For Father’s Day, I asked dad what I could cook for him as a ‘gift.’ He asked for Thai Green Curry and Spotted Dick.

This recipe I found called for a strawberry and rhubarb rather than cherries. I was going for blueberries, but there weren’t any in the fridge, even though I swear that there were! So I opted for cherries! It would have been nice to have had more (so I doubled the amount that I used in the recipe below), as mine only just managed to cover the top.

Ours was with a vanilla bean custard, which was extremely good! But I made mine ahead and reheated it later, but unfortunately it was a little lumpy and not too attractive to the eye. However it still tasted delicious.

Here’s a nice image of dad and his mum on Mother’s Day in 2008. And a handsome image of Tim, just thrown into the mix

Spotted Dick with Cherry Compote
Adapted from: There’s A Newf in My Soup
Serves 16

Ingredients
For the cherry compote:
• 300g cherries, pitted
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 x sachet gelatine
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

For the spotted dick:
• butter and flour, for greasing
• 10 tbsp/170g butter or suet
• 1¼ cups/300g sugar
• 4 x eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2¾ cups/340g self-raising flour
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup/150g dried fruit

Preparation
For the cherry compote:
Mix the sugar and gelatine in a bowl. Then add the cherries, lemon juice and brandy, and simmer over low heat until thick and syrupy – about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, butter a cake tin, then dust with flour (knocking the excess out).

Pour the syrup in the bottom of the tin, arranging the cherries (without burning yourself!) in a pretty fashion. Leave to cool at room temp. until set.

For the spotted dick:
Trace a circle on parchment paper slightly larger than the cake tin, and cut out.

Melt the butter in a large bowl, add the sugar, and cream with a wooden spoon until pale and smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well.

Sift the flour into the mixture, and beat until well combined. Then add the milk and beat, also. Dollop the mixture on top of the cherry compote, and flatten out.

Fill a large, shallow pan with water, and put some metal cookie cutters or something in the bottom to create a platform on which to place the cake tin, about 1” above the water. Bring the water to a boil, and then turn the heat down so it simmers.

Put the cake tin on top of the platform, cover the tin with the parchment paper, and put the lod on the pan. Steam for about 1 ¼ – 1 ½ hours. If using little ramekins, it will be about 1 hour.

The spotted dick will puff up a lot. I used a bread knife to even the bottom of mine before I inverted it onto a plate, and sliced it, and served it with homemade vanilla custard.

Vanilla Bean Custard
Adapted from: Bite My Thumb
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
• 3 x egg yolks
• 1 cup/250ml double cream
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out (1 tsp vanilla essence)
• 3 tbsp sugar

Preparation
Boil water in a small saucepan.

Whisk the cream and egg yolks in a Pyrex bowl until smooth throughout. Then add the vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla essence) and sugar, and whisk until homogeneous.

Place the bowl over the simmering water (this is known as a bain-marie), and whisk continuously so no lumps form. The mixture should be whisked for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and forms a custard like colour and consistency.

Remove the bowl from the pan and pour over your dessert, and enjoy

Enjoy

Enjoyed: 19.06.2011

Firstly, I would like to say “Happy Graduation, Mum!” Mum finally graduated on Saturday with a BA (Hon) in Social Sciences! She’s just got one more module to go, before she gets a BSc (Hons)! She made me so proud, and gave me that extra motivation I needed to keep on revising and to do well in my final year exams.

Secondly, tonight is the last match of the 2010/11 season. It’s pretty sad, but I’m quite looking forward to tonight; win or lose, they’re going to be tough games! We’re playing against Derriford, and last time we played against them, they were tough! Perhaps some tart might slow them down? Hehe…

I wanted to make something special, but easy to make. This didn’t take very long, but I think the results look as though it did!

For those of you who are familiar with Mr. Kipling’s delicious, but very naughty, Cherry Bakewells, then you might find that these are quite different. I really want to try next time to make cherry bakewells just like Mr. Kipling’s, but I stuck with this recipe I found, first.

