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Recipe Library
Lemon Pudding:
Ingredients:
1 pack of soft trifle sponges; 6oz/170g caster sugar; 4oz/113g butter;
2 lemons; 3 large eggs.
(NB. use only the soft trifle sponges, do not use the harder finger sponges)
Cooking time:
None
Equipment needed:
Large mixing bowl; large glass bowl approx 5in/13cm deep by 8in/20cm diameter; 2 jugs; grater; lemon juicer; electric hand mixer; fork.
Preparation:
In the large mixing bowl, cream the butter & caster sugar together until smooth, separate egg yolks from whites and put whites aside into a jug. Add the egg yokes slowly into the butter & caster sugar, stirring gently until thoroughly mixed.
Grate approx half the rind off the lemons, then cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice into a small jug (or use a lemon juicer). Add the lemon rind very slowly and blend into the mix, then add the lemon juice very slowly a little at a time (or it will curdle) and beat well. Whip up the egg whites using an electric hand mixer, until nice and frothy and then fold into the mixture in the bowl.
Take the trifle sponges and break into halves and layer around the inside of the large glass bowl, any sponge left, break up into the centre of the bowl, then carefully pour in the mixture and with a fork, spread out until all the sponges are evenly covered.
Put into the fridge and leave for at least 3 hours or can be prepared and left in fridge overnight, but must be consumed within 24 hours. Enjoy!
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Colombian Chicken:
Ingredients: (these are approximate & variable)
A tablespoon of sunflower or olive oil; a good pound of potatoes (preferably at least 3 different varieties - waxy, floury, watery), cut into bite sizepieces; a medium onion, finely chopped; several cloves of garlic, crushed; thyme (fresh or dried); half a pound of smoked white fish (haddock, cod, pollock, etc., will all be fine); half pint each of milk and water; about 9oz/250g of sweetcorn (tinned or frozen); freshly groung black or mixed pepper; a small handful of chopped dried fenugreek leaves*; salt to taste; double cream (optional); capers (optional).
*The essential flavour ingredient, only obtainable by mail-order, from Indian shops or, possibly, a few Health Food Stores or herbalists. In the absence of fenugreek, parsley, chervil, or tarragon could be used, but the esential flavour would be missing - ground fenugreek seeds might help.
Cooking time:
1 hour, 15 minutes
Equipment needed:
A good sized saucepan
Preparation:
1) Heat oil in saucepan and brown onion with garlic and thyme.
2) Add potatoes to the saucepan.
3) Lay fish on top.
4) Add milk and water to cover.
5) Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
6) Remove fish, remove skin and bones, and flake to bite size. Reserve aside.
7) Continue simmering potatoes for another half hour or so.
8) Add sweetcorn, reserved fish, pepper and fenugreek.
9) Simmer about 15 minutes. Check taste and add salt if needed.
Serving:
Serve with a swirl of double cream, capers if liked, and warm, crusty bread & butter.
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Tangy BBQ Spare Ribs:
Ingredients:
Approx 3lb/1.5k of spare ribs; 2 tablespoons of olive or sunflower oil;
2 cloves of garlic; 1 large onion; 5 tablespoons of tomato puree;
3 tablespoons of lemon juice; 4 tablespoons of brown sugar;
4 tablespoons of Worcester Sauce;
4 fluid onces/120mls of beef stock; 1 teaspoon of English mustard powder; half a teaspoon of dried sage; quarter teaspoon of black pepper.
Cooking time:
45 to 50 minutes
Equipment needed:
Medium saucepan; rectangular shallow ovenproof dish
Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 210 degrees/gas mark 6 (fan ovens will vary). Rub the spare ribs all over with a little of the oil, put into the ovenproof dish and pop into the oven for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the tangy sauce, chop the onion into small pieces (1/4in/1cm approx) and finely chop the garlic cloves. Over a moderate heat, cook the onion in the oil in a medium saucepan, add the garlic and continue to cook until the onion is soft and going translucent.
Then add the rest of the ingredients (in no particular order) stir well and bring to the boil.
Take off the heat and cover until the ribs have cooked for 20 mins, then pour the scauce mixture over the ribs (ensuring that they are evenly covered) and return them to the oven and cook for a further 25/30 minutes, basting the scauce over the ribs every five minutes or so.
After 25/30 minutes, the should be thick, sticky & very slightly burnt.
Serving:
Serve the ribs immediately, just as they are, or with rice &/or a salad.
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Quick Trifle:
Ingredients:
1 Chocolate Swiss Roll; 1 packet of chocolate Instant Whip; 1 packet of butterscotch Instant Whip; 1 packet Dream Topping or fresh cream.
Cooking time:
None
Equipment needed:
Large glass bowl
Preparation:
1) Slice and layer the Swiss Roll in the glass bowl.
2) Mix the chocolate Instant Whip and pour over the Swiss Roll.
3) Mix the butterscotch Instant Whip and pour over the chocolate Instant Whip.
4) Mix the Dream Topping (or fresh cream) and pour over the top.
5) Decorate to your liking.
Serving:
Serves 4-6.
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Date Slice:
Ingredients:
5oz/142g Rolled Oats; 4oz/113g Plain Flour; 0.5oz/14g Baking Powder; 5.5oz/156g Margarine; 5oz/142g Sugar; 9oz/255g Dates (de-stoned) 5fl.oz/148ml Water.
