Brioche bread pudding

I made this on Sunday for Father’s Day. I prepared it all in the morning then we went out for the afternoon (to a dog show, we’d entered Daddy and Kipper, they came 5th!), then I popped it in the oven after dinner (the pudding, not the dog!)

It’s a kind of posh bread and butter pudding.

Ingredients:

Brioche (a loaf or rolls), sliced

1 Punnet of soft fruit ( I used raspberries, but blueberries or strawberries would work just as well, or even sliced peach)

2 Egg yolks

1 tbsp caster sugar

 300ml milk

3 drops of vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod

0.5 tsp ground cinnamon

(Optional: splash of Amaretto)

1 tbsp light brown or demerera sugar

1 small handful almond flakes

Method:

1 – Grease a baking dish

2 – Lay all of the brioche in the dish and poke the fruit in between and on top of the layers. If using, drizzle the Amaretto over the whole dish

3 – Now to make your custard.. Heat your milk in a pan until gently bubbling

4 – In a separate bowl whisk your egg yolks, vanilla, cinnamon and caster sugar

5 – Slowly our your hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. You need to be slow so that the eggs don’t cook too fast and split your custard.

6 – Return to the heat and whisk until slightly thickened.

7 – Pour over the brioche and fruit and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes  - I left mine for about 5 hours, overnight would be fine (you could do this the night before and have it for breakfast).

8 – Preheat the oven to 200C

9 – Sprinkle the top of the dish with the brown sugar and almonds and bake for 25 minutes.

10 – Serve with cream or ice cream.

Enjoy!

Soft Lemon Biscuits

INGREDIENTS (makes approx 25):

350g flour

0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g caster sugar

50g soft brown sugar (or more caster sugar)

170g melted butter

Zest and juice of 4 lemons

METHOD:

1 – Preheat the oven to 180C

2 – Mix all the dry ingredients together

3 – Add the melted butter and lemon juice

4 – Mix. It will make a sloppy dough.

5 – Pop in the fridge for at least half an hour (I left mine overnight)

6 – Roll into  balls (approx 25)

7 – Put them onto greased trays and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.

Alternatives: Add some chopped candied ginger to your lemon biscuit. Or try lime, raspberry and desiccated coconut (50g coconut instead of 50g flour). Or chocolate cookies, add some cocoa powder and chocolate chips.

They make soft, almost cakey biscuits. Try making some butter icing and sandwiching it between two biscuits.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy   : )

American style pancakes with streaky bacon and maple syrup

INGREDIENTS:

Pancakes -

150g flour

3 tsp baking powder

0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

1 tsp caster sugar

1 egg

300ml semi skimmed or whole milk

1 tbsp melted butter

Other -

Smoked streaky bacon

Maple syrup

METHOD:
1 – Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl

2 – In a separate bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients

3 – Pour the wet into the dry and whisk. Don’t worry to much about lumps.

4 – Leave in the fridge for half an hour.

5 – Lay your bacon on a tray and  grill for 10 minutes (turning half way) until crispy.

6 – Fry your pancakes in a non-stick pan. You have included butter in your mix so you shouldn’t need any extra. This amount makes about 15 pancakes.

7 – This makes thicker pancakes than us Brits are used to so they take a few seconds longer on each side, flip them when they are bubbling and the edges come away from the pan.

8 – Serve the pancakes stacked high with crunchy bacon on top then drizzle with maple syrup.

This makes a fantastic brunch and I’ve cooked it a few times for Christmas breakfast. Delicious.

Alternatively, if bacon and maple syrup aren’t your thing (don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it though. It shouldn’t work, but it does!), warm up your maple syrup in a pan and pour in a punnet of blueberries, heat for 3 minutes, then pour it all over the pancakes.

Enjoy!

Rosemary Focaccia

INGREDIENTS:

DOUGH:

600g Strong Bread Flou 00

300g Pasta Flour 00

500ml tepid water

7g sachet dried yeast

15g salt

Drizzle Olive Oil

TOPPING:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 sprig fresh Rosemary, leaves removed.

FINISH:

2 sprigs Rosemary, leaves removed

Pinch Sea Salt

METHOD:

1 – Combine the dough ingredients.

2 – Bring ingredients together and knead on a floured surface for 5-10 minutes.

3 – Cover with a clean tea towel and rest for 45 minutes

4 – Prepare a baking tray. Oil with sunflower/vegetable oil the base and sides.

5 – Spread the dough out evenly onto the base using your hands. Drizzle with olive oil and ‘dimple’ it with your finger tips. Press firmly so your finger tips push right through to the base. Scatter one sprig of Rosemary over

6 – Cover with a tea towel again and rest for 40 minutes.

7 – Preheat the oven to 200C

8 – Bake the dough for 15-20 minutes

9 – Mix together the remaining olive oil and rosemary and brush the bread all over

10 – Rest and serve warm.

This is great served with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Or sliced carefully in half and made int a giant sandwich using tomatoes, olives, capers, peppers, mozzerella, anchovies, feta, parma ham, chicken, pesto..anything you fancy!

Instead of Rosemary, try Sage or Thyme. Or add caramelised onions and cheddar to the dough and top with chives.

Enjoy!

Summer Quiche

The kids had their friends over to play and an al fresco tea this afternoon. I’ve never made my boys quiche before and really quite fancied it for my dinner so thought I’d give it a go. Noah helped me make it which was good fun. He mixed all the wet ingredients and ‘pricked’ the pastry before putting it in the oven. And when it came to tea time, he very proudly announced to his best friend that he had made tea today, then promptly scoffed the lot. So, in short, it went down well with children. 

