Passion fruit puddle pudding

Serves 4:



Butter 50g
Golden caster sugar 200g
Passion fruit 6, insides scooped out, (sieve out the seeds if you prefer)
Lemons 2, juiced
Eggs 3, seperated
Plain Flour 50g
Milk 250 ml

Heat the oven to 180oC / fan 160oc/ gas 4.

Beat the butter and sugar together till pale with electric beater. Add passionfruit, lemons, egg yolks, flour and milk and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Whisk the egg whites till soft peaks form. Then fold them into the passionfruit mixture.

Pour into a buttered ovenproof dish and put on a baking tray and fill half way with hot water. Bake for 45-50 mins or until top is softly / lightly browned and a sauce has formed at the bottom. Serve hot with cream / crème fraîche.

Pear, Apple, Pecan and Maple Crumble - GLUTEN FREE

Serves 4: Takes 10 mins to make 35 mins to cook. (can double the recipe for larger quantities)

For the filling

2 cooking apples
2 pears
80g Demarera / brown sugar / raw cane sugar
Juice of half and orange / lemon ( I used both)
60g Pecan nuts, lightly toasted

For the topping

70g rice flour
30g sunflower spread / (low fat spread)
30g coconut oil
70g oats
60g sugar (brown)
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. To make the filling, peel and core the apples and pears, then cut them into large chunks and transfer to a large saucepan. Add the sugar, lemon / orange juice and 1 tbsp of water to the pan and toss to coat the fruit. Set over a low-medium heat, then stew for 10 - 15 mins, until half cooked. Transfer the stewed fruit to a medium pie dish or casserole with all the juices, then mix in the pecans reserving some to decorate the top. Set aside to cool while you make the topping.

2. Pre heat the oven to 180oC/160oC Fan/ Gas 4. Tip the rice flour sunflower spread and coconut oil into a bowl and rub the fat into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the oats, sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon, mix thoroughly and  then sprinkle the topping over the fruit and scatter remaining pecans ontop and bake for 35 - 45 mins until the crumble is golden and bubbling around the edges.

Serve with frozen yogurt / your favourite accompanyment.

Venison Chilli

My husband cooked this chilli for us last weekend. It was devine to say the least. Im bribing him for the recipe. So will be coming soon ...

Ok so as promised-here is the recipe

2 ancho dried chillies (if you can't find use birds eye or other dried chillies)
1 shoulder venison
1 dsp cumin seeds
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
2 fresh chillies
100ml sunflower oil or similar
1 tsp chilli powder
500g tinned peeled and chopped tomatoes
1 dsp dried or fresh oregano
Soured cream
6 spring onions
Bunch fresh coriander
Tortillas

Soak the dried chillies in a bowl of cold water. Bone and dice the venison into 2 cm cubes. In a heavy, large dry casserole, roast the cumin seeds on high heat until they give off a strong, toasty aroma. Pour these seeds into a mortar / blender and grind to a powder.

Peel and finely chop the onion, garlic and fresh chillies and stew these in the casserole in a couple of tablespoons of oil. Remove from heat.

In a separate pan fry off meat in batches in hot oil, colouring each side and adding to casserole. Once all the meat is sealed off, add the chilli powder, tomatoes, oregano and enough water to cover. Bring to a gentle simmer and skim off any scum that rises to the top and later in the cooking process any oil or fat.

The stew will need two and a 1/2 hrs to cook properly and will be improved by cooking the day before with a lengthily half hours reheating the next day. (If it lasts that long lol)

Serve with pilau rice, a bowl or soured cream, spring onions, coriander and tortillas or Nachos.

One word: yummmmy x

Turkey Chilli

A healthy alternative to chilli con carne.

1 tbsp olive oil
400 g turkey mince
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp oregano
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 onions, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
50 g celery diced
120ml white wine
1 tbsp sun-dried tomato purée
1 can chopped tomatoes
bunch of coriander,
chopped sour cream, nachos, rice/ what ever you would like to serve

Method

 

Pour the olive oil into a large saucepan and sautee the onions and garlic till soft. Add the red pepper and stir in the chilli powder, paprika, oregano and stir well. Add the turkey mince. When the meat is cooked, add in the white wine.

