Author: Notnick

Toffee apples

6 apples
400g sugar (golden caster works well)
4 tbl golden syrop
1 tsp vinegar

Pour boiling water over the apples to remove the wax.

Put sticks into the apples a prepare a baking tray (to put them on once dipped)

in a pan mix the sugar and 100ml of water, heat till the sugar disolves.

add the golden syrop and vinegar. heat to 150ºc / hard crack stage.

cool the outside of the pan with a little cold water, to arrest cooking, but keep the caramel liquid.

dip each apple in tha caramel and pit on thesheet to cool.

Cherry Curds

Ok- this one is an odd recipe. My mum told me about this – when she was evacuated from Coventry during the war, she stayed with Mrs Harris in Cherrington, Shrops. Living the farm life she saw a some unusual recipes – very local, possibly lost now.

She talked about Cherry curds – possibly named for ‘Cherrington’ and nothing to do with cherries. its a baked custard made with Cow Colostrum. (Colostrum is a much richer ‘milk’, from cows that have given birth, before the regular milk starts. It is rich in vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates)

So the recipe, as she remembers it is – get hold of fresh ‘first milk’, put it into aoven proof dish, sprinkle the top with nutmeg and cook slowly till set.

Got me thinking abourt the history of the dish

In the uk i t seems to be called a Beestings or beastings pudding (with the first milk being the beestings). The name seems to change accross the regions. References in wales to calf pudding (Pwdin llo bach). The favourings seem to change by region (or cook) – sometimes ginger, vanilla, nutmeg etc) Sometme cooked quick to caramelise, sometime slow to just set.

Around the world – different recies. In Iceland the pudding is called Ábrystir, and Norway – Kalvedans.

– can’t find any record of this in the uk – but looking further afield, I can find a recipe from Norway where they make KALVEDANS – (translates as Calf Dance) which is still made, and describes as Norways answer to a creme bruleé:

KALVEDANS

3 cups raw milk, mixed from the 1st and 2nd day
1 cup whole milk
4 tbsp sugar
vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 150ºc.

Combine all ingredients and pour into a deep ovenproof pan Fill a deep tray with hot water that reaches half way up the form, place in oven and bake for about 1 hour.  Check to see that the pudding is firm before removing from oven. Can be served hot, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Many people serve it chilled topped with a raspberry or strawberry sauce. (from arcticgrub.com/ )

Carrot Cake

OK, its not just carrot. I found a version that added coconut and pineapple too – which helps with the texture and moisture. This is my take on that recipe. This version has no nuts (for Poppy) using sunflower seeds and pine-nuts instead. Its lovely & moist, and sweet. Lots of vanilla and cinamon.

The cake –

Dry:
250 g plain flour (2 cups)
400g sugar (2 cups) (white or light brown)
150g chopped ‘nuts’ – sunflower seeds, pine nuts or a mix
50g desiccated coconut
2 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinamon powder
1/4 tsp salt

Wet:
220g grated carrot (2 cups)
60g buttermilk (1/4 cup)
60g sunflower oil (1/4 cup)
240g drained crushed pineapple (1 can, drained)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

For the cake – mix dry ingredients together, then add the wet and mix well. Cook in a 13×9 inch (33 x 23 cm) pan. Bake for 40-45 mins at 180ºc.

Whilst its still warm, and in the pan, add the buttermilk glaze, below:

Pour onto the hot cake. Once sunk in, cool the cake on a rack.

Once thoroughly cooled add the cream cheese frosting, below:

Buttermilk glaze
50g sugar (1/2 cup)
60g buttermilk (1/4 cup)
60g butter (1/4 cup)
2 tsp golden syrup

Bring the ingredents to boil, and simmer for 4 mins. Use hot to glaze the cake.

Cream cheese frosting:
180g soft cream cheese
120g softened butter
2 tsp vanilla
550g icing sugar

beat the butter and cream cheese together – much esier if theyre both softened. add the icing sugar and vanilla, and whip till its light(ish). spread onto the cake.

Coconut Macaroons

Rice paper
100g dessicated coconut
100g caster sugar
2 egg whites (beaten)
1 flat tbl plain flour
1 tsp vamilla extract
1 pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 160ºc
line a baking sheet – greese proof paper then rice paper.

whisk the eggwhites to a soft peak – add the sugar and mix. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. spoon out onto the rice paper – makes about 8-12, depending on size..

