One Giant Crumpet

Whilst flicking through Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course book, given to us for Christmas, this recipe immediately caught my eye. Surely the only thing better than crumpets is a giant crumpet!

Reading through the recipe I was pleased that they seemed to simple to make - had we known this months ago we would have made them from scratch from the start as they taste a million times better.

Ingredients:
175g strong white flour
.25 teaspoon of salt
Small pinch of caster sugar
.5 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon dried yeast
125ml warm milk (not too hot)
150ml warm water (not too hot
Butter

Method:

1. Sift the flour, salt, sugar and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Make a small well in the centre and add the yeast. Gently pour in the warm milk and water, ensure it is not too hot or you'll kill the yeast.
2. Bring the flour from the outside of the bowl into the liquid and mix until you have a batter. It is quite thick  but if too thick you can add upto another 100ml of warm water. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour - it will have almost doubled in size.
   
   

   

   The batter

3. Heat a non-stick frying pan (I use a pancake pan) over a medium heat and add a little butter. Stir the batter and then pour into the pan. Turn down the heat and cook for 10-15 minutes. 

   

   After 10 minutes - almost dry

4. Once the batter is dry on top place a little butter around the edges of the crumpet and then flip over and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

   

   Cooking the other side

5. Finally serve up with your favourite topping. Ours has to be butter and jam.

   

   The giant crumpet in all its glory!

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Summer Fruit Pavlova

Sunday was cheat day. It was also a belated housewarming party for us so we held a BBQ. I was tasked with providing the dessert. There was only one suitable dessert in my eyes; pavlova.

For me there is no better summer dessert than a pavlova. The crisp outer shell of meringue combined with the chewy centre and cool cream balanced by fresh fruit is unbeatable in hot weather. It also take minimal effort and serves a crowd easily. There are a couple of ingredients which may seem a bit strange, such as vinegar, but trust me that this is essential to get the nice chewy centre of the meringue. 

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

250g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp cornflour

1tsp vinegar (I tend to use white wine or cider vinegar)

Carton of double cream

Fresh fruit (your choice), chopped

1. On a piece of greaseproof paper draw around a large plate. Place this on a flat baking tray and pre-heat your oven to 150c.
2. Beat your egg whites until they form stiff peaks. This can be done with a handheld mixer or a stand mixer, unfortunately you just won't get the best results using sheer human effort with a whisk.
3. Add the caster sugar teaspoonful at a time whilst still beating. The egg whites will increase in volume and become beautifully glossy.
4. In separate bowl mix the vanilla, cornflour and vinegar together. Add the mix to the egg whites and sugar. Beat until incorporated. 
5. Spoon the mix onto your greaseproof paper and push it out to the edges of your circle template. Build the meringue up at the edges to create a 'nest'.
6. Pop it in the oven for an hour. Turn off the oven and allow the meringue to cool whilst in the oven. (I do mine overnight)
7. Whip the double cream and mix in the fruit. Spoon it into the centre of the meringue. Decorate with more fruit.

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Clean & Lean - Roasted Butternut & Broccoli

Well we've made it to day 5 of the Clean & Lean diet. How are we feeling? Not quite full of energy as hoped but I think we've both lost a bit of weight our sugar cravings are now subsiding. We did, however, treat ourselves to a bit of dark chocolate today which tasted phenomenal.

Tonight's dinner was surprisingly easy and tasty. We did modify the recipe from James Duigan's Clean & Lean Cook Book as it called for 1.25 cups of feta cheese! OK, we get some fat is good for us but just couldn't justify that much of it. We also cut back on the seeds too as we'd snacked on them throughout the day. We have to confess that since our butternut squash was quite small we gobbled down the whole meal which was supposedly for four....

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, cut into wedges

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of chili flakes

1 large handful of broccoli

1 handful of seeds

Feta, salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Toss the butternut wedges in the oil, cumin seeds and chili flakes. Place in an oven pre-heated to 200c for 35-45 minutes.
2. Boil the broccoli until al dente, about five minutes, and then add to the roasting dish with the butternut. 
3. Add the seeds, feta and season. Serve immediately. 

