CC recipe thread.

[SavageHoutkop]

Failsafe and simple - soup is slightly sweet (ginger-i-ness tends to depend on the ginger you use!).

If you freeze it it seems to thicken up and get more gingery (just to warn you!)


Ginger and Carrot Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
500g carrots, peeled and finely sliced
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced
2 stock cubes, made up with 900ml boiling water
1 tablespoon honey
15g butter

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan then add the onion and saute for about 5-8 minutes until softened.
2. Next add the carrots and ginger, cook for a further 5-10 minutes. Finally add the stock and honey, bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Allow to cool slightly then add the butter. Transfer to a food processor and blend to a smooth puree. Reheat gently for 1-2 minutes then transfer to warmed serving bowls.

 

[661-Pete]

Excellent pictures, Gareth! Well, when I say that, I mean, images of raw meat aren't quite my 'thing' but I'll make an exception for you!

OK here's one posted with permission from Mrs. P. It's 'that time of year' again...

Christmas cake

Now is the time to make it if you want it at its best for Xmas. Similar time-interval for other celebrations e.g. wedding, of course.
Warning, this recipe is not easy! My wife says the trickiest bit is making the fudge at step 7, and not getting it to end up like toffee. Be very cautious with the heat.

225 g mixed peel
225g currants
225g raisins or sultanas
250g almonds/cashew nuts
50g glace cherries
1 teaspoon mixed spice
50g preserved ginger, finely chopped
60ml rum or brandy
225 g semolina
60g self-raising flour
350g sugar
225g margarine
6 eggs, separated
60ml milk
¼ teaspoon salt


1. Chop nuts and dried fruit, put into container with lid, pour rum or brandy on top. Leave in fridge to soak for a week.
ONE WEEK LATER:
2. Heat oven to 350F/180C/ Gas 4
3. Take a large bowl and cream the margarine with 225 g of the sugar to produce a smooth consistency.
4. Beat egg yolks, add to bowl a little at a time, stirring well. Should mixture begin to curdle, sift in some of the flour.
5. Add rest of the flour with semolina, spices and ginger. Gradually add mixture of soaked fruit and nuts and their liquor.
6. Whisk the egg whites to a stiff froth, fold them into the cake mixture.
7. Spoon remaining sugar into a saucepan (use white sugar). Place on the heat and cook, stirring all the time, until sugar turns dark brown. Remove pan from heat and pour in milk, stirring thoroughly. Put in salt and empty the mixture into the cake and stir well.
8. Line 8in/20cm square cake tin with baking paper. Spoon in mixture and bake in the middle of the oven for about 1½ hours or until done. Leave cake to cool in tin for half an hour before turning it out.

The decorating (nearer the time), of course, I leave to you. Everyone has their own preferences. We use marzipan.
Good luck with this one! Mrs P made ours yesterday. It looks yummy!

 

[Gareth]

It is Rosehip season again, which in my opinion is well worth a nice genteel bike ride out along; towpaths, river banks, old railway lines etc. However, a few weeks ago I found some frozen Rosehips at the back of the freezer. These I had forgotten to process last winter, so I decided to make Rosehip & Elderflower syrup..

2lbs Rose Hips

30 grams dried Elderflower (bought from the Herbs & Spices man on the market)

1lb of granulated white Sugar

6 pints of Water.

I passed the thawed Rosehips though my 1 month old electric mincer:

while I was doing this, the 6 pints of water and the dried Elderflower were gently simmering away on the stove:

After about 15 minutes simmering the dried Elderflower I added the minced Rose hips.

Which I then simmered for a further 15 minutes before straining through muslin:

After it had finished straining, I returned it back to a gentle simmer:

And steadily added the sugar; constantly stirring:

Then allowed it to reduce by about 25% on a rolling simmer:

Then I bottled it into previously sterlised, and heated bottles. Note the wire basket coffee filter in my funnel:

The yield was 2 litres (4 X 500 ml bottles) of a wonderful tasting, vitamin C rich Rosehip & Elderflower syrup.

Post script; this was one of my step-by-step photo recipes that I did about 3 months ago. Over the last couple of days both Lois & I have experienced stinking colds, which I am happy to say have been kept under control with copious amounts of Rosehip and Elderflower syrup; 50/50 with warm water in tumbler 2-3 times daily.

