye



This is a Hungarian recipe that is a firm favourite in our house. It’s practically pork and potato with the meat hob roasted with loads of garlic and the potato tray baked and then everything is mixed together to create the most delicious winter comfort food.

Ingredients for 4 people who already have had starters or 2 very hungry people:

400g pork loin or tenderloin (fillet) cut into small cubes – wash the meat before cutting it into small cubes. Always wash meat after taking it out of the packaging and use a dedicated chopping board for meat only.
20g lardon cut into thin strips – ideally use smoked fatty lardon, I find the Polish deli/grocery stores stock the best that I just keep in the freezer and don’t even bother defrosting before throwing it into the pan
600ml watery stock (vegetable or beef) – this is to provide some flavour, but not too overpowering, depending on the rate that the meet tenderise you may not need the full 600ml. I really like Knorr stock pots as their flavour feels authentic
2 bulbs of garlic, peeled and chopped – it’s a good idea to cut each clove in half and remove any green shoots as this can lend a slightly bitter flavour to the dish
9 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into same size small cubes as the meat – usually count 2-3 potatoes per person which equals a serving of mash, fries etc
Maldon sea salt and some olive oil

Method:
Fry the lardon on low heat in a saucepan (not frying pan). The lardon will release a great deal of delicious smoky fat, this is what you want to seal the small cubes of pork in (basically stir + fry until the meat turns from pink to white/brown). Once the meat is sealed, add the chopped garlic, stir it through and then pour enough stock into the pan to just about immerse the meat. Partially cover with a lid.
You’ll need to slow cook the meat in this stock until you can pull it apart with your fork, keep topping up the stock as it evaporates for about 45 mins.
While the meat is cooking, parboil the potatoes in boiling water until you can stick a fork through it but not yet fully cooked. Drain and spread it into a large roasting tin, tossing it in some olive oil and salt (add a few knobs of butter if you want to be super luxurious). Roast for about 40mins, stirring it every so often so that it roasts evenly.

Once both the meat and potato are cooked, pour the meat onto the potato in the roasting tin and mix it up. Serve in a big pasta bowl.

Intro


Aim: to collect tips and tricks, shortcuts and techniques to enable you to bring the most out of your cooking and help you to achieve perfectly delicious and presentable outcome from recipes for the first time every time

Intro: I’m a fairly accomplished amateur cook. My confidence in the kitchen comes from a solid foundation of basic techniques that I picked up over the years watching my chef mum cook for her family at home. I should be able to open a cookbook that is aimed at the general public, point at any recipe and recreate it at home. Well I should be able to, but to my own surprise, I can not. I would estimate that 70% of the time the end product is very different from what is described or pictured in the recipe, mostly edible but different.
I was once determined to bake a batch of red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting made famous in London by the Hummingbird Bakery. The recipe is not a secret and it is indeed published in the official Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (Tarek Malouf Apr 2009). Armed with the recipe, I sourced the ingredients as described and followed the process to the absolute letter. It took me exactly 3 attempts to achieve the same result that the Bakery charge £2.65 for.
On my first attempt, the cupcake was orange and somewhat flat, after some research I came to the conclusion that I needed to buy natural unsweetened cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s) instead of using alkalised or dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder (such as Cadbury’s).
My second attempt did improve, but the colour was still more orange than deep red. This time the fault was pinned to the food colouring used: gel versus liquid food colouring. It seems that it is advisable to use gel not liquid colour with this kind of batter. The gel does not alter the consistency of the batter and provide a more vibrant, concentrated colour.
While I enjoyed the learning process, I was frustrated that the recipe did not state such result changing information. It turns out that the author often wants to include this kind of detail, but in reality there is not enough space in the book to go interact with the reader to such extent. Anyway, following my adventures with the red velvet cupcake I decided to collate the kind of information that is left out of cookery books and recipes et large.

Welcome to my site.