Jumbles

Its been a while, we know, but little people tend to take over lives, and what cooking we do is often something tried and tested, or a vegetable puree for little mouths, or just heating something up which we've batch-cooked previously. So in reality we have been cooking, but not so much that is interesting to write about!

However the other day, after wanting something quick and easy to snack on, I came over all Mary Berry. I felt the need to fill up the cake tins with lots of tasty home baked treats.
I went off to the library in search of some baking books. I came across The Great British Book of Baking which had so many recipes I wanted to try, I had to take it out.

The first recipe I tried was "Jumbles".
The book gives a little write up about where the recipe came from and about how the "flavourings" can be adapted to suit whatever you have in the cupboard. I chose white chocolate chunks and chopped hazelnuts.

The picture above is actually of my second attempt at these biscuits, as yes, they are supposed to be biscuits.  The recipe says to place a spoonful of the mixture onto a baking tray to cook, but either the use of a fan oven for baking is beyond me, or it is the gluten-free flour not acting as normal, or maybe even both, but they all joined together and ended up as a massive burnt offering which took a lot of perseverance with a spatula/chisel to get off the tray.
The more successful batch (pictured) was produced by adding that spoonful to the bottom of a silicone muffin tray. They did end up more cakey, than biscuity, but this is not a complaint, as they were lovely and even though only temporarily, they did provide a filling for the cake tin.

Recipe (taken from The Great British Book of Baking)

125g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
50g light muscavado sugar
1 medium free range egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
flavourings: up to 100g

Preheat oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5
Gently melt the butter in a pan large enough to take all the ingredients. Remove from the heat and stir in both the sugars. Using a fork, beat the egg with the vanilla in a small bowl until thoroughly combined, then stir into the butter and sugar. Sift the flour and baking powder into the pan and stir in. When thoroughly combined add your chosen flavourings.

Using a tablespoon, scoop the mixture on to greased baking trays, setting the biscuits well apart to allow for spreading. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the jumbles are a light golden brown colour and just firm.

Remove the trays from the oven and leave to cool for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.

Dorowat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

Dorowat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

Although it has been a while since we last posted, I can assure you we have been cooking.  The pressure of having a very young child to take care of is taking it's toll and the blog is the one that has suffered.  Mainly we have been cooking tried and tested recipes but every now and again we have searched for something a little different.

We have used the slow-cooker quite a lot recently too as it is good to prepare food during Olivia's morning snooze, hit the button and have tea ready 8 hours later.  This recipe is an absolutely fantastic example that we found in Making the Most of Your Slow Cooker. 

We changed things only very slightly so this is basically the recipe as stated in the book:

Vegetable Oil
3 Medium Onions (chopped)
3 Garlic Cloves (chopped)
1 tsp Minced Ginger
200 ml Vegetable Stock
250 ml Passata
3 Hard Boiled Eggs
6 Skinless Boneless Chicken Thighs
Salt and Pepper

Spice Mix (crushed and mixed)

5 Cardamon Pods
5 Cloves
1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Method:

Pre-heat the slow cooker
Cook the onions over a medium heat for about 10 minutes
Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further 2 minutes
Add the stock and passata and cook for a further 10 minutes till thickened a little
Add the spice mix and stir through and season
Transfer the sauce to the slow cooker and add the chicken thighs whole and push them down to just be submerged.
Cook on medium for 5 hours
Add the boiled eggs and cook for a further hour

We had this served with rice and flat breads and thought it was fantastic.  It had a lovely dark colour and a sweet and spicy flavour with just enough heat.  The boiled eggs was a new one on us but it seemed to work well.  In fact we enjoyed this dish so much we might do a little research into Ethiopean cuisine and see what delights we can discover.

Kashmiri Butter Fish

Kashmiri Butter Fish

This was a fantastic dish I created after making a Kashmiri Butter Chicken in the slow cooker.  The original recipe comes from Ultimate Slow Cooker.  From this I used the idea of creating the sauce seperate from the meat and pureeing the onions in order to get the right consistency.  This is not a new idea for us as it is the way we make curry sauce "curry secret" style.

When preparing the sauce for the chicken I thought it would work perfectly for cooking fish.  This is because I could spend the time getting the sauce just right and then add the fish just for 10 minutes till cooked.  I also decided to add a little chilli powder to the spice mix as it seemed to be lacking a little in heat.

So that is what I did.  This recipe can be easily adapted by making the sauce and pouring over whole fillets and baking in the oven in order to keep the fish whole.  On this occasion I cut up a couple of fillets of Coley into chunks and cooked them for 10 minutes at the end which worked perfecly well too.

