Crusty bread

 Easy, crusty bread without kneading.

This is a very unique bread with a thick crust. It doesn't require kneading or much work; its preparation is stretched in time. You will need a cast iron pot or any other heatproof dish to bake it in. 

Ingredients:

• 400g flour 

I used 200g of organic strong white and 200g of wholemeal

• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 15 g of fresh yeast or 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
• 300g of cold water  

Method: 

• Sift the flour into a large bowl, add salt and sugar. Mix water with yeast and pour into a bowl with the flour, stir with a spoon for about 30 seconds. The dough will be sticky. Cover with a plate or cling film and leave to rise for 12-14 hours, preferably at night.   

• Dust your kitchen counter with flour and transfer on it the dough from the bowl. Form a ball from the dough and put it on a clean kitchen towel - make sure you dust the towel with flour first. Next cover the dough with the sticking out sides of the towel and leave in a warm place for 1-2 hours. The dough is ready when doubled in volume. 

• Half an hour before the end of the rising, heat the oven to 240 - 250 degrees C and place in it a cast iron pot with a lid on it. Next carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and remove the lid. Place the dough in the pot - it will be very hot. Cover it with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 15 - 30 minutes.
•  Cut only after cooling, after about 1 hour 

Scones

This is a traditional British afternoon tea favourite, served with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Very simple and quick to make, my first attempt and I must admit I was amazed – they came out delicious.

This recipe comes from Paul Hollywood’s “100 Great breads”.  It makes about 12-13  scones. I used half of the below ingredients to make  6-7 scones. 

 

Ingredients:

500 g strong white flour

2 eggs, beaten, plus 1 egg, beaten, for eggwash

75g caster sugar

30g baking powder

75g butter, softened

230ml milk,

100g sultanas

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220 C.

Put all the ingredients except the eggwash and sultanas into a food mixer and mix for about 2 minutes on low speed. Use a paddle blade. If missing by hand this will take about 5 minutes, according to Paul.

Next incorporate the sultanas into the dough and tip out onto a floured surface.

Roll out the dough to about 5cm thick, then cut out the scones using a round cutter.  

Place the scones on the baking tray and brush with the eggwash. Bake for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool a little. Serve warm.

Best Carrot Cake

This is my favourite recipe for a carrot cake (and I've tried a few...) - very tasty and easy to prepare.


Ingredients:

Topping: 
150g of icing sugar (or less) 
100g of cream cheese, such as Philadelphia
50g of butter
zest of 1 lime (optional)

 





Cake:2 eggs 
200g of brown sugar150 ml of vegetable oil  
200g finely grated carrots
50g of chopped walnuts 
75g of finely chopped pineapple (fresh or canned)
50g desiccated coconut 
200g of flour
1 teaspoon: cinnamon, baking soda, salt 
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
Preparation:Topping: Mix cream cheese with butter using electric whisker. Add icing sugar and lime zest.
 
Cake:
 
Whisk the eggs, then add sugar and continue whisking until smooth and fluffy. Still whisking at high speed add oil.
Add carrots, pineapple, nuts, coconut and gently mix everything.  
Then add the sieved flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt and gently combine all the ingredients.

Pour into a small tin of 21 x 21 cm, lined with baking paper .Bake for 1 hour in an oven preheated to 150 degrees.
When cooled down, add the cream cheese topping and keep in the fridge.

Light fruit cake

This cake is very light, like a sponge cake and great with any fruits, fresh or frozen. One of the easiest cakes to make and very tasty at the same time. There isn't anything that can go wrong with this cake so it's definitely worth trying.

 

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup of sugar 
• 150 ml oil (rape seed or vegetable)
• 2 cups of white flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• Fruits: fresh or frozen (I've used about 0.5 kg in total of fresh cherries and frozen mixed forrest fruits)

Method:

1. Separate the whites from the yolks. Whisk the whites until very thick.

2. Towards the end of whisking add sugar, and the egg yolks (one by one). Then slowly add the oil.

3. Sift the flour and baking powder and gently stir into the mixture (use a spoon, not the mixer). 

4. Tranfer the mixture into a baking tray (20x30 cm) then place the fruits on top of it. 

Bake for about 45-50 min in 170○C. When cooled dust with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

 

 

Quorn spaghetti with mushrooms

Hello. Today we thought we'd try something different for dinner. It's spaghetti bolognese with a non-meaty twist. If you are a big meat lover as we are and never tried a veggie alternative, then you must try this recipe. It tastes so good and has such a mince like texture you would not know it's not meat you are eating.    