 

Add sun dried tomato purée, chopped tomatoes, beans and coriander. Let simmer for 20 minutes until cooked. Serve.

 

 

Home made Clementine Jelly

I was watching Jamie Oliver's Christmas on the Good Food Channel and decided to try out this recipe. Really fun to make with the kids and it is a yummy and healthy dessert. You can use glass ramekins or jelly moulds like I did.

Ingredients

• 5 leaves of gelatine (platinum grade)
• 600ml clementine juice (from about 20 clementines)
• Caster sugar, to taste
• A small piece of fresh ginger, peeled
• 2 clementines, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
• 1 heaped tsp vanilla syrup (which you can buy at lots of good food stores) or a few drops of vanilla extract
• 200g natural yoghurt
• Good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

Method

1. Pour 500ml cold water into a bowl with the gelatine leaves and soak for a few minutes until softened. Pour the clementine juice into a pan over a low heat and warm it through, then add the softened gelatine and let it dissolve, stirring occasionally. Add a little sugar to sweeten the juice, but not too much - you still want that zippy clementine flavour to come through. Grate a tiny bit of ginger onto your chopping board then squeeze it over the juice so you get a few drips of ginger juice in there.
2. Arrange 6 small serving glasses (about 200ml each) on a tray and put 2 clementine rounds into each one. Sieve the clementine mixture into each glass then put them in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or until they're set and wobbly.
3. To serve, mix the vanilla syrup into the yoghurt and dollop a spoonful on top of each jelly, then grate or shave a few pretty bits of chocolate on top

Banana

Great tip, if you have bananas going ripe and starting to colour. Put in the freezer for use again another day to make banana bread or banana chocolate brownies.

Quick healthy snack - take bananas out of freezer and blitz in food processor for instant banana ice cream.

Ideas for using up left overs

I decided to post this as after Christmas everyone has so much left overs and need inspiration on how to use them up.
Roast Potatoes

You could either

1. Chop them up and add to a fritatta or spanish omlette and add other ingredients to it.
2. Chop them, add chopped red onion and cheddar cheese and bake at 180oC for 20 mins and serve with your main or even for breakfast with baked beans.
3. Chop them up into cubes and sautee with garlic and sage and serve as a side dish.

 Left over Veg

You could reheat in the oven and add to cous cous and serve with some grilled lamb chops

Left over Ham

- Ham Pie, you can use up left over soup and ham and use frozen pastry to make a pie

Turkey

- turkey, leek pie / turkey and ham pie
- turkey and noodle stir fry
- turkey curry (using up any curry paste you have in your storecupboard
- turkey paella.



Paella

Prep time:30 min

Cook time:45 min

Serves:8

 

A delicious mixture of chicken, chorizo, mussels and prawns

You can leave out the mussels and add clams instead or just leave it out. I make this recipe all the time, for entertaining and just for us to enjoy at home. Really nice with some crusty / garlic bread and a fresh green salad.

Ingredients

500g mussels, cleaned (can buy vaccum packed from super market)

125 ml olive oil

175 g chorizo, cut into 5mm thick slices

115 g pancetta, diced

8 chicken thighs, each cut in half

1 large Spanish onion, finely diced

1 tsp thyme

2 clove garlic, finely chopped

½ tsp dried red chilli flakes

1 red pepper, diced

1.2 litres chicken stock

1 tsp strands saffron

450 g calasparra rice

3 bay leaves

1 tsp paprika

125 ml dry white wine

1 tbsp lemon juice

115 g frozen peas, thawed

55 g unsalted butter

4 large tomatoes, deseeded and diced

5 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

grated rind of 1 lemons

black pepper

12 raw, shell-on jumbo prawns

450 g squid, cleaned and cut into bite-sized pieces

Method

1. Place half the olive oil in a paella dish or large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and pancetta and cook for 2-3 minutes, until crisp, then remove and set aside. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, until browned, then remove and set aside.

