Simple Smothered Chicken

Ingredients
8 Tablespoons plain flour
2 tablespoons of Season All
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed black pepper

1 brown onion, diced
2 green capsicums ( bell pepper) diced
4 chicken quarter (thigh and leg)
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons light cooking oil (rapeseed or sunflower)

Directions
Put the flour, Season all, salt and pepper into a plastic bag and mix.  Add the chicken quarters so they are coated with the flour mix.

Heat a heavy based pan that has a lid add half the oil to a smoking point.  Take out the chicken and place skin side down into the hot oil.  Turn down to a medium heat and do not move the chicken for three minutes.

After waiting, turn over the chicken for a further three minutes on a medium heat.  Then take the chicken out and set aside.

Add the other half of the oil to the pan and allow it to heat up, do not let it heat up too much.  Add the onion and capsicums and cook on medium heat until softened.

Add the rest of the flour mix from the plastic bag into the pan and still together.  Once mixed to a thick goo, slowly add the milk then the stock.

Add back the chicken to the pot, cover and cook on a Low heat for an hour.  If the sauce is too thick ( like a paste) add a little more milk.

Serve with a mashed sweet potato

Simple Lardy Cake

11 fl oz whole milk
2 oz unsalted butter
6 oz lard
1 lb strong bread four
1 tbsp dried easy bake yeast
1 tsp vitamin c powder 
1 tsp mixed spice
7 oz golden caster sugar
5 oz dried fruit
1 egg

Make the enriched dough
Add a third of the milk, butter and 2 tbsp of sugar into a saucepan and heat until the butter melts and the sugar is dissolved.

Add this to the rest of the cold milk. This will ensure the liquid part is the right temp.

Add the flour, yeast, vitamin c and egg in a bowl (this is a wet version and a bowl is advisable) pour in the liquid and mix until all incorporated. Then kneed and it will depend on how you kneed how long it takes. I use a kitchen aid and with a dough hook it takes about 10 minutes usually. When I did this today it took 15 minutes. I was looking for a good stretch of the dough gluten.

Put the dough into a bowl, cover an leave for 2 hours.

Knock back the dough and then put in the fridge for 4 hours, better overnight.

Roll out the dough direct from the fridge into a rectangle. On two thirds dab the a third if the lard then sprinkle a third of the sugar, fruit and nixed spice. Fold the uncover third of the dough over a third of the covered dough. The fold the remaining third. Roll out to a rectangle and repeat another 2 times.

Place in the fridge for twos hours then place into a pre-warmed over, gas 5/190c/375f, and check after 40 minutes. If not quite cooked check every 10 minutes after. You are looking for a good brown crust but there should be no doughy mixture.

Once cooked the lard, sugar mix will have settled to the bottom of a tin. Cover the tin with baking paper and tin foil, turn over and leave to cool.

Iced Cinnamon buns

I have only just recently discovered these delicious buns and I'm not sure why it's taken me so long.  There does seem to be many variations, but the basic recipe is the same sweet enriched dough as a base.

Ingredients
500g strong white flour
7g salt
14g quick dried yeast
2tbs caster sugar
1 large egg
40g unsalted butter
300 ml full fat milk
150g soft brown sugar
10g melted butter
2 tbs cinnamon

METHOD
Melt the 40g butter and 100 ml of the milk together, add the caster sugar and stir until dissolved.  Add this back to the rest of the milk off the heat.

In a mixer with a dough hook add the flour, make a well in the centre to add the egg.  Add salt on side then yeast on other side.

On slow setting slowly a the butter/milk liquid.  When all incorporated turn to medium speed for 10 minutes. Set the dough aside until it doubles in size.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and roll out to a larger rectangle about 3 to  5 mm thick.

Cover the surface with melted butter, sprinkle on the soft brown sugar then sprinkle the cinnamon on evenly.

Roll the dough and then cut into 12 equal size pieces.  Place in a high sided pan, I use a lasagne tray, leaving a little space between each piece.  Leave to rise for 20 minutes then bake for 30-40 minutes gas 5 in the middle of the oven.

Make out and cool on a rack but leave in the tray.  Cover with icing sugar paste allow to cools bit as they are best served warm.

Jaffa Orange Jelly and Milk Chocolate Ganache Sponge Cake

With so many recipes on here for savour things it would be easy to think that's all I cook. However, I do enjoy baking and experimenting with baking. This is one of my most recent and inspired by Jaffa cakes, I know they're biscuits!

There are three stages, the sponge, the jelly and the ganache. The jelly is the bit that really gives it that kick with all the sweatness. Although I used gelatine, I occasionally use and Agar Agar is my favourite as it stays jelly up while it warms up (great cheat for a nice thick gravy for pies).