Ingredients (to serve 4):

• Quorn mince (500g pack, frozen)
• 1 large white onion - chopped
• 1 tin of chopped  tomatoes - 400 g 
• Mushrooms antipasti - 250g jar
• Sun-dried tomatoes - 8-10 pieces (blitzed to a paste in a food blender)
• Garlic - 3 cloves (chopped)
• Herbs & spices:  1/2 teaspoon of thyme, oregano, black pepper, 2 bay leaves, salt to taste.
• Red wine - 1 large glass
• Splash of balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil
• 1 pack of fresh or dried spaghetti

Method: 

1. Fry the onions and garlic in a little olive oil until they start to soften, add the red wine and reduce by approximately half.

2. Add the tinned tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, dried herbs, pepper, salt and mushrooms and give it a good stir.

 Let all the ingredients cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes. By now the sauce should be smelling really good and have a nice dark red Bolognese look to it.

3. Add the frozen quorn mince and mix into the sauce thoroughly breaking up any big lumps.
Now put the lid on the pot, cook on a medium heat for about 40 min, stirring once or twice so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.

4. In the meantime get your pasta ready, drain and serve with the sauce and a good old sprinkling of parmesan.
Enjoy :)

Cod with salsa and asparagus

For tonight's dinner we fancied something quick and healthy. Well, what we mostly cook is quick as we both have no time to spend hours in the kitchen after long days working. Had to be healthy too - today was a gym day. 
This dish is really easy to prepare and perfect for sunny warm days. 

What you will need:

For the Salsa - to serve 4:
- 5 large tomatoes
- 1 medium size white onion
- 1 red or green jalapeno chilli
- 2 cloves of garlic, skin on
- the juice of 1 lime
- handful of  finely chopped coriander
- good pinch of salt


You will need a large non-stick frying pan.

1. Heat the pan over high heat until it's very hot; add the  tomatoes whole with skin on, then add the whole jalapeno chilli (not sliced) and garlic. Dry fry the garlic and chilli for around 10-12 min and remove from the pan, the tomatoes will need slightly longer at around 15 min. At the end of the cooking time you should have achieved a nice char-grilled look, that's where you get the flavour from (yum yum).

2. Whilst the tomatoes, garlic and chilli are getting nice and charred, finely slice your onion into very small cubes and chop the coriander finely, minding those fingers, dont want to add any of them to this dish.

3. Now remove the garlic from the skin (this should be lovely and gooey) and place into a food processor.
Add the chilli with the skin still on (just remember to remove the green stork, greens are suppose to be good for you but trust me, remove this bad boy first), then add the tomatoes with the skin still on as well.
Then add a good pinch of salt and the juice of 1 lime and blend together. Depending on how chunky you want the salsa, don't blend it for too long, nice and chunky is how you should blend this sucker. OK nearly finished, now add the raw onion and coriander and mix around, just check the seasoning and add more salt if required and bang - your salsa is done.
 I prefer to keep it in the fridge for a while before serving so it gets nice and chilled and all the flavours mix and blend together.
This mix is to be topped generously on top of your cod or any other thing you like really, trust me it's nice; you'll be making this over and over again.


4. Asparagus

Chop the asparagus into three sections, then add them to a hot, slightly oiled non stick frying pan (use extra virgin olive oil). You do not need to use much oil, just a little. Then add a pinch of salt and a pinch of ground pepper, just enough to season. Fry for 3-4 min or until just getting a slight charred look, remove from the pan and set aside and look forward to the fact you'll be tucking into them shortly.


5. Cod loin

Get a large non stick pan, add extra virgin olive oil and heat on a medium to high heat.
In the meantime season your cod loin well with salt and pepper and when the pan is hot add them to it. After a minute or so add 3-4 nobs of unsalted butter and baste over the fish.
You should cook the fish for around 3-4 min on one side, then carefully flip over and cook for another 1-2 min depending on the thickness of the fish. Keep basting with the butter, squeeze over some fresh lemon juice and serve. Don't over cook the fish as you want to keep it nice and tender.

OK you're ready to eat; place the asparagus on a plate, add the fish and then pile on a good old spoonful or three of the salsa and enjoy!