Ratatouille

According to Google – The origin of the dish is in the area around Provence and Nice. Originally, the word “ratatouille” means from 1778 a motley stew. … It is composed of pieces of cooked vegetables, especially eggplant, onions, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes, and garlic. (Thats Aubergine and Courgette to everyone speaking English). Here’s my version – but I think it changes a little every time I make it.

4 Aubergine – 1cm dice
4 Courgettes – 1/4 discs, 1cm length. deseeded)
2 onions – fine dice
2 cloves garlic (pressed/minced)
6-ish mushrooms (closed cup)
2 red peppers
2 green peppers
2 cans tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
2 bay leaf
Basil, Oregano – fresh or dried. (or Italian mix)
salt to taste

So – the ingredient list is a handy helper – no need to be exact here. Key to a good ratatouille (in my opinion) is getting the dice size right, so that it’s not too chunky, and cooks evenly. Ideally everything diced to circa 1cm – apart from the onion, which is more background sauce. Also – don’t overdo the tomato – it can overpower. Get all the ingredients n the pan, then just enough canned tomato to ‘wet up and make a sauce’.

With a decent size pot – onion in first. fine dice. fry off till softened. Add peppers then courgettes, aubergines, mushrooms. sweat it all off till a little soft. add the remaining ingredients and stew for 15 mins. Might need a bit of water to wet up – not much, its a stew not a soup. Salt to taste finish with the herbs, taste and serve.

White bread

Right – for a super simple staple food, there’s a lot of complexity I didn’t expect, and its taking me a long time to get to grips with whats going on. kneading is the bit that gets me right now. I will hopefully build a guide for myself at some point to balance out the protein vs water vs fat mixes that seem to be the bit between bread, and reliable repeatable bread.

But whilst I’m researching/trying to understand that from the metric-shit ton of reading, heres a basic bred dough recipe to get started with. Its here cuz I keep coming back to it, rather than doing new work. I’m basically a lazy breadmaker..

  • 500g white bread flour
  • 350ml luke-warm water (21ºc ish)
  • Bakers yeast. Whatever the packet says for 500g flour. I’ve been using fresh yeast – and keeping spare in the freezer (fresh yeast freezes – who knew?)
  • 10g salt
  • 1 tsp of sugar – if you must. depends what the yeast needs.

Banana cake

Line a bread tin and set the oven to 160ºc. Poppy first made this cake from a recipe she found. A couple of small changes, and suddenly a new favourite!

  • 140g softened butter (room temp)
  • 140g caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 140g sr flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 very ripe bananas – mashed

Whip the butter and sugar together and add the eggs. fold in the flour, baking powder and bananas.

Get the mix into the oven as quick as you can to give the soda as much opportunity to make bubbles in your cake as you can . Cook for about 30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Let it cool a fe minutes in the pan then turn out.

If you want to decorate the top you can add a little icing and or banana chips, or a little chocolate. it doesn’t need it though..

Rock Buns

Makes about 12-18.

My mum always made rock buns – everyone likes ’em she said. they’re a bit like a rich cakey scone. can get a little dry after a say or so.

8oz sr flour
4oz sugar
4oz butter
4oz currents, sultanas, raisins (whatever you got)
pinch salt
1 egg
enough milk to make a stiff batter/ loose dough
Sugar to decorate

Mix the flour and sugar, and rub in the butter to bread crumbs.
add the currents and egg and enough milk to loosely bind. Add big dollops to a lined baking sheet. Sprinkle a little sugar on the top. They will spread a bit when cooking, but should turn out like rocks on a baking sheet.

Cook at 180ºc for 20 mins.

Coconut Macaroons

100g desiccated coconut
100g caster sugar
2 egg whites
1tbsp plain flour
1 pinch of salt
1tsp vanilla extract
Rice paper

Preheat oven to 160C/fan. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and then the rice paper

If you like, toast the coconut in the oven for a few minutes , and cool before making the macaroons (I prefer not to) .Mix the desiccated coconut, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla extract and egg whites together. The mixture should be loose and sticky. Spoon the mixture into slightly flattened ‘dollops’ onto the rice paper and cook for 14-16 minutes until golden brown.