Cooking time:
20/25 minutes
Equipment needed:
Medium saucepan; mixing bowl; Flan tin.
Preparation:
Put the Dates into the water and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the Dates have broken down to a jam like mixture, then remove from heat.
Whilst the Dates are cooking, in a mixing bowl, rub the margarine into the flour and baking powder. Add the rolled oats and sugar and continue mixing until you have a crumble type mixture.
Pre-heat your oven to 175 degrees C/gas mark 4/350 degrees F.
Divide the mixture in two and press one half into a pre-greased flan tin.
Add the cooked Dates and spread evenly. Cover with the remaining mixture and bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes (may vary for fan ovens), until lightly browned.
Let the Date Slice cool then cut into slices and enjoy!
Serving:
Serves 8 portions.
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Fish Parcel:
Preparation Time:
5 mins
Cooking Time:
20/30 mins
Ingredients:
An individual sized thick fillet of any white fish e.g. Hake, Pollock, Cod or Haddock; a medium sized tomato; small onion; two medium sized mushrooms; 0.5oz/14g hard cheese (Cheddar, Parmesan or similar); salt; black pepper.
Equipment needed:
Medium saucepan; cheese grater; sharp knife; tinfoil.
Preparation:
1) Put the fish fillet onto a piece of tinfoil at least twice as large as the fillet.
2) Slice the tomato, onion and mushrooms thinly and place evenly over the fillet.
3) Grate the cheese over the top and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4) Carefully turn the sides and ends of the tinfoil up and over, to form an airtight parcel.
5) Bring a saucepan 2/3 full of water to the boil and carefully place the parcel into the boiling water.
6) Turn down the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, depending on fillet size.
7) Then, carefully take out the parcel, put it onto a dinner plate and open up the tinfoil.
Serving:
Serve with vegetables of your choice and perhaps a baked potato.
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Savoury Snacks:
Preparation Time:
2 hours (but most of it is half hour spells of waiting time, between kneading)
Cooking Time:
20 mins
Ingredients:
Packet of bread mix (several varieties available from e.g. Tesco, Netto, Aldi; including ciabatta, multigrain, Italian, etc.); water (as directed on packet); flour (for dusting rolling board); fillings of your choice e.g. diced veg (say, potato, onion, leek, carrot, peppers, swede, chilli pepper) fried or roasted, plus cheese or a sauce if liked. Or, mashed potato, fried onion, cheese or corned beef or chopped ham or chicken. Or, tuna, sweetcorn and capers, cornichons, mayo (or tartar sauce) or cheese. The choice is yours and can be mainly leftovers.
Equipment needed:
Rolling board; rolling pin; knife.
Preparation:
The packet instructions are easy to follow (just add the required water, although I find a little more water makes the mixing easier, except with Aldi's mix, which needs less water).
Follow the packet instuctions and knead and rest the dough mixture until it has 'proven' (ie. doubled in size).
Then, knock the air out of it and remove about a quarter to a third (a cricket ball sized lump) of the dough and put the remainder aside in a warm place, covered, to continue to 'prove'.
On a well floured board, roll out the cricket ball sized piece of dough as thinly as possible to form a rectangle about 12''x18''(30cmx40cm).
Place your chosen filling in two piles, about 2''(5cm) apart, on half of the rectangle of dough, then fold over, press to seal around the filling, cut into two sealed parcels and trim off surplus dough with a knife.
Roll out the surplus dough and form and fill a third parcel as neatly as possible.
Leave in a warm place, covered. to 'prove' for half an hour.
Repeat the above with the remaining batch of dough to make perhaps a dozen 'parcels' in total. (Or if you prefer, you could form the rest of the dough into a loaf shape and after 'proving' bake for 25 to 30 minutes as per instructions).
Meanwhile, pre-heat your oven to 220 deg C/425 deg F/ Gas Mark 7 (adjust for fan ovens).
Then, bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.
Place on a rack, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to cool.
Serving:
The parcels may be eaten warm, or cold, or frozen when cold to be used as required.
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Courgette Bread:
Preparation Time:
10 mins
Cooking Time:
1 hour
Ingredients:
1 large egg; 125ml/8tbsps sunflower oil; 175g/6oz courgettes, washed & trimmed; 150g/5.25oz wholemeal flour; half tsp baking powder; 1tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1tsp ground cinnamon; 175g/6oz soft brown sugar;
75g/2.5oz sultanas; 75g/2.5oz walnuts, chopped.
Equipment needed:
Jug; large bowl; grater; loaf tin.
Preparation:
1) Pre-heat oven mark 4/180 degrees C.
2) Grease and line 2lb loaf tin.
3) Beat egg and sunflower oil together in a jug.
4) Grate the courgette into a large bowl using a medium sized grater.
5) Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into the bowl with the grated courgette and stir in the sugar, sultanas and walnuts.
6) Pour in the oil and egg mixture and mix together to make a thick batter.
7) Pour the mixture into the loaf tin.
8) Bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.
9) Cool for 10 minutes then turn out to continue cooling on a wire rack.
Serving:
Cut with a sharpe knife as it will be sticky and moist. Can be stored in a cool place for up to one week.
Happy eating!
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