Sponge

Ingredients

• 4 eggs (weighed after cracking)
• Caster sugar same weight as eggs
• Self raising flour, same weight as eggs less 50g
• Chocolate drink powder, not the one with milk in, 50g
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Unsealed butter at room temperature, same weight as eggs

Directions

1. Heat oven to gas 4 or 180c
2. Whisk the butter and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved and the colour is a very pale white/yellow. This takes about 4 minutes.
3. On a slow whisk speed, add 1 whole egg at a time, speed up the whisk to max only once the egg is fully incorporated into the butter/ sugar mix. Repeat with all the eggs.
4. Put the whisk away! Get a good flat spatula or a wide wooden spoon.
5. In a sieve add the four, chocolate powder an baking powder, and gently tap the sieve until all the ingredients sit on top of the batter mix.
6. Gently fold in all the flour until its completely mixed, be gentle forget you we're ever a marine and think navy!
7. Pour into two lined and greased 8 inch round cake tins, and place into the oven for twenty minutes.
8. Check with a skewer to make sure that its cooked, leave in four a couple of minutes linger, but no longer than 25 minutes.
9. Set aside to cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to fully cool.

Orang jelly, this can be made the night before.

Ingredients

• 300ml good quality jaffa orange juice
• Four mandarins, segmented.
• 3tbs castor sugar
• Four sheets of gelatine.

Directions

1. Place the gelatine sheets in a small container and cover with cold water
2. Line the cake tins with cling film.
3. Place the orange juice an sugar in the pan and slowly bring to a hot temperature, do not boil. Just enough to resolve the sugar
4. Peal the mandarins and divide all the segments, if you can use a very sharpe knife and remove the segment skins. Set aside the peal for the ganache.
5. Once the orange juice is hot enough and the gelatine is soft and gooey, take the juice off the heat and add the gelatine. Stir until they are fully dissolved.
6. Add in the mandarin segments and pour into the lined cake tines, allow to cool and put in the fridge to turn into a jelly.

Milk Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

• 200g of a good quality milk chocolate
• 120 ml of fresh double cream
• Mandarin or orange peel.

Direction

1. Warm the cream and orang peel in a sauce pan to just under boiling temp.
2. Put the broken down or grated chocolate into a metal bowl, make sure it's clean and not greasy
3. Once the cream is hot enough, pour it through a sieve over the chocolate.
4. Use a metal spoon to mix the chocolate an cream together until they are fully mixed.
5. Set aside to cool (not in the fridge as you need it slightly runny to spread)

Brining it together

1. Place one side of the chocolate sponge on a flat, clean chopping board
2. Carefully remove the jelly and place on the cake
3. Put the ganache into a piping bag and cover the orange jelly
4. Place the other cake sponge on top
5. Carefully move it to a serving platter and cover the top with a sprinkle of chocolate powder.
6. Cut and serve with some fresh cream and strawberries.

Enjoy

 

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Slow Braised Beef Short Rib

I came across the short rib a few years back and it is probably one of the best slow braised beef out there. The short rib is the lower part of the beef rib cage and sits just above the belly. Lost of meat but also a lot of fat. The slow braising process helps to remove a lot of the fat and make the beef fall apart. What more, there are loads of recipes you can make from this.

Getting hold of short rib on the bone isn't easy, and especially when you need it cut into 2 inch pieces. But the hunt is worth it. Also get your butcher to cut the ribs, they use big band saws and normally cut it when frozen.

I picked up the latest on a trip to Weymouth and stopped off at Axminster Complete Meats. However, I'm just about to make an order from the Well Hung Meat company which is just up the road from where I live in Devon.

The trick with this, and similar to many slow braised meats, is the preparation of the meat. This one has a nice BBQ rub which is done 24 hours before cooking. But depending on the type of flavour you could try a bit of Asian velveting or even south amerian fajita marinade.

For the rub (all dried)

• 1 tbs cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs onion salt
• 1 tbs garlic granuals
• 2 tsp ground cumin seeds
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3tbs dark muscovado sugar
• 1 tbs dried tyme, sage, tarragon

Directions

1. Get the ribs cut into 2 inch cubes
2. Mix all the rub ingredients in a bowl and thoroughly mix together
3. Add the meat and make sure each pieces has a good coating of the rub
4. Place in a sealed container and leave in the fridge for a minimum of two hours, but best overnight.

For the braise

• 1 tin tomatoes
• 2 tbs oyster sauce
• 3 tbs red wine vinegar
• 1 glass of decent red wine
• 1 star anise
• 450 mls beef stock of a good stock cube
• 1 diced onion
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• Oil for cooking
• 50 g unseated butter
• 2 tsp cornfour
• 100 g unsealed butter
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Fresh tyme, sage and tarragon.

