Cheddar and Beer Bread Rolls

Well, we are back from a lovely week in Egypt (barring the flight home in which 2 year old was a nightmare) and I'm itching to get back into the kitchen having been fed and watered by other people for the last 7 days.

Just before I went away I was lucky enough to be sent some local Cornish ales from award winning Driftwood Spars Micro Brewery in St Agnes. Landlady Louise Treseder is passionate about real ales and particularly about encouraging women to enjoy beer as a natural product with interesting flavours - no encouragement needed from this end!

Not content with just drinking the ales I set about making some beer bread rolls using the Badlands Bitter. The recipe I used was from Jac's blog Tinned Tomatoes, although I made a few tweeks. They turned out lovely and malty, perfect with my Sweet Potato, Carrot and Coconut Soup.

Cheddar and Beer Bread Rolls
Ingredients: makes 12
3 cups of plain flour
1 TBSP Soft Brown Sugar
1 TSP Salt
1 TBSP Baking Powder
2 TSP Dried Thyme
1 cup of Extra Mature Cheddar, grated
300ml Beer

Method:
Step 1: Heat the oven to 190c
Step 2: Sift the flour into a bowl then add all the other ingredients, barring the beer, and nix. Gradually add the beer (do not overmix).
Step 3: Divide the mixture into a 12 hold muffin tin and bake in the oven for around 30 minutes.

Jam & Clotted Cream Victoria Sponge – Pure Indulgence (Guest Post)

For an afternoon delight like no other, you have to try a Victoria sponge made with the addition of clotted cream. Not only does it make the sponge extremely indulgent, it makes the texture smoother and taste even richer. Who says a sponge has to be light and fluffy? Improving on the buttery texture and the addition of clotted cream really takes this humble cake into new realms.

The Victoria sponge is said to originate from the 19th Century, where ladies in waiting for the throne used to bake this simple sponge as an afternoon treat with tea. Unlike a lot of other recipes though; this one has stood the test of time and can still be found on any takeaway menu, or supermarket shelf if you look in the right places.

Recipe 

The recipe for this lovely cake is fairly straight forward. You’ll find all the ingredients down your local shop or in your larder. You’ll notice that clotted cream has replaced the whipped cream, making it richer and there is slightly more butter than a usual recipe for improved texture and exuberance:

• 300g caster sugar

• 300g plain flour

• 320g unsalted butter

• 6 medium eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1tsp baking powder

• 300-500g clotted cream (dependant on taste)

• 1 jar of good quality jam

• 50g icing sugar

Preparation 

Start by creaming the caster sugar with the softened butter until a smooth texture has been created. The best way to do this is with a food mixer, but a hand electric mixer is perfectly fine. From here add half the flour and eggs and continue to mix. Add the vanilla, the baking powder and the rest of the flour and eggs and mix for as long as you have patience for. Around 10 minutes is the ideal time but this is not always practical.

Spoon the mixture into two greased cake tins and place them in the oven on 180 degrees for around 20-25 minutes. You’ll know the sponge is done when it comes in slightly from the edge of the tin and a knife comes out clean when poked.

Decoration

 It is important to make the cake look grand so once the sponges have been removed from the tin and cooled, it is time to get messy! Although the clotted cream is thick; attempt to mix it with the icing sugar to sweeten it and add a little more vanilla. Lather on the jam over the sponge and then spoon all the cream on top of this and spread until even. Place the second sponge on top and finish by dusting a small amount of icing sugar over the top. Final Touches Finish off the experience by making some cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches. Cut the crusts off and eat these with the cake and a nice mug of Earl Grey tea. This home version of the afternoon tea tastes every bit as good and making it all yourself is extremely satisfying. This is a guest post from Steve, who lives on  Brighton takeaway and cake. Not the healthiest diet, but extremely enjoyable.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

My kids favourite meal from the Chinese takeaway is in their own words 'Chicken Balls and Sauce' aka Sweet and Sour Chicken. So, I thought I'd try and recreate a version at home, without all the additives, preservatives, excess salt and MSG that you find in proper takeaway versions. Despite my house smelling a bit 'deep fried' for a few hours it was most definitely worth it. The chicken turned out crispy and crunchy and the sauce was as good as any from a takeaway.

Have a good half term everyone!

Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients: to serve 4
For the batter:
100ml Soda Water, chilled
100ml Cold Water
140g Self Raising Flour
 1 TSP Salt

25g Cornflour - to coat chicken

4 Skinless Chicken breasts, cut into large pieces
Spring Onions to serve

For the sauce:
1 Red Pepper, chopped
1 Red Chilli, chopped
400g Tin Pineapple Chunks,including juice
50g Tamarind paste
100g Caster Sugar
100ml Rice Wine Vinegar

Oil for deep frying

Method:
Step 1: To make the sauce put the pepper, chilli and pineapple chunks and juice, tamarind paste, sugar and rice wine vinegar in a pan and simmer for 25 minutes. Puree in a food processor and set aside.
Step 2: Fill a large wok with Vegetable Oil (about 1cm deep) and heat until shimmering. Mix together batter ingredients. Line a tray with kitchen paper and turn on the oven to low.
Step 3: Put the cornflour on a plate and dust each piece of chicken in the cornflour, then dip the pieces in the batter and place in the oil (you will have to do this in batches). Cook for 5 minutes, or until golden then take out, place on the tray and pop in the oven to keep warm while you fry the rest of the chicken.
Step 4: Serve the fried chicken, with the sweet and sour sauce and freshly sliced spring onions.

Meal Plan 6th February - 12th February 2012

We are off to Egypt next week for a much needed family holiday so this weeks meals are all about using up leftovers and clearing out  the freezer.

Monday 6th February
Chicken Kievs with Sweet Potato Mash and Peas

Tuesday 7th February
Two Cheese, Bacon and Pea Risotto

Wednesday 8th February
Prawn, Pepper and Mushroom Korma with Basmati Rice

Thursday 9th February
Prawn Biryani made with leftover curry and rice....with some secret additions

Friday 10th February
Fish and Chips

Saturday 11th February
Ham and Cheese Tortellini Pasta Bake

Sunday 12th February
Mum and Dads for a Roast before we set off on holiday.

Bakers Pantry Biscuit Club

I received a lovely package from Bakers Pantry yesterday containing a months supply of biscuits - much needed after a stressful week which included putting our house on the market (if you are looking for 3 bed dormer bungalow in North Cornwall let me know).

If you don't know, Bakers Pantry is a new website offering a unique luxury biscuit club service whereby subscribers receive a monthly package of biscuits  - you can see February's pack here - containing offerings such as Banoffee Oaties, Fruit Shortbread, Oat and Apple biscuits and Giant Triple Chocolate cookies to name just a few. The package, delivered by courier, came well presented and most importantly with all of the biscuits still in tact. I loved the map that accompanied the biscuits showing you where each one was made.

The proof is in the tasting though and over the last few nights we have sampled the whole selection. My favourites I hear you ask?....well it was a tough call  - I loved Chocolate Shortbread

....but the winner for me had to be the Banoffee Oaties - a crumbly, bananary toffee sensation. One word - WOW

Bakers Pantry Competition
Bakers Pantry have a competition on their website offering 15 x 1 month subscriptions to their biscuit club so make sure you pay a visit to this page to enter.

You can also find Bakers Pantry on Twitter.

Thank-you to Bakers Pantry for sending me through a sample!