2. Add half the remaining olive oil to the pan with the onion, thyme, three-quarters of the garlic, the chilli flakes and the red pepper and cook over a medium heat for 8 minutes, or until the onion has softened without colouring.

3. Place the stock and saffron in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.

4. Meanwhile, add the rice, bay leaves and paprika to the onion and red pepper mixture and stir to coat the rice in the oil. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously. Stir in the white wine, lemon juice and hot saffron stock and cook for a further 5 minutes.

5. Fold the chorizo, pancetta and browned chicken into the rice mixture. Cover in damp greaseproof paper and cook gently over a low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the peas, then place the mussels in the pan with the edges that will open facing outwards. Cover and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until all the mussels have opened. Discard any that remain closed. Remove the greaseproof paper and fold in the butter, tomatoes, parsley and grated lemon rind. Season to taste. Cover loosely with kitchen foil to keep warm.

6. Place the remaining olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the remaining garlic and the prawns and fry for 2-3 minutes, turning once, adding the squid for the last minute.

8. Scatter the prawns and squid over the paella and serve immediately

 

Glam Trifle with Amarula Cream

Happy New Year everyone.. Wishing you a very blessed, prosperous, healthy and happy 2013.

We were invited over to a dinner party for New Years Eve. I spotted this dessert on the cover of BBC Good Food January 2013 issue. So I decided to make it. It takes a little more time than my usual recipe picks. I had all the ingredients in the house so decided to give it a go.

Serves 8 - 10

Prep: 1 hr 30 mins, plus lots of chilling in between (so allow a morning or afternoon)

Cook: 10 mins

flavourless oil for greasing

1 shop bought large Madeira loaf cake

250ml / 9fl oz double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
few sprinkle (optional)

FOR THE CREAM LAYER

2 gelatine leaves

200ml / 9oz double cream
3 tbsp sweet sherry
100g / 4 oz mascapone
4 tbsp icing sugar

FOR THE CUSTARD

2 gelatine leaves
3 tbsp custard powder
3 tbsp icing sugar
400ml / 14 fl oz milk

FOR THE JELLY LAYER

135g pack raspberry jelly
350g / 12 oz frozen raspberries, defrosted

1. Grease a 900g loaf tin, then line with cling film - as smooth as you can get it. Use 1 long strip of baking parchment to line the base and ends of the tin, leaving some sticking up at each end to help you pull the loaf free later. Criss-cross another piece of parchment to line the base and longer sides.

2. For the cream layer, soak the gelatine in cold water. Gently warm the cream and sherry in the saucepan. When the gelatine is softened, squeeze out excess water, take the cream off the heat and stir in the gelatine until dissolved. Gently whisk the marscapone and icing sugar and add cooled cream. Scrape into the tin and bang a couple of time to level. Chill until set about an hour.

3. Start each following layer while previous layer is chilling. For the custard layer, soak the gelatine in cold water. Make up the custard following pack instructions, but using the quantities we've given. When the gelatine is soft, squeeze excess water, remove the custard from the heat and stir in the gelatine until melted. Lay cling film directly on the surface of the custard to stop a skin forming, then cool. Once room temp scrape into the tin on top of the set cream layer as above. Chill again till set.

4. Make up the raspberry jelly following pack instructions but using 300ml hot water. Whizz 150g rasberriess then sieve and to jelly. Cool to room temp, then scatter remaining raspberries over set custard and pour over jelly and chill until almost set.

5. Trim the brown edges from the Madeira cake then cut it lengthways into big slices 1.5 - 2cm thick. Cover the jelly with the sponge, like a puzzle, using a few bits as possible. Push slightly into the jelly, then cover with cling film and chill until completely set.

6. To Serve, turn upside down onto your serving plate. Ease the loaf from tin using the over lapping parchment paper and gently peel off the cling film, then the parchment.


Amarula Cream

1 carton double cream
35ml amarula cream / baileys
2 tbsp icing sugar.

Whip cream, you can serve on the side or pipe ontop.

Enjoy x x x