Update for Tomorrow!

Marmalade (Seville Orange) to be precise is on the menu tomorrow come by and check it out!

Thanks,

Ryan!

Mussels in Cider! (Moule Mariniere)

January, this calls for a trip to the local fishmonger and grabbing a bag of 1kg washed, kept in ice mussels. Now they may not be on everyone’s top ten favourite foods but the sweet tasting crustations hit it for me. They are plentiful and extremely cheap to purchase, so go ahead and support the fisherman who battle the seas and tidal coastlines to bring in fresh oceanic produce day in day out. All the cider is burnt off here so only the bitter, dry apple flavour is left behind and what better than to pour over cream and dive in with a spoon!

INGREDIENTS:

Good splash of olive oil.

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped finely.

1 fresh bay leaf (if you can’t get a hold of fresh use fresh thyme).

1/2 tsp fresh crushed black peppercorns.

2 cloves of garlic, uncrushed.

500g fresh mussels.

250ml dry cider.

crusty bread to serve (soak up the lovely sea juices).

METHOD:

Ok before we start you must clean and de-beard the mussels, don’t panic if you don’t want to do this, then ask kindly at the fishmongers, but what the heck give it a bash! What’s the worst that can happen.

1st rule. Take the mussels and scrub until any barnacles fall off and they look clean. place in fresh cold water.

2nd rule. If a mussel if open before cooking and when you tap it, it doesn’t close immediately.. Chuck it out.

3rd rule. If there is a stringy looking membrane sticking out of the shell then pull this off!

Heat the oil in a large, flat pan and fry the onion with the bay leaf, crushed peppercorns and garlic. Thoroughly wash the mussels, discarding any that are heavy, broken or that remain open when tapped firmly on the worktop.
Add cider and gently boil. Tip in the mussels, cover pan tightly and then steam for 2-3 minutes or until the shells are opening up. Discard any mussels that have remained closed!

Enjoy, with cream poured over the top to form the best seafood sauce ever.

over and out,

Ryan!

 

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Two Extra Sauces…

Hello again everybody, how are we all feeling today? Positive and full of fun spirit, well that sounds all very idyllic, but most Thursdays consist of long hard working hours, stressful situations and that lingering urge for Friday to arrive, we’ve all been there at some point in the week, and so I guess you need something to pull you through and so I thought what better than a traditional British pud, the gloriously stick toffee pudding. The character and complexity of this pudding is so interesting, but there is one thing that I really cannot stand and that is when you dive in with a spoon into the beautifully smooth sponge and discover little nuggets of hard, crunchy nuts. Although, usually you will always hear me saying and banging a drum about adding crunchy, alternating textures to add a little more dimension, but honestly I will not (never) ever forgive you if you disrupt a spectacular pudding like this with hazelnuts, Brazil’s or whatever disruptions you choose… This pudding is not dentist or I should say dental friendly, with two extra sugary sauces, and double cream, maybe a little more, and more and more……

INGREDIENTS :

175g stoned dates.

1 rounded tsp bicarb soda.

50g salted butter.

pinch salt.

75g demerara sugar.

75g molasses sugar.

2 eggs.

175g self raising flour.

1tsp vanilla extract.

butter for greasing.

For the 1st sauce.

250ml double cream.

80g butter.

80g molasses sugar.

For the extra butterscotch sauce…

300ml whipping cream.

50g molasses sugar.

50g salted butter.

double cream to serve.

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
2. Pour 275ml/10fl oz boiling water into a large mixing bowl and add the dates. Stir and set aside until lukewarm. Meanwhile, measure out all the other ingredients for the sponge. Add them to the dates and water and mix together until well combined.
3. Blend the date mixture in a food processor until nearly smooth, but with a few specks of date still visible. Generously butter a baking dish on all surfaces and pour in the sponge batter. Bake for 40 minutes, or until just firm to the touch.
4. Preheat the grill to medium.
5. Meanwhile, make both the topping and the extra sauce by heating the ingredients gently in separate pans, whisking regularly, until they briefly boil. Pour the topping over the cooked pudding.
6. Place the sticky toffee pudding under a moderate grill until bubbling.
7. To serve, spoon the pudding into individual bowls and pour around the extra sauce.