Here is how I did it:

Ingredients:

white Fish (such as Coley)
30g butter
3tbsp double cream
2 medium onions
3 cloves of garlic
chunk of fresh ginger (2 inch)
2tbsp tomato puree/paste
half pint chicken stock
1tbsp demerera sugar
salt and pepper

Spice Mix:

1tsp paprika
1tsp turmeric
1tsp fennel seeds
1tsp whole cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
5 cardamon pods
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

Blitz the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor.
Heat the butter in a large pan or wok and add the onion puree.
Cook on a medium heat till just beginning to colour (about 15 mins)

Crush and mix all the spices together in a pestle and mortar and add to the onions.  Cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the sugar, tomato puree and chicken stock, season and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Add the chopped fish and cook for a further 10 minutes.  Take off the heat and add the cream and serve.

St Petersburg, Manchester

Not knowing much about Russian cuisine, I was rather excited and intrigued when a friend invited me out for a meal at St Petersburg restaurant in Manchester. She had bought a Groupon which was needing to be spent, so it was a week night that we went.
The limits of the voucher meant that we could only choose from the Duke Stroganoff Menu between certain (early) times, but a quick look on the website showed us that this didn't appear to be very restrictive at all!
The menu had lots of exciting things to choose from, and the decision, for me anyway, could have been a lot harder if I was eating wheat. There were a few pancake options called Blini, which sounded great, but alas not for me. Maybe I'll do some research into the various recipes and try and re-create them at home.
I chose the Sveklas So Slivamy to start, which, according to the menu was a Russian mixed vegetable salad. and my friend chose the Schee - a sour cabbage soup.

The salad was fresh and creamy and seemed to consist mainly of beetroot and walnuts, and was rather like coleslaw. The portion was rather substantial, but this isn't a complaint, as it was lovely. Again, the soup was rather large, but very tasty. The only thing that was slightly disappointing was the accompaniment of those shop-bought bread rolls.

For the main course I chose the Miasnie Kotelty which were apparently "Russian Style juicy beef mincemeat rissoles (I'm never sure what a rissole actually is) served with a spicy sauce or sauce of your choice". I didn't get a choice of sauce, but spicy is always fine with me.
My friend chose the Pelmeni Sibirskie - beef and pork pelmeni (Russian style ravioli), served with fresh herbs and butter and a sauce of your choice. Again, not sure if there was a choice of sauce, but it came with a sour cream dip and some hot chilli sauce.

The beef rissoles were very juicy, and were covered in a rich creamy sauce. I loved the fact that the chips were homemade (are things homemade when made in a restaurant? - but you know what I mean) and the chilli sauce added a bit of heat. The salad garnish was fresh, but a little basic. I believe that the ravioli wasn't what was expected, but tasty and filling.

We opted for ice cream and the gateau of the day (chocolate) to finish off.

By this time, it was late in the evening, and the restaurant was now full. So obviously the restaurant is popular outside of the vouchers! We thought that the food was very good, and the choice of wine was good too, but we're not sure that we would pay full price. I suppose that's the danger with Groupon etc. They do get you into the restaurants to try to food and sample the atmosphere, but somehow you do think twice about going back without the discounts. Or is that just me being tight?! Actually, yes it is - the prices are not that expensive!
We found the service very good too, and although there are a few things that seem to be lost in translation on the menu, and many words which require concentration to pronounce, this all added to the fun. I think we will go back, just maybe when there's another offer....

Vegetable and Blue Cheese Crumble

A couple of years ago, while I was eating wheat and all things bread, I ate what was a lovely meal in a pub in Tintagel, Cornwall. The trip was full of lovely culinary experiences. A traditional cream tea, a fantastic Nepalese curry, and of course the fabulous traditional Cornish pasty. Most of which are a little more difficult for me to eat now....
We were camping in Tintagel, and many evenings were spent eating out. Mostly at the pub in the village, where we almost worked our way through the menu. The dish that stuck in my mind was the veggie dish of Vegetable and Stilton Crumble.

We've recently been given a bag of dried gluten-free breadcrumbs, and since I am once again allowed to eat blue cheeses, I thought I'd have a go at re-creating this dish.
The amounts can be varied depending on your preferences or what you have in your fridge. Also, the amount of blue cheese can be varied depending on how cheesy you like things.
We served it with chips and peas, in true pub food style. Yum!

1 large leek, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
Half a broccoli, broken into florets
Half a cauliflower, broken into florets
200g blue cheese, crumbled
Half pint milk
Tablespoon flour
25g butter
Handful of breadcrumbs
25g grated Parmesan

1. Gently fry the onion and leek until soft.
2. Boil the broccoli, cauliflower and carrots until tender.
3. Mix all the vegetables together in a large bowl or pan.
4. Make a white sauce by first melting the butter in a pan. Stir in the flour, and then add the milk bit by bit, stirring continuously. When the sauce has thickened, stir in the blue cheese until melted, and season to taste.
5. Stir the cheese sauce through all the veg and spread in am ovenproof dish.
6. Mix the breadcrumbs with the Parmesan and sprinkle evenly over the veg.
7. Bake at 180C for about 20 mins or until the topping is golden.