Cheese Biscuits (American Style)

Easy recipe that makes a really nice flaky American style cheese biscuit (kinda like a scone). Great with soup. Best served straight from the oven with a little butter on top.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
5 tbsp butter (roughly 75grams)
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder.
To this add in the butter in cubes and combine until you get coarse cumbs.
Mix in the milk and cheese. Make sure you combine all the ingredients well but don't over mix the batter.
Drop heaped tablespoons of batter on to a greased baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes on 220C.
Makes 10-12 biscuits

Sausage, bean, and cabbage casserole

It may not sound exciting but this recipe is a firm favourite in our house. Searching for new recipes for sausages, my husband found this online. I've adapted it for our tastes. 

Ingredients: 

6 Lincolnshire sausages (or any other sausages you like really)
1 onion
1 can black beans
1 can butter beans
(you can use whatever beans you like. We just happen to like these)
Rosemary (fresh or dry) - 1 tbsp
Sour cream - 200g
Apple cider vinegar - 2-3tbsp
Whole grain mustard - 1tbsp
Water

Cut the onion in half, and then slice it into long thin strips. Fry these off until soft then put aside. 

Cut the sausages in half, and then in half again but this time length ways. You want to end up with four pieces from one sausage. Make sure that you leave the skin on as this helps to keep the pieces together as they cook. 

Using the same pan you cooked the onions in, place the pieces of sausage in skin side down. You want to cook them on a high heat until they are really crispy on all sides. The skin will shrink and crisp up, and make the sausage pieces curl over slightly. That's fine. 

It should end up looking like this: 

There might be quite a bit of fat from the sausages left when this is done. I would advise to drain some off. 

Add the onions back to the pan with the sausages. Then add in the two cans of beans (drained), the apple cider vinegar, the whole grain mustard, and the rosemary. Mix these all together and cook on a low heat for a few minutes. 

At this point I usually take the pan off the heat for a couple of minutes to allow it to cool before I add the sour cream. I've had it curdle before when I added cold cream to a hot pan. If your sour cream is at room temp then you should be fine to add while on a low heat. 

Once the sour cream is added, mix thoroughly, coating all the ingredients. At this point I usually add a little bit of water just to thin the cream a bit and help to coat everything. You will want to taste the sauce to see whether it needs more vinegar. I usually end up adding a little more vinegar, water and sour cream before the end to get the flavour and consistency just how I like it. I would suggest you do the same for your taste. 

Take your half cabbage and chop it finely. Place the cabbage on top of the mixture and put the lid on your pan for a few minutes. Once it's softened a little, mix it into the sausage casserole and replace the lid. Cook until the cabbage is to your preferred softness. I like mine to still be a little crunchy. 

Before you serve, taste the sauce again to make sure it's as you want it. Add more of whichever liquid it needs. 

Your casserole should end up looking like this: 

Enjoy!!

Hummus

A friend of mine is allergic to sesame seeds so doesn't eat hummus.  I came across these recipes recently and thought of her.  None of them have sesame in them!

Hummus

Ingredients

For the hummus...

300g freshly cooked chickpeas
3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 T (tablespoons) olive oil
1 small clove garlic
2 lemons (shave off five thin strips of peel, then juice, to get 3 T
Flaked sea salt

For the fried aromatics...

4 T olive oil
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
1 large clove of garlic, peeled an thinly sliced
2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
1 cinnamon stick, lightly crushed
5g coriander stalks (cut into 4cm lengths, plus 2 T picked leaves

To make 300 g cooked chickpeas

1. Soak 125g dried chickpeas in plenty of cold water and half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda overnight.

2. Next day, drain, put in a pot with 900 ml water and a quarter teaspoon of bicarb, bring to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes (or longer, depending on the freshness and variety of the chickpeas), until very soft but still retaining their shape, then drain.

(I can't help but think that it might be easier just to buy a can of chickpeas!)

To make the hummus

1. Put the first 4 ingredients for the hummus in a small bowl of a food processor with the lemon peel, two T of lemon juice, 1/2 t (teaspoon) of flaked salt and a T of water.  Blitz for about 2 minutes, until you have a smooth paste. 