 

Mini Rocky Roads!

Hello again folks, this is just a little quick post to you all. I hope we are all keeping well and healthy, unlike a few of my poor friends whom are ill with chest infections and minor flu’s etc, but lets not delve into those matters! Anyway this is just to give you a little easily whipped up cheats rocky road that has just as much wow factor as the original recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

225g milk chocolate.

75g chopped Brazil nuts.

75g mini marshmallows.

pinch of salt (brings out the flavour of the chocolate).

METHOD:

Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water.

Tip in the nuts and marshmallows and then dollop spoonfuls onto a lined baking sheet in a rubble fashion, then leave to set for  1 hr out of the fridge.

Enjoy,

Ryan!

 

Doughnut French Toast!

Appologies folks for the lack of posting these past few days, my laptop has been down and causing me problems, so now that the problem is fixed, I can resume with posting as normal. Well then, today was quite a day, school for 6 hours followed by a 3 hour outing to town and then 1 houra violin practice.. urgh the list is endless but anyway I’m comforted by a large mug of pg tips tea and a cosy read at a cookbook i have recently been neglecting, and well the recipe for todays post has been directly lifted from it and I’m not in the slightest feeling guilty for doing so.. recipes are written to be shared and to be shared they will be. Honestly this one is a true winner and is ranking high up in my favourites! Soft and fluffy vanilla scented vanilla french toast served alongside a mug of really good warm cinnamon hot chocolate. Now that is how you kickstart a Saturday morning in style! You must start in the kitchen…

This next statement is sort of food for thought, but I do personally consider what I’m going to say would be treated with unconditional love no matter what the consequences could result in. Basically an hour ago I was spending time (more like wasting) watching videos on the web, when I came across this video about a young transgender boy who since from a very early age was obsessed with wanting to become a girl. This did eventually happen when the boy turned 6 and eventually when 10 was granted hormonal and physcological treatment in order to turn the natural testostorone receptors off and convert them to oestrogen receptors in order to prevent going througg male puberty. I was just totally moved by the mothers story of how willing she was to allow her now daughter to do this. The dad was an Afghan army soldier and was on call most of the year, but the determination in that mothers eyes was beyond me, she wasn’t going to settle until her daughter was truely granted the only wish she wanted, that wish to become a girl and live the life she was made for.. what a story and just to believe that no matter how much life can throw at you, that mum never backed down and helped her daughter to live the happiest life possible…

INGREDIENTS:

2 eggs.

4 tsp vanilla extract.

60 ml full fat milk.

2 large slices of white bread, crusts removed.

25g butter.

Drop of flavourless oil.

Sprinkle of caster sugar.

METHOD:

Beat the eggs with the milk amd vanilla in a large wide shallow bowl.

Soak the bread in the eggy mixture for 5 minutes on each side.

Heat the butter and oil together in a frying pan and fry the bread on each side until golden brown.

Put the sugar on a plate and roll each slice of french toast in it to create the doughnut effect.

Enjoy,

Ryan!

Cinnamon Scented Snickerdoodles!