By the way.. it’s great warm or cold so is perfect for a picnic or Jubilee party.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Shortcrust pastry – I’m not super mum, I bought it.

60ml Single Cream

150g Cheddar cheese (grated)

2 tbsp Creme fraiche

Onion (diced)

Ham (shredded)

Pepper for seasoning

Half a Red pepper (diced)

Goats cheese (soft)

Handful of baby tomatoes, halved.

Fresh Basil leaves – if you have them

2 Free range eggs

Butter for greasing the dish

Olive oil for cooking the onions and peppers

Method:

1 – Preheat the oven to 190C

2 – Grease a dish (mine was about 6 inches square but a round one is fine)

3 – Flour a surface and rolling pin and roll out your pastry

4 – Put you pastry onto your dish and shape into the corners. Cut away any excess but leave a lit overhanging as it shrinks when you cook it

5 – Prick the pastry all over with a fork. Fill with baking beads (use grease proof paper under lentils if you don’t have any). Bake for 20 minutes

6 – In the meantime… Gently fry the pepper and onion in olive oil

7 – Into a mixing bowl add the eggs, cream, crème fraiche and cheddar cheese and mix

8 – Season with pepper. Add the cooked onion and pepper and the shredded ham to the wet ingredients

9 – When cooked, remove the pastry from the oven. Take out the baking beads and fill with the wet mixture

10 – On top, put the tomatoes, soft goats cheese and basil leaves

11 – Turn the oven down to 160C and bake for 40 minutes

12 – It’s cooked when you insert a fork and it comes out clean

Serve with salad and boiled new potatoes.

Alternatives: Chirizo and red pepper, Bacon and onion, Caramelised onion and goats cheese, Broccoli and chilli, Chicken and tarragon, Sundried tomato, olive and yellow pepper.

Yum. Enjoy!

Mango, Chicken & Goats cheese salad (and home made Lemonade)

We’ve just had this for dinner. I have to share it with you now because it was perfect for a hot sunny day and we might not get many more.

I cheated on the pizza. It was a basic cheese and tomato pizza which I dolled up with chicken, pancetta, goats cheese and peppers. Easy and delicious. The recipes I have to share with you are home made and went down very well with grown ups and children alike..

Mango, chicken and goats cheese salad

Ingredients:

1 bag of Green salad – rocket, baby spinach and watercress

Half a Mango (peeled and cubed)

Soft Goats cheese (broken into small pieces)

Half a chicken breast (baked, cooled and shredded)

Small handful of Pancetta (cooked and cooled)

Juice of 1 lemon

Pepper (ground)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (equal amounts of oil to lemon juice)

Method:

1 – To make the dressing – put the oil, lemon juice and some ground pepper into a jam jar. Put the lid in and shake.

2 – Put this in the bottom of a salad bowl

3 – On top of this, add the salad leaves, chicken, pancetta and goats cheese

4 – When you’re ready to serve, use your hands tomix all the ingredients up in the bowl.

Enjoy!

Home made lemonade

I’ve never made lemonade before this weekend, but always thought other people’s id delicious and assumed it was really hard. It’s not hard at all and well worth the little bit of effort. It’s perfect on a summers day. My quantities are vague because I made it up as I went along.

Here goes…

Ingredients:

6 lemons

Half a mug of caster sugar

Half a mug of water

Ice

Method:

1 – Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat for a few minutes unitl the sugar has been dissolved (this is now your sugar syrup)

2 – Juice 5 of the lemons and add the juice to the sugar syrup

3 – Put this mix in the fridge for about 30 minutes to infuse

4 – Half fill a jug with ice and pour over the lemon and syrup mix

5 – Fill with cold water and use the last lemon as garnish, sliced on top.

Serve in cooled glasses, in the sunshine.

I don’t think it’s ‘supposed’ to be served this way but we had ours with dinner, then after dinner added some Limoncello (Italian lemon liqueur) to ours..umm.

Enjoy!

Jubilee (Coronation) Chicken

My take on Coronation Chicken – it’s lighter, less ‘mayonnaisey’ and much nicer than that stuff you get in a plastic container from the supermarkets, and what’s more.. it’s super easy. Perfect for you Jubilee celebrations.

The original version of this recipe, created for The Queen’s coronation, was made with poached chicken, white wine, mayonnaise, and various herbs and spices. Mine is much less time consuming, but hopefully, just as scrummy. Here goes….

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 Whole chicken (roasted) [or use left overs from your Sunday roast and reduce the rest of the ingredients]

3 tbsp greek yoghurt

3 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tbsp mango chutney

1 tsp curry powder

1 lime (zest and juice)

Method:

This really couldn’t be easier…

1 – Remove all the meat from the chicken carcass (keep the carcass to make stock)

2 – Shred up all the meat and put into a large dish

3 – Add all the other ingredients to the chicken and stir until all combined

..see, easy peasy.

It can be made with low fat greek yoghurt and low fat mayo if you prefer. And add raisins if you like them.

I served mine with chilli and lemon cous cous and a green salad. It’s just as good with rice, crusty bread or some boiled new potatoes.

Alongside your cucumber sandwiches (crusts off) and a glass of home made lemonade you’ll have all you need for a fantastic Jubilee party.

Enjoy!