Monday 28 May 2012

Sticky Toffee Pudding




Last year, during a trip to the Lake District, Rachel and I had the opportunity to visit what for us is the equivalent of an Elvis fan's trip to Graceland.
 
We both have a sweet tooth and for me in particular the classic British dessert 'Sticky Toffee Pudding' is my favourite. So it was with extreme excitement that we wound our way down through the beautiful countryside from Hawkshead Hill, after a delightful stay at - Summer Hill Country House, to Cartmel.

Cartmel is a small village in the south of the Lake District famous for one thing - being the home of the greatest dessert our fair shores have to offer. 

Having bought one of the puddings as a souvenir we arrived 2 hours later back in Manchester at my mother's house to drop off the car she'd very kindly lent us for the last few days. While unpacking i decided to show my gratitude for the car loan and offered Ma Foster the aforementioned Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding and carefully put it in the fridge for her to enjoy another day.

The following day we were getting ready to head to the station for our train back to London, which my Mother had generously offered to drive us to. Before heading off i stuck my head in the fridge to see if there were any last snacks i could nibble at and my eyes landed on the sticky toffee pudding...

It had been 24 hours since we'd experienced the delicious taste up in Cartmel and i found myself craving another hit.

And so, and looking back now with a little hint of guilt, i rescinded the offer to leave the pudding. I took back the gift I'd felt so good giving just the night before and stuck it back in my bag with a smile on my face knowing that i could enjoy that incredible taste once again later that evening...

Having polished that off in no time i thought it might be worth cooking one from scratch myself, so using the memories from Cartmel as inspiration i did and the recipe is below. I think i should probably make one for Mrs Foster or at least buy her one of the originals that I've noticed you can now buy in Waitrose.

Ingredients, for approx 10 portions -
Chopped Dates

250g dried dates, stoned and chopped
300ml black tea, medium strength
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g unsalted butter, softened
200g golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
200g self raising flour
Tsp vanilla essence
Tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp nutmeg


For the toffee sauce -
100g unsalted butter
100g light muscovado sugar
150ml double cream


  • Preheat oven to 160C Fan / 180C Normal
  • Put the dates and tea in a saucepan and bring to the boil, cook for around 6 minutes until the dates are softened. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda
  • Beat the butter with the caster sugar until pale and creamy
  • Add the eggs and continue to beat, add in the flour, vanilla essence and spices, ix to combine
  • Fold in the date and tea mixture and pour everything into a large lightly buttered ovenproof dish
  • Bake for around 35 minutes, the top should be just firm to the touch
  • While that's baking make the toffee sauce - Add all the ingredients to a saucepan and warm over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved and you have a smooth sauce
  • To serve cut the pudding into squares, drizzle over the toffee sauce and pour over hot custard.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Moroccan Couscous And Smoked Mackerel Salad



Having never been totally convinced, we're still experimenting with dishes that combine sweet and savoury. We recently tasted a cheese macaron and although i found it rather pleasant, although equally confusing, Rach did not take to the clash of differing flavours occurring in her mouth ->

So it was with a little trepidation that i decided to take my life into my culinary hands and dish up a healthy Moroccan couscous style salad for dinner with Rachel's favourite broccoli included (hopefully this would help appease the beast) along with some potentially controversial and very sweet dried apricot also included.

The gamble luckily paid off, the mixture of the oily fish, sweet apricot, buttery couscous and fresh veg was splendid and has now been added to Rachel's weekly 'why dont we have ....... for tea tonight' request list, the seal of approval for any new dish!!


Ingredients (Serves 4) -

300g Couscous
2 tsp Ras El Hanout
Tsp Ground Coriander
Approx 1 tsp of grated ginger
2-3 Knobs of Butter
450ml Vegetable Stock

Approx 250g Broccoli, boiled until soft then chopped
Juice and Zest of half a Lemon
2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
Red Chili, finely chopped
1 Small Red Onion, finely chopped
100g Dried Apricots finely chopped

Toppings -
250g Hot Peppered Smoked Mackerel, flaked
100g Flaked Almonds, toasted in a dry pan until golden

  • Mix the couscous with the grated ginger, Ras el hanout and the ground coriander. Dot with butter and pour over the hot stock, cover tightly and leave for 10 minutes or until all soaked in.
  • Mix the couscous through with the broccoli, lemon, garlic, chili, onion and apricots until combined.
  • Top with the mackerel and almonds and serve.

Monday 7 May 2012

Get Creative With Your Quesadillas



Lovely little Mexican cheese toasties - quesadillas are ready in minutes and can be thrown together with anything you have in the fridge, as long as you have a couple of the essentials then you're ready to experiment!
Quesadilla mix

They also create hardly any washing up so are perfect for a quick, easy meal!



Ingredients -

Flour or Corn Tortillas

Filling base -
Grated mature cheddar or other cheese
Dry fry on both sides
A Pepper, finely chopped
Onion, finely chopped
Chili Sauce, to taste

Optional -
Chorizo
Chicken
Refried beans
Olives
Mushrooms

To Serve -
Chop in three
Guacamole, see Breakfast Burrito recipe
Soured Cream
Salsa
Salad
Extra chili sauce

  • Add the base and any optional ingredients for the filling to a bowl and, using a knife and fork, mix and finely chop everything together thoroughly.
  • Place a tortilla into a dry non stick frying pan, add the filling to one half, not quite to the edge, and fold in half pressing down (you can do 2 at once, just be a little careful when flipping them over).
  • Turn the hob on to a low / medium heat, you need to melt the cheese inside before the tortilla gets too brown, once the cheese is melting you can turn the heat up to crisp up the tortillas, turn halfway through to make sure the tortilla is crisp on both sides.
  • Take the tortilla out of the pan and chop into 3 triangles.
  • Serve with a salad, guacamole, salsa and soured cream.