Hello again all, how are we all keeping? Well and healthy I hope. Hm. I say these things before I enroll you into a recipe that calls for just under half a block of butter, oh well you have to enjoy life to the max one cake at a time!  Snickerdoodles, you must think I have gone completely bonkers, but no they do exist in Nigella Lawson’s How To Be A Domestic Goddess, and quite proudly where they should be. I am absolutely in love with them, they are like an oven baked cinnamon doughnut. How do I put it to you in the nicest possible way, well you know when you visit the carnival and their are thousands of doughnut venders selling the doughnuts freshly made and rolled in sugar and you usually demolish all 4 in about 5 minutes. These are a drier oven baked more buttery version and rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture that tops them off fabulously. Oh I must mention to you all that, I purchased really very good vanilla extract last night on amazon from a swiss company, for the next post I will have the address for you. I also started a graze nature delivered account and I’m really excited to see the products that they have sent out to me, will be here on Wednesday so will be sure to alert you of what the produce is like! Nuts, seeds, flapjacks, brownies, olives and oatcakes are just a few things from there collection, you must give it a go and the first order is free. Right, back to the land of baking goodness we trek, and you will be no more than a sprinkling of sugar away from these delicious cakes!

INGREDIENTS:

250g plain flour sifted.

1/4 tsp ground ginger.

3/4 tsp baking powder.

1/2 tsp salt.

125g butter, room temp.

100g + 2 tbsp caster sugar, white.

1 egg.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract, I detest when bakers use essence..

1 tbsp cinnamon.

METHOD:

Line a baking sheet, with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to Gas 4 / 180 C.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and 100g of sugar together until pale and fluffy. then beat in the egg and vanilla. Beat in the flour, ginger, salt and baking powder until you have a soft yellow dough.

Tip the 2 tbsp of sugar onto a plate and mix in the cinnamon. Take walnut sized pieces of the doodle dough and roll in the sugar mixture then place on the baking sheet 2 cm apart from each other. They don’t spread much.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tray for a minute or so then transfer to a wire rack. They keep for up to 4 days in a sealable  container..

Enjoy warm with vanilla ice cream and stewed plums.. divine..

PS. All images of my posts are taken on my new Nikon L820 Bridge Camera… Incase you are wondering!

Merci Beaucoup,

Ryan!

Snickerdoodle Recipe Tomorrow!

Hello all, just to alert you to the new post tomorrow,

Come by and check it out!

Thanks, Ryan!

Naan Pizza! (best non-takeaway ever)..

Hello everyone again, how are we all? Good I’m hoping, well I should first let you know that this is the first of two posts this evening, this one savoury as you have probably sussed out already, and the next will obvious feature something to tantalize those sweet tooth’s and tastebuds.. Now then the prospect of a naan based pizza doesn’t sound far to appealing but trust me, those so called pizza bases you can purchase in the local corner shop or supermarket, are just worthy of a pride place in your green wheelie bin. No, the subtle hints of spice in a plain naan, along with the strong robust texture are able to support the toppings well and since they are mostly air inside they crisp up beautifully and become puffy! Sheer bliss. I usually go down then mozzarella, olives (please green in this case, they are much sharper and the bitterness cuts through the richness of the cheese), then finished with basil! Although this is just a blueprint example so go ahead and change and alter what you wish! It’s the takeaway that takes just as long to cook as it does to arrive by van, on the plus side it’s healthier!

INGREDIENTS:

1 plain supermarket naan.

2 tbsp concentrated tomato puree.

good handful of olives, green by preference for this alone.

tub of mozzarella pearls.

handful of freshly chopped basil leaves.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to Gas 7, 200 C. Place the naan on a baking sheet and drizzle with a little fruity olive oil. Then spread over the tomato puree, and sprinkle over the mozzarella along with the olives.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, near the top, until the cheese is bubbling away nicely and the olive have popped and released their salty oil.

Sprinkle over the basil and serve immediately!

Merci,

Ryan!

 

Sticky Post Never Too Late Gingerbread!