I always thought Bakewells involved frangipane, but I think it’s just depends on what recipe you use. According to Wikipedia, a Bakewell tart is a shortcrust pastry with a layer of jam and almond sponge filling, which is then covered with a layer of fondant (which sounds quite similar to the Cherry Bakewells by Mr. Kipling). Whereas the Bakewell pudding is flaky pastry with a layer of jam and an egg and almond filling. Apparently, they’re both quite different with regards to appearance, flavour and texture, but I’ve yet to try a Bakewell pudding. Right, that’s the next things on my “To Make” list!

The colour of the tart doesn’t look too appetising, but that’s because I mixed the raspberries in with the sponge; perhaps I should have scattered them across the pastry base first, but I didn’t: oh well!

I also found that the pastry shrank a little when I pre-cooked it. I think next time I’ll make sure there’s a little hanging over the sides, as once it’s cooked, you can always cut it off afterwards. And I used my mum’s trusty silicon moulds; not only are they non-stick, but they let you remove your pie with ease, and they’re great to clean!

Bakewell Tart
Adapted from: BBC Good Food
Yields 2 x 8″ tarts

Ingredients
For the shortcrust pastry (source: Serial Cooking):
• 225g plain flour
• 30g sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 110g buter, melted
• 2 x egg yolks
• ½ tsp almond or vanilla extract (optional)
• 1-2 tbsp water

For the ‘base:’
• 5 x heaped tbsp raspberry jam
• 100g frozen raspberries, just thawed

For the sponge:
• 100g ground almonds
• 100g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 200g butter, melted
• 200g golden caster sugar (I used 20g of Hermesetas sweetener)
• ½ tsp almond extract
• 4 x eggs, beaten
• 4 x heaped tbsp apricot jam

To decorate:
• 25g almonds, slithered

Preparation
For the shortcrust pastry:
Sift the flour in a bowl, and add the sugar and salt. Melt the butter, ensuring that it’s all liquid, and tip into the flour whilst mixing and combining with a wooden spoon. Add the egg yolks and extract, and use the spoon to being it all together. Add the water if necessary, just enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough with your hands. Form the dough into two discs, wrap with clingfilm and pop into the fridge for 30 minutes.

For the tart:
Preheat the oven to 190◦C. Roll out the pastry and line two 8” tart tins (I used silicon moulds; they’re very useful as there’s no need to butter the dish!). When rolling the dough out, it’s best to make sure it’s as cold as possible, and be generous with the flour when flouring the work surfaces. Also, make sure that the pastry hangs over the sides a little.

Pop the pastry into the oven for 8-10 minutes until it’s cooked, but not too coloured. Turn the oven down to 160◦C. Spread the raspberry jam across the bottom of the tart bases, and scatter the raspberries across.

Put the flour, sugar, ground almonds, butter, eggs, extract, baking powder and apricot jam into a bowl and mix until homogenous. Dollop into the pie dishes and sprinkle with flaked/slithered almonds. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden and firm, and leave to cool.

These will freeze for up to 3 months, and can be served hot or cold!

Enjoy your Bakewell tart!

Today, my grandmother from London came home with my dad! Dad works away all the time in London, where he slaves in his taxi for long hours with no sleep. This time when he came home, he brought nanny with him! She’ll be here for just over a week, before dad heads back to London again.

I whipped up this fish pie yesterday so that I wouldn’t be bashing around this morning while nanny and dad were asleep. I was also in Plymouth last night visiting my boyfriend, and was meant to go to the gym today, but missed it because I was so tired I actually slept in until 9! So by the time I got home and sorted myself out it was 10.30am, where I had a cup of tea and a chat with my mum and grandmum, and then we went off to pick Tim up from school. Oh well, at least tonight I’ll go to Kung Fu and play badminton, anyway.

This fish pie was really good. If I make it again, I’ll probably double the flour, butter and milk to have more béchamel sauce; it wasn’t dry, but it would have been nice with a bit more sauce. I suppose with more sauce, you could serve this dish to eight people with chips on the side! We had ours with salad, with a portion left over.

