Author: Notnick

Spicy BBQ Chicken Wings

These are my favourite wings – the recipe changes a little each time I make these, so feel free to play. Want them spicier – add hot paprika or more tabasco. Add a shot of whisky? why not?

This recipe should be for about 2kg Chicken Wings (tips removed and cut into 2 parts)

Stock to boil the chicken wings in:

  • 2 heaped tsp sweet smoked paprika
  • 1tsp English mustard powder
  • 1 tsp old bay seasoning /spice mix
  • 3tsp BBQ seasoning/ spice mix
  • 1 tsp veg boullion (or stock cube, or salt)
  • 7 splashes tabasco sauce
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 200g sugar

For the sauce/glaze

  • 200g dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp bay seasoning
  • 2 heaped tsp sweet smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp veg boullion or salt (-ish to taste)
  • 10 spashes tabasco
  • 3 tsp BBQ seasoning /spice mix
  • 100ml BBQ sauce or ketchup or worcestershire sauce
  • 3 tbl vinegar

Method

  • mix up the stock and boil the chicken wings for 20-25 minutes – adding enough water to just cover the wings. (Pack em down first)
  • mix up the sauce ingredients and briefly bring to boil so that the sugar disolves. might need a splash of water..
  • drain the wings, let them air dry a little in the pan, then add the glaze.
  • BBQ on a hot grill for about 5 minutes, until the skin crisps a little, and glaze has some colour, but not flat out burnt.

You can prepare these ahead of time and cook in a hurry. The chicken is cooked, so as doesnt need long on the grill – just heat up. Keep them refrigerated if cooking ahead of time though.

Apple & Cinnamon Bundt

OK – another apple cake recipe – because I’ve got a ton of apples to use. Should have made cider…

What is the difference between a bundt and a Gugelhupf I hear you ask?
The only real difference between the two cakes is that traditionally a Gugelhupf uses yeast to rasie it, where as a bundt uses baking soda or baking powder.

So the recipe:

First – heat the oven to 160ºc (fan), and prep a 9″ bundt tin (grease it, flour it)

400g sugar (white or light brown, depending on the color cake you want.)
325g veg oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
375g flour
1tsp baking soda
2tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3 medium apples, peeled, cored & diced

topping – cinnamon & icing sugar

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients, and fold in the apples. Add to the tin, and bake for 60mins until cooked through.

Apple and Cinnamon Swirl Cake

Oven – 160C (FAN). Line an 8″ square tim.

First off the apple –
2 apples – peeled and diced (1cm ish)
45g white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
– add apple to the sugar and cinnamon and mix – leave it on one side till you’re ready to pop it the cake batter.

The cinnamon swirl –
150g light brown sugar
2 tablespoons(!) of Cinnamon
120g melted butter
– Mix together, ready to dollop and swirl into the cake.

The cake batter-
300g plain flour
200g sugar
4 tsp baking powder
200g Milk
1tsp Vanilla
2 large eggs
110g melted butter
– Mix the batter ingedients together

The glaze –
200g icing sugar
40ml milk

Add the apple mix to the cake batter.
Add this to the lined cake tin, then dollop the cinnamon swirl mix into the batter, and swirl once with a back of a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes at 160˚c
whilst still warm, glaze the cake, and let cool.

Olivia’s Baked Lemon & Raspberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Biscuit Base
300g digestives (crushed/blitzed)
100g butter

Cheesecakey bit
600g cream cheese (full fat – lets not mess around eh)
30g plain flour
200g sugar (white,Caster if you have it)
2 lemons (zested and juiced)
3 Eggs
175g creme fraiche
250g frozen raspberries

raspberries, dried raspberries, coulis

preheat oven to 220ºc (200ºc fan) – make the biscuit base to a 20cm round springform cake pan.

Add the cheesecakey ingredients (except raspberries) to a mixer bowl and mix till smooth, then add the raspberries. Add to the cake tin on top of the biscuit base.

Bake for 10 mins at 200ºc then reduce the temp to 110ºc/90ºc and bake for a further 25-30 minutes. Then turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven, with the door ajar for 2 hrs.

Once cool, wrap in foil (still in its tin) and refridgerate overnight. Next day remove from the tin and deccorate. (raspberries, dried raspberries, coulis)

Oatcakes (a journey)

Oatcakes – the bread of Scotland, or at least they were once. Ther range of oatcakes available in the shops (in Scotland, were I live) is huge – some are like brown crumbly pastry, some hard dry crunchy oat blocks. I’m trying to find a recipe I like and this is the start of the journey.

Oatcakes – first take

225g oatmeal (course ground oat flour)
60g plain white flour
60g butter
1 tsp salt
4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
60ml (upto 90ml) hot water

Mix the oatmeal, flour, salt, sugar and bicarb together and rub the butter in to make a breadcrumb mix. Add hot water little by little to make a dough – it will thinken with work, so dont worry if its a bit sticky at first.

Flour a worktop and rollout the dough to about 1/2cm thick (pastry thick). cut into rounds (using a tumbler) and bake at 170c for about 20mins until golden.

Taste notes – I wanted a sightly sweeter oatcake, so I will add a little extra sugar next time. This recipe works well for an oatcake. Next attempt – I’ll try to grind the oatmeal a little finer, or add a bit more flour. I’ll add a bit more sugar for a sweeter biscuit. I’m looking for something between a digestive and a trad oatcake, and something a little less rough!

Sauerkrout

Sauerkrout – I don’t really know if I like it. I add it to a hotdog or a chicken kebab, but not a lot. Its hard not to make a lot, so if I make a batch its going to be too much.

Anyway – Sauerkraut is femented cabbage. Fermentation by lactobacilli that gives it a sour sharp flavour. Its made with salt, so the taste is salty sharp sour cabbage.

Ingredients:
Roughly 2kg of white cabbage for 3tbl salt
maybe a bit of carrot ribbons or a (mild) chilli or two
some people add caraway seeds or black peppercorns

First slice the cabbage on a mandolin. In a big bowl, add the salt and massage it down so that enough juice comes out of the cabbage to cover it. (takes a while).

Add to a kilner jar, and add a weight so that no cabbage is above the juice line. Add any carrot, chilli or caraway you want.

Leave it for 1-3 weeks to ferment. you should see bubbles when you open the bottle. Put in the fridge when its matured enough for you. will last a few months.