Hello again everybody, how are we all doing? Sorry for not posting yesterday evening I was planning to, but after the lesson for violin I was far to flustered by the end of the night, and so I sat and read through my latest copy of Nigella Express, to take away the stress of the day. Anyway I’m back today with a recipe that will not only bring back those not so distant memories of Christmas, but will reinforce the sheer joy and happiness that the period in winter brings! Of course that has to be gingerbread or lebkuchen if you are fairly traditional, but I’m not going to get into the history of the blissful mouthful in too much detail, although I will mention that the sweet sticky cake comes in various forms, such as the cake version, which the British are very used to along with the hard ginger biscuit which is common in countries such as Sweden and Norway for example, but there is a third rather interesting version that the Germans are famous for, a subtle contrast between a cake like structure and a biscuit. It’s sheer brilliance! And please, this is after all a sticky fruitless gingerbread as is is too soft to cope with masses of fruit so keep it fruitless, dust with icing sugar sparingly and enjoy with a hot cup of tea, and dwell into a good book and succumb to the inhibiting smells of the spices!

INGREDIENTS:

150g Soft Butter, Unsalted (I may as well make this point, all of my butter is unsalted for future reference, I’ll add this to my about blog page, along with anything else).

200g Golden Syrup.

200g Black Treacle.

125g Dark Muscavado Sugar.

2 tsps Freshly Grated Ginger.

1 tsp Ground Ginger.

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon.

1/4 tsp Ground Allspice.

1 tsp Bicarb, dissolved in 2 tbsps warm water.

250ml Full-Fat Milk.

2 Eggs, beaten.

300g Plain Flour.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to Gas 7 / 170C, and grease and line a roasting tin with butter and baking parchment. If you have any of those turkey roasters made out of foil, this is a great way to use them up, just grease thoroughly.

In a pan, melt together the butter, sugar, syrup, treacle, fresh and ground ginger, cinnamon and allspice, all over a fairly low heat.

Take of the heat and beat in the eggs, and the milk along with the dissolved bicarb in the water.

Weigh out the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre, then pour in the liquid mix and whisk together until combined, do not panic it will be fairly liquid, but this is what provides the stickiness later on.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes until well risen and firm on the top, but try not to overcook the cake, as you want the surface to be sticky not dry. It will cook after being removed from the oven anyway on cooling.

Transfer the tin or foil tray to a wire cooling rack to allow to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the tin and cutting into 20 or so squares…

genießen,

Ryan!

Holidays Are Over, Quick Sundae to Recover!

Hello again everyone, how are we all? Good I hope! Well it certainly has been a very relaxed and calm Christmas/New Year holiday and I sure am thoroughly going to miss it.. Anyway to overcome the horror of returning back to school first thing tomorrow morning, I have devised a rather simple but utterly divine and extremely satisfying ice cream concoction and to be quite honest with you I am not going to say very much more as the description is very powerful… (P.S. I’ll add that I had a fabulous meal at Wagamama’s last night, ginger chicken udon, elderflower water and coconut reika! Very good combo). 4 scoops of your favourite ice cream of choice, try to mix it up a bit, drizzled with a salted caramel sauce, toasted peanuts and hazelnuts, and shaving of chocolate with an icy cold chantilly cream!

INGREDIENTS:

4 scoops of your favourite ice cream, I use vanilla and pistachio.

20g toasted unsalted peanuts.

20g toasted hazelnuts.

50ml whipping cream.

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste, extract, or gel do not use essence, it’s synthetic chemicals.

100ml whipping cream.

1 large knob butter, unsalted.

pinch of salt

50g dark muscavado sugar.

METHOD:

firstly toast the nuts in a dry pan, they are ready when the heavy scent of hazelnuts and peanuts wafts up to your nostrils.

Next make the caramel sauce. Take a smallish pan and add the butter and muscavado sugar, meld the two together in the pan before adding the salt and from a distance the 100ml of whipping cream. stir and when all amalgamated remove from the heat.

Whisk the 50ml of cream in a bowl with the vanilla until soft peaks are formed.

scoop the ice cream (take out of freezer 10 minutes before serving), into the bowl you wish to serve in and then spoon over the wonderful sauce in alternating drizzles. Sprinkle with the toasted nuts and dollop the vanilla cream on top.

Sheer bliss,

Enjoy,

Merci,

Ryan!