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Clean & Lean - Chicken, Asparagus and Cashew Nut Stir-fry

On Saturday we scared ourselves by watching The Bitter Truth about Sugar on YouTube. On Sunday, after a bit of consideration, we decided it was time to clean up our diets a bit. We don't want to lose weight but we certainly want to feel better mentally and top up our energy levels.

After a quick bit of searching on amazon we came across the Clean & Lean Diet Book, written by James Duigan, which had fantastic reviews. Instead of supporting amazon we nipped down to Greenwich Waterstones and picked up a copy there.

For the past three days we've managed to abstain from the temptations of the birthday treats at work, alcohol and any other drink apart from water. We're not feeling too different yet, but we're certainly not feeling any worse so we'll keep on persevering!

Chicken, Asparagus and Cashew Nut Stir-fry from the Clean & Lean Diet book by James Duigan

Serves 2

1 skinless chicken breast, cut into 1cm strips

1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 clove of garlic, crushed

25g cashew nuts

1 thin red chilie, thinly sliced

3 spring onions, sliced

125g asparagus, cut into small chunks

125g mangetout, cut length-ways

40ml chicken stock

1 tablespoon chia seeds (Hollands & Barratt sell these)

1. Heat half the oil in a wok over a high heat. Add the chicken, cashew nuts and garlic and stir for 3-4 minutes until the chicken is nearly cooked and the cashews are lightly toasted. Tip into a bowl.
2. Add the other half of the oil and throw in you chillie, spring onions, asparagus and mangetout. Stir for 2 minutes. Add the stock and cook for another 2 minutes. The stock will mostly evaporate.
3. Add the chicken and cashew mix back into the wok for a final couple of minutes to warm back through. Stir in your chia seeds and add a squeeze of lime if you fancy. 

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RAWR - Dinosaur Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Having recently moved to a new area the first thing I did was check out the high street, I was delighted to find a cookware shop (my purse cried). Luckily I managed to restrain myself and only came out with this cute dinosaur cookie cutter. I like to think this is a diplodocus as this was always my favourite dinosaur...I like it's name. Of course once armed with a new cookie cutter a batch of cookies have to be made!

I never can figure out if I should call these biscuits or cookies. Cookies to me are large, soft, chewy discs of goodness whilst biscuits are smaller, crunchier and can be cut out using a cutter.

Regardless of how you define a cookie or a biscuit these are tasty and slightly soft, the royal icing gives them a nice satisfying crunch. Not bad for such a simple recipe, all you need is a little extra time to leave the dough to chill.

For the cookie:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.5 cups plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the icing:
250g royal icing
40ml cold water
small squirt of green gel food colouring

1. Using a stand mixer, or a bit of brute force with a wooden spoon, cream the butter for a couple of minutes until it is smooth. Add the sugar to the bowl and beat again until it is nice and fluffy. 
2. Add the egg (don't worry if it curdles - keep beating) and then add the vanilla extract.
3. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until it is just combined. 
4. Pop onto a piece of cling film and press down to form a rough circle, wrap it all up in cling film and leave it in the fridge for about an hour. This is essential so don't be tempted to skip it!
5. Preheat your oven to 180c and line two baking trays with grease-proof paper.
6.  Remove the dough from the fridge and put half the dough on a piece of grease-proof paper, cover it with another piece of grease-proof paper and then roll it out with a rolling pin until it's about 1cm thick.
7. Use a cutter to press down on the dough and then transfer the shapes to your baking trays. Put the baking trays in the fridge for another 15 minutes. This is to chill it out again so the cookies keep their shape when they are cooked. 
8. Remove from the fridge and bake for about 10 minutes until they are a very pale golden colour.  They will become crispier as they cool so don't worry if they're soft when you first remove them. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
9. Whilst cooling whisk together the royal icing and water for 5 minutes until it forms peaks, then add the food gel colouring. Using a piping bag (I use a disposable one) trace the outline of your shape.
10. Dilute some of the icing using a bit more water and use a teaspoon to place it within the outline, use the back of the spoon to spread your icing right up to your outline.