Directions

1. Take the ribs out of the fridge a food hour before starting, this allows it to reach room temperature.
2. In a large ovenproof stock pan, I used a 5.2 Ltr cast iron pot, add enough oil to cover the bottom and bring to a hot temperature.
3. In the pot brown of the meat, just a few at a time and don't crown the pan. The idea is to caramelise the ribs first and not to stew them. Putting to many in at a time will drop the temp of the pan too much.
4. Set the ribs aside, add a little more oil to the pan and add the onions, celery carrots an the butter and cook on a medium temperature until the veg goes soft.
5. Add the herbs and cook on a medium temp for a further two minutes.
6. Turn the heat up to high and add the wine and cook off the alcohol, this takes a couple of minutes. The amount of liquid should be reduce by half.
7. Keeping the temp high add the oyster sauce and the red wine vinegar. Cook this for amfurthe minute before adding the tomatoes.
8. Return the ribs to the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Cover with the beef stock, don't worry if there isn't enough as there is a lot of fluid in the meat and veg that will come out during the cooking.
9. Place in the oven uncovered on a low heat, 120/gas 3 and cook for 3 hours. Or for even better results 100/ gas 2 for five hours.
10. When finished in the oven and remove the ribs, using a sieve separate the liquid and place in a heavy based pan.
11. Put the pan on a high heat, as it boils to reduce remove the impurities using a ladle.
12. When the liquid is about a third of what you started with, add the butter and whisk into the liquid. Keep whisking on high heat for about 5 minutes.
13. Add salt and pepper to taste, not much needed usually.
14. If the sauce is still a little thin add some water to the cornfour then add this into the sauce. Cook forms further 5 minutes on a low heat allowing the flour to cook out.
15. Pour this over the ribs and serve. I like mine with some nice flavoured cous cous, but it's also very good with a nice cheddar, potatoe mash.

Thanks to my brother in law Shane for the photos and for eating them, and my wife for taking then to Weymouth instead of the Blackberry and apple crumble! Need to remember to label properly next time!

 

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Dorset Apple Cake

Over the past few months I've been travelling up to Weymouth with my wife to visit the father-in-law. On the way through we normally stop off at Moores Bakery in Morcombelake to pick up some biscuits and some Dorset Apple cake. Over the past few weekends they've run out by the time we get there, so I decided to have a look around and see a few recipes.

To my surprise, on the first three pages of google there was over 50 different recipes. So I decided to add another one.

Ingredients

• 225g softened butter
• 225g self raising flour
• 225g Demarara sugar or golden granulated
• 25g of ground almonds
• 50g currents
• 2 Granny Smith Apples, skinned, cored and cut into cubes
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tbs calvados
• 4 eggs

Method

 

This is a case of not throwing everything in a bowl and mix. It's a kind of hybrid approach to a good Victoria sponge and a fruit cake.

 

1. Blend together the sugar and butter, it won't dissolve as it does when you use caster sugar. However, give it enough time to make sure it's as smooth as possible
2. Then add the eggs, one at a time. First on a slow speed then once mixed ramp up the speed for a minute. Do this with all four eggs.
3. Next mix in the flour and baking powder, don't over mix we don't want a stringy batter.
4. Add the ground almonds and spice then slowly mix again.
5. At this point add the calvados, this gives it a really great background flavour.
6. Fold in the currents and the apple then pour into a deep cake tin
7. Cook on gas 3, 160f four an hour after which take it out and sprinkle a little sugar on top.
8. Put back in the oven for another 15
9. Take out and check with a skewer, then allow to cool for ten minutes before removing from tin.

 

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Luxury Brownies

I don't thing any recipe collection is complete without a brownie recipe.  So here's mine, simple, quick and very tasty.

Start by pre-heating you oven to gas mark 4/180c.  Although this seems a little high, the trick is keeping the mix not as deep by using a larger pan (i used the ovens grill pan lined wit baking parchment).  Also cooking it for 10-15 minutes is enough.

What you need:

• 200g 70% (or greater) plain (dark) chocolate
• 200g unsalted butter
• 100g Plain Flour
• 50g Cocoa Powder
• 4 Eggs
• 200g Caster Sugar
• 100g Dark Muscovado Sugar
• 50g milk chocolate pieces
• 50g white chocolate pieces

You will also need

1. Mixer, I use a kitchen aid, but it will need to be electric fro this message
2. 3 bowls, 1 for dry mix, 1 for chocolate mix and the last one for the egg mix
3. Baking Paper
4. hand whisk
5. Mixing spoon/ Spatula
6. Sieve

Guide.

1. start by melting all the butter and chocolate over a simmering saucepan of water.  Use the hand whisk to make sure the butter and chocolate for a thick, creamy chocolate sauce.Set this aside and allow to cool while we do the next steps.
2. Sieve together in another bowl the flour and cocoa powder ( don't get rid of the sieve you haven't finished with it)
3. in the Kitchen Aid bowl, or a bowl where you can use an electric hand whisk, place all the sugar and the four whole eggs.  Whisk this mix together until the sugar has been incorporated by the eggs, the eggs have turned much paler and when you remove the whisk blades (turned off) leaves streaks defined in the mix.
4. Add the chocolate butter mix to the eggs slowly, using the hand whisk to very slowly move the chocolate mix through the eggs.  Almost as if the hand whisk was a spoon.  Don't overdo this as you want to try and keep as much air in the eggs as possible.
5. Place the sieve over the mix and add the flour cocoa mix.  Using a spatula to fold the ingredients together.  This is a slow process so don't rush it.
6. When mixed, pour the batter into a lined tin, I use a large grill tray, then bake as above.
7. Check after 10 minutes and then every 2 minutes thereafter.  Once there is no wobble left in the mix remove and set aside to cool.  Only removing an cutting when cooled.

Wow, these are quick and very tasty.  If you want them a little thicker drop the temp and cook a little longer.