Luxurious Fisherman’s Pie
Adapted from Asda Magazine, Dec ’10 Issue, page 50
Serves 6 large portions

Ingredients
• 550ml (semi-skimmed) milk
• 700-800g mixed fish (I used salmon, haddock and cod)
• 200-300g prawns
• 750g potatoes
• 1 x tin sweetcorn
• 1 x tin garden peas
• 5 x spring/salad onions
• 40g butter (2 x heaped tbsps)
• 50g flour
• ~100g grated cheese (I used cheddar)

Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 200◦C.
2. Cook the potatoes (peeled and washed) in boiling water.
3. Poach the fish in the milk until cooked. Don’t bother to cut the fish up, just place it in its fillets (or however you bought it).
4. When the fish is cooked, remove it and leave to cool in a large baking dish. Pour the milk into a jug/reserve it for later.
5. Crumble the fish in the baking dish, and then add the prawns, sweet corn, peas, and diced spring onions. Mix it all together.
6. In the same pan, melt the butter, and then add the flour to make a roux. Cook for 1 minute.
7. Then gradually add the milk, and slowly bring to the boil, stirring constantly.
8. Pour the béchamel sauce over the ingredients in the baking dish, and stir all together.
9. When the potatoes are tender (which should be around now), drain and then mash them. The spread the mashed potato across the top of the ingredients in the baking dish.
10. Finish with a sprinkle of cheese, and place the fish pie into the oven for 30 minutes, or until the top is brown and crispy and the pie is hot throughout.

Enjoy y’arrr pie!

This summer berry pudding was what I rustled up for afters, and was a part of the anniversary meal that I cooked for my parents. Seeing as I was quite new to cooking, I was a little afraid that it wouldn’t come out particularly well. However, I astounded myself, and my family, and it tasted really nice, and it’s incredibly simple to make!

It did stick together, and kept its shape rather well! But had I have left it in the fridge for longer (as with the banoffee pie), it would have kept its shape better. But unfortunately I didn’t have enough time for that. It still tasted of summer though.

Hmm, a few berries on top would have made it look less plain for the camera…oopppss.

And finally, please don’t be daunted by the length of this recipe. It’s one of those really very simple but impressive looking dishes, and can also be prepared the day before for a fuss-free pudding.

Summer berry pudding
Source: BBC Good Food
Serves 8, easily

Ingredients
• ~1-1.25kg mixed berries and currants. It’s up to you how you mix and match (strawberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, raspberries, etc.)
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 7-9 slices of bread

Preparation
Pop the sugar in a pan with 3-4 tbsp water, and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Be patient! You have to make sure there is not grittiness when you stir with your wooden spoon.
Then boil for 1 minute, and tip in the fruits (except the strawberries).
Cook for about 4 minutes, over a gentle simmer, stirring gently, also. Make sure the fruit isn’t all broken, but softened, with lots of juice!
Then, sieve the fruit, so that the juices are sieved into a large bowl.

Line a large bowl (or however big you want your pudding to be!) with cling film/plastic wrap. Don’t worry if it overlaps, as this just helps you to safely remove the pudding later.
Then, cut all of the crusts off of your bread, and cut two slices into four triangles and four slices into eight rectangles. Leave the rest whole.

Then, dip the whole piece of bread into the juice (make sure you only just cover it in juice to make it coloured, otherwise you may run out!), and squidge this into the bottom of the lined bowl.
Now, dip the rest of the pieces into the juice also, and arrange them inside of the bowl so that they fit together nicely. Even if they overlap, that’s ok, just squidge them together and make sure there are no holes.

Now, tip in the fruit (including the strawberries). If you like, you can cover the bottom of the pudding with bread, also. I did, as I felt that it gave my pudding a little more sturdiness. If there’s any leftover juice, keep it, as you can serve it with cream, and drizzle it on top.

Pop a piece of cling film over the top, then a plate with something with a tin of beans or whatever (to weigh it down), and chill for at least 6 hours, or even overnight. I didn’t let mine chill for long enough (due to time restrictions). But it still tasted great.

When it’s ready to serve, remove the top layer of cling film and put a serving plate upside-down on top of the bowl, and then flip the bowl (with the plate) over. Use the cling film to help ease the pudding out.

Serve with the remaining juice, any extra fruits you may have, and lashings of cream.

Variations
Why not make individual puddings in little ramekins? I’m sure they’ll be easier to hold their shape!

To make a spiced apple berry pudding, you can used fruit load instead of plain bread. Also, instead of berries, you could use 2 or 3 large cooking apples (peeled and cored). Just cooked these for about 5 minutes until softened in the sugar water before adding 800-900g of berries, and continuing with the recipe. Don’t forget the 1tsp of all spice to pop into the berry mix, and you can also use currants! Serve with left over juice, cream, or vanilla ice cream.