2. For the fried aromatics, heat the oil in a medium pan on a medium heat, then gently fry the chilli, garlic, ginger and cinnamon for 5 minutes, stirring every once in a while, until the garlic is just starting to brown.

3. Add the coriander stalks and fry for a minute or two more, until the garlic is golden brown and the chilli aromatic.

4. Transfer the solids to a plate with a slotted spoon and reserve the oil.

5. Sprinkle generously with flaked salt.

6. Spoon the hummus onto a large plate, creating a large well in the centre with the back of a spoon.

7. Spoon the oil into the well and drizzle over the remaining tablespoon of lemon juice.

8. Top with the fried aromatics and fresh coriander, and serve.

And for a slightly simpler hummus...

Ingredients

200g freshly cooked chickpeas

1/2 garlic clove peeled and crushed

1 lemon - the zest finely grated, to get 2 t. and juiced to get 1 T.

1T olive oil

5-6 T Greek-style yoghurt (not low fat is possible)

Flaked sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Combine the ingredients in a food processor and blitz smooth

Another Blueberry Muffin Recipe...but with frozen blueberries

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups frozen unsweetened blueberries
TOPPING:
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, milk and vanilla; mix well. Stir in dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in frozen blueberries.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Combine sugar and nutmeg; sprinkle over muffins. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Yield: about 2 dozen.

Pumpkin Cake

Pumpkin Cake



Ingredients for Pumpkin Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups granulated sugar (This may be too much sugar and so I will try it with various amounts)
1 tsp baking soda (sifted to get rid of lumps)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs, room temp
1 cup oil (extra light olive oil, vegetable or corn oil will work)
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
Prep: Preheat oven to 350˚F/ 180 C. Grease a 9x13 non-stick baking pan or a Glass pyrex dish.** In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1½ cups sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon.
In a second medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: 3 large eggs, 1 cup oil and 1 can pumpkin, until well combined.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Transfer to prepared baking dish and bake at 350˚F for 35-40 min (my oven took 35 min), or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.

Black pepper beef stir fry with egg fried rice

Recipe by James Martin


Ingredients

For the black pepper beef
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dry sherry
2 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 tbsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tbsp cornflour
500g/1lb 2oz beef fillet, finely sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 red peppers, seeds removed, finely sliced 2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
50-75ml/2-3fl oz water

For the egg fried rice

2 tbsp groundnut oil
200g/7oz basmati rice, cooked according to packet instructions, drained and cooled completely
2 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp sesame oil
4 spring onions, finely sliced
3 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves

Serves 4

Method

1. For the black pepper beef, whisk together the light soy sauce, dry sherry, garlic, cracked black pepper and cornflour in a bowl. Add the beef slices and stir well to coat the beef in the marinade. Cover and set aside in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
2. At the end of the marinating time, remove the beef from the marinade (discard the marinade). Heat a wok until nearly smoking, then add the vegetable oil and beef. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes, or until just browned all over. Remove the beef from the wok and set aside.
3. Add the peppers to the wok and stir fry for 1-2 minutes, then add the oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil and water. Cook for one minute, then return the beef to the wok and stir fry for a further minute. Keep warm.
4. For the egg fried rice, heat a clean wok until hot and add the oil. Add the cooked, cooled rice and stir fry for 2-3 minutes to heat through.
5. Lightly mix the beaten eggs and sesame oil together, then pour over the rice. Continue to stir fry for 2-3 minutes, breaking up any large lumps of egg and rice with a wooden spoon, until the egg is set. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then stir in the spring onions and coriander.
6. To serve, spoon the black pepper beef onto serving plates and pile the egg fried rice alongside. 

Tomato and Broccoli Crustless Quiche

Ingredients:

1 Can salmon

2 medium tomatoes, sliced

2 cups chopped broccoli, steamed 

6 eggs

½ cup milk

½ teaspoon salt (I used sea salt)

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon dijon mustard

1 cup grated strong cheddar cheese

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C

2.  Coat a 9-inch + quiche dish with oil or coking spray.

3. Layer broccoli, tomato slices and salmon in prepared dish, and top with the cheese.

4. Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and mustard, and pour over the ingredients in the dish 

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until egg is cooked through and top is browned.

Serves: 4-6