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The best American Pancakes

Despite being British through and through there is something irresistible about a stack of thick, fluffy American pancakes. Although we still love the thinner, crepe-like, British pancakes they don't quite cut the mustard for a lazy Saturday morning.

Over the last year or so we've become almost experts in American Pancakes and have tried numerous recipes from Nigella Lawson to community recipes in forums. This recipe, hands down, is the best we've come across yet.

As we've done all this experimenting we treated ourselves to a special pancake pan which really has been an awesome investment - no more greasing scratched frying pans for us!

Ingredients:
2 cups of plain flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5  cups of milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup of melted butter

1. Put all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and combine

2. In a separate small bowl whisk together the milk, eggs and melted butter

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. The batter will be lumpy - leave it like this! Wait 10 minutes before proceeding any further. Trust me, this step is important - it lets the flour fully hydrate and is key to the lovely texture.

4. Finally it's time to get cooking! Heat up your pan over a medium heat, it sometimes take a couple of pancakes to find the right heat. Pour about 1/3 cup of mixture into the pan and wait until little bubbles start to form.

5. Flip the pancake over and cook it for about a further minute on the other side.

6. Continue this until you're all out of batter! They taste best fresh out of the pan so we often just gobble them up as soon as they're ready. In terms of toppings the world is your oyster - from maple syrup to chocolate spread it all tastes great.

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Sunday Seeded Bread

Every Sunday, without fail, I bake a loaf of seeded bread. Sometimes I bake two. It all depends on whether we can resist wolfing down the freshly baked loaf as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Our favourite loaf of bread, without doubt, is made with Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Wholegrain Seeded Flour. Although it's slightly pricier than your average bread flour (£1.10 bag makes 2 loaves) it's much more filling and satisfying to eat as it contains sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and linseeds.

This is a really basic recipe but it makes for such a tasty loaf and it never fails to impress me that a handful of such simple ingredients can create such a wonderful smell throughout the entire house. Bread making is certainly a type of magic in my eyes!

Ingredients:
500g seeded flour
1 tablespoon dried yeast
1 teaspoon salt
25g butter
300ml tepid water
Small amount of olive oil for greasing bowl

1. Put the flour, yeast, salt and butter into a bowl. Ensure that the yeast and salt are at opposite ends of the bowl. Using your fingertips rub the butter into the mixture until it is all rubbed in.

2. Place your bowl on the KitchenAid fitted with a dough hook. Turn it onto a low speed and slowly add the water. Continue until the bowl is clean of flour and you have a rough looking dough.

OR

Slowly add the water and begin to bring the dough together with your hands. Continue to add the water until the sides of the bowl are clean and you have a rough dough.

3. Turn the speed up to medium for about 7 minutes. Keep an eye on it though as the dough will 'creep' up the sides of the bowl and not be kneaded by the dough hook - just stop for a second and push it back down. After 7 minutes check that you have a soft and elastic dough.

OR

Turn out your dough onto a clean surface that you have lightly covered in olive oil, this prevents you adding more flour to the mix and drying out the dough. Knead for around 10 minutes until you have a soft and elastic dough. 

4. Form into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel or a piece of cling film that you have oiled. Leave it to prove somewhere warm for at least an hour, until it has doubled in size.

5. Tip your dough out and knock the air out of it by pushing down. Knead for about 30 seconds and then form a rough oblong and place it in a loaf tin.

6. Again, cover and leave to rise for approximately 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat your oven up to 220c.

 7. Finally place your beautiful loaf of bread in the oven for 30 minutes. You want a nice deep coloured crust on your loaf. Remove from the oven and tip it out of its tin. Tap the bottom of the loaf, you want to hear a hollow sound, to check that the loaf is cooked. Leave to cool for as long as you can resist!

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