For an apricot berry brioche pudding with a lovely French twist you could use a brioche loaf instead.
Add 3 tbsp crème de cassis or framboise to the sugar in the pan (instead of water). Gently simmer about 650g halved and stoned apricots in the syrup for 5 mins, then add about 650g mixed berries, and cook for a few minutes more.
Line the basin with cling film as before then layer up the fruit and juice-soaked slices of brioche from loaf, rather than lining the sides with it. Wrap and weight down the pudding as before, and serve with cream or ice cream.

Marjorie Dawes: … And what the hell is this supposed to be?
Tania: Oh I made it, it’s banoffee pie.
Marjorie Dawes: [mimicking in a deep voice] Oh I made it, it’s banoffee pie. You Tania, are playing Russian roulade with these people’s lives! If anyone one of these fatties has a single bite of this, they could drop down dead! Shame on you Tania. Boo hiss boo! [takes pie home].

Have you ever watched “Little Britain?” It a popular TV sketch show that last half an hour. So quite short and sweet. One of my many favourite sketches is the Fat Fighters one. My mum absolutely loves the Bubbles Devere character, and Tim and my dad just love them all! Anyway the quote “Oh I made it, it’s banoffee pie” is from a series two, episode six sketch, where Paul and Pat have prepared food for an engagement party. You can watch to the funny two minute sketch below:

You probably won’t get the quotes following the pictures unless you’re a “seasoned” fan.

Marjorie Dawes from Fat Fighters

Carol Beer: “Computer says ‘no.’”

Kenny Craig: “Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, not around the eyes, not around the eyes, but in the eyes.” *Clicks fingers.” “You’re under.”

My boyfriend has told me that many of his French friends don’t find Little Britain funny, however he does. I mean, in some ways, can you blame them? But I suppose even if you live in another country, but are raised to be British, then there’s truly no escaping the British sense of humour! So to celebrate Little Britain and all of its British glory, what’s the best way other than to make a truly British dessert?

A typically British banoffee pie.

However, because I used so many fattening products, I decided to calculate the calories from each ingredient:

For the crust:
• 103g “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light” (365kcal)
• 13 x digestive biscuits (884kcal)
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Total = 1249kcal

For the filling:
• 3 x bananas (261g; 233kcal)
• 1 can (397g) sweetend condensed milk (1295kcal)

Total = 1528kcal

For the topping:
• 1 pot (284ml) double cream (994kcal)
• 1 x square of chocolate (30kcal)
• 2 tsp coffee granules

Total = 1024kcal

Grand total = 3801kcal

So, divide that by 8 and you get 476 calories a slice! Ouch! This truly is a real Fat Fighters dessert. But then that’s quite a large piece. So if you have a sixteenth of the pie, then it’s only 238kcal (although that’s still a lot!).

Truly British Banoffee Pie
Serves 8 large fattening slices, or 16 regular slices
(and then you have the privilege of attending Fat Fighters with Marjorie)

Ingredients
For the crust:
• 100g butter
• 13 x digestive biscuits (or other oaty biscuits, like Hob Nobs)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
For the filling:
• 3 x bananas
• 1 can (397g) sweetend condensed milk/dulce de leche
For the topping:
• 1 pot (284ml) double cream
• 2 tsp coffee granules
• 1 x square of chocolate

Preparation
For the crust:
I whizzed the biscuits in a food processor to get them nice and smooth, and melted the butter over the hob in a non-stick pan. I then combined them together, pressed them into a 7-8“ diameter non-stick baking tin (made of silicon-type material – useful for getting pies off of them, but make sure that you don’t break the crust when removing it from the oven!). I popped the crust in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 175◦C.

For the filling:
Now, make the toffee (dulce de leche) filling. This is done by emptying the condensed milk into an oven-proof dish, covering with tin foil, and then placing that in another dish that’s filled with about 2.5-3cm of water. Then, bake in the oven for an hour at 210-220◦C.
When that’s finished, remove the dish from the oven, and wait to cool slightly. In the meantime, chop the bananas up and spread them across the base. Then spread the toffee across all of the bananas, making sure to cover them all (so that they don’t go brown).
This is best done as soon as the toffee comes out of the oven, otherwise it will solidify a little and will be harder to spread across the bananas.
Cool in the fridge for at least one hour. I suppose you could keep the pie like this for a few days, and then follow the whipped cream stage on the morning that you intend to serve the pie. Products with fresh cream always go bad quickly, but I have a feeling that this pie won’t be around for long anyway!

For the topping:
Add the coffee to the cream, and whip in a food processor/electric beater until still peaks are formed. Then, spread across the pie creating pretty patterns. Grate some chocolate over the top, and voila!

Storage:
Keep in the fridge. I would say for up to three days, but once you’ve popped the cream on top it should ideally be within 1-2days at most.

Variations:
You could change the pie crust to oreos to create a black/chocolatey colour.
If you make a thicker base by using more biscuits (remember, the more biscuits you use the more butter you’ll need to hold it together), you could present the pie on its own, rather than in the dish, as the base will be stronger. But then you’ll probably want a bigger dish so that you can actually fit the filling in. So it’s just a matter of playing around with the amounts of ingredients to suit you.
I’ve seen variations where the toffee is put on the pie base, then the banana coating, and then the cream, however, the toffee will help hide the fact that the bananas tend to go a little brown, and may (I hope!) even help the process slow down or even stop.
Maybe you could mash the bananas instead of slicing them. This way it’ll probably be easier to cut!
You could top it with desiccated coconut, or add it (perhaps along with fresh coconut, too?) in with the bananas for coconut and banoffee pie. Or you could add a bit of rum or Malibu into the mix?
You could add sugar in with the whipped cream or into the crust for a little extra sweetness. Icing sugar or brown sugar will probably help to whip the cream up a little more.
Vanilla essence could be popped in somewhere, such as in with the bananas, or it would be really nice to have vanilla flavoured cream.
I suppose you could use whipped cream from a can instead.
Also, you could melt the chocolate and drizzle it across the cream for a different effect as opposed to grated chocolate. Or just sprinkle across cocoa powder instead.
You could use nuts!

I hope you enjoy your banoffee pie!

Well, to mark the first post on my blog, I thought that I’d put the first meal I made. Well, the first proper main meal I’ve made for more than two people! I would also like to welcome you to my blog! Please be patient with all of the content and the layout; I know it’s simple, but it’ll take me a while to build it up. In the meantime, I’ll be posting some of my culinary adventures so do please keep checking back!

Served piping hot means you can savour the flavours for longer.

I was just starting to develop my love of cooking when I thought that I’d attempt to cook in celebration of my parents 32 year anniversary. My mum is a big fan of lamb dishes, and I can’t blame her! I came across this recipe on the BBC Good Food website, and it had some brilliant reviews. So I thought I’d give it a pop.

I absolutely love the BBC Good Food website. I’ve tried quite a few recipes from there, especially as you can view other people’s comments and rating before trying it yourself. I made a lovely looking summer berry pudding for dessert, but I’ll post that next time

My parents (and myself) were actually really surprised with how well this came out. I have to say, it was delicious, and is something I can definitely see myself making again.

Braised lamb shanks with crushed herb potatoes
Source: BBC Good Food
Serves 4

Ingredients
• 4 x large lamb shanks
• 2 x red onions, sliced thinly
• 2 x garlic cloves, crushed
• plain flour
• butter
• olive oil
• 100ml balsamic vinegar
• 500ml red wine
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• dried rosemary
• dried thyme
• 1kg new potatoes
• broccoli
• carrots

Preparation
1. Heat the oven to 150◦C.
2. Dust the lamb shanks with flour and season.
3. Heat a casserole and brown the lamb shanks all over.
4. Then, using the fat from the lamb, sauté the onions and cook until soft. (Add a little butter/olive oil if there’s not enough fat).
5. Add the garlic, balsamic, wine, tomato purée, rosemary, thyme and any other seasoning (salt and pepper etc.).
6. Cover and put in the oven. Cook for two and a half until the meat is almost falling off of the bone.
7. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until soft. You can peel them or choose to keep the skin on. Drain, add a knob of butter, thyme, mint, then season and crush lightly.
8. Serve hot.

Enjoy!!