 

[TVC]

Fishfingers with Pink Mash (Serves 2)


1.Open a small tin of baked beans and gently heat in a pan.

2. Grill you choice of fishfingers as per the packet instructions.

3. Microwave one pot of ready made mashed potato.

4. Stir 1 tablespoon of Tomato Ketchup through the mashed potato to give an even pink colour.

4. Serve together.

 

[rodgy-dodge]

With Christmas upon us here's a great recipe for Ginger Bread...
250g Unsalted butter
200g Dark Muscovada Sugar
7 tbsp Golden Syrup
600g Plain Flour
2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
4 tsp Ground Ginger (more if you like a strong ginger taste. I sometimes add a bit of cinnamon and mixed spice for extra xmas taste)


Heat oven to 200c/Fan 180c/gas 6. melt butter, sugar and syrup in a pan.
mix (all dry ingredients) the flour, Bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger in a bowl, then stir in the butter mixture to make a stiff dough. if it won't come together add a tiny splash of water.

roll out to about the thickness of two £1 coins best done on a piece of baking parchment and cut out shapes.
bake for about 12 mins or until firm and remember to leave room on the baking sheet for the dough to spread when baking.
If you pierce the top of the dough with a cocktail stick you can hang your shapes on the xmas tree as decorations great to do with kids.

 

[PpPete]

No-Waste Tuna Pasta Bake Serves 6-8

Can easily be adapted for smaller qties... this is the industrial version for 2 adults & 4 hungry teenagers

250g Carrots
150 g Frozen Peas
1 large Onion (or 2 medium)
3 tins Tuna in Sunflower Oil
500 g dried Penne Pasta (or Fusilli, or whatever)
250 g Mature Cheddar
Heaped tbsp each of plain four and wholewheat flour
Milk (about 1 pint) - or substitue 1/2 pint white wine for part of milk

Peel & chop carrots
Just cover with water and bring to boil

Meanwhile chop onion finely and place in another pan (a big one)
Drain oil from tuna into the pan with the onions
Place over low heat to soften & brown

Carrots should now be simmering - add the frozen peas

Stir the onions

Grate the cheese

Keep stirring the onions

Drain the carrots / peas - keep the water

Onions should now be soft and going a bit brown
- turn off the heat

Add the flour to the onions and stir

Slowly add the water you reserved from cooking the carrots & peas in

Add enough milk (slowly) to make a runny sauce

Put back on low heat

In another large pan start to cook the pasta in salted water

Add 150g of grated cheese to the sauce, stir

Add the carrots, peas, drained tuna, stir

When pasta simmered for 5 minutes, drain, and add to the sauce.

Stir and put into large rectangular glass dish

Sprinkle remaining cheese on top

Bake in oven for 30 mins @ 6 (or 1 hour @ 3...... or anything in between)

 

[jimboalee]

Scotch eggs.

Ingredients:

6 hard boiled Eggs.
1 Beaten Egg.
1lb of Sausage Meat.
6 Slices of Stale bread.
1 Tablespoon of Oil, I have used Vegetable oil, but you could use Sunflower, Corn, Olive, etc.
Seasonings; I have used Freshly milled dried Garlic and Chili with Black pepper for the sausage meat, and Ground white Pepper, and Sea Salt with Seaweed for the breadcrumbs.


Measure out the sausage meat and stir the seasoning in well. Stand in the fridge over night.

Break up the slices of stale bread, and zap with a blender.

Stir the milled Sea salt and Seaweed, and the ground white pepper into the breadcrumbs.

Knead the sausage meat with clean hands to remove any trapped air, separate into 6 balls, rolling and squeezing them in the hands until the surface is smooth.

Cover a chopping board in cling film, and then "throw" one of the sausage meat balls at the board, as a potter would throw clay on to the wheel. Cover with another layer of cling film, then roll out with a rolling pin.

When you have the sausage meat rolled out evenly, roll it on to a hard boiled egg. And then work it in the hands rolling and squeezing until you have a smooth even surface.

Roll your cannonballs of sausage meat and egg in the breadcrumbs.

When you have them all covered in Breadcrumbs, place them in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Beat an Egg with a teaspoonful of oil and a little Salt & Pepper. Roll the covered eggs in the beaten egg, and then in the breadcrumbs.

Place on a baking tray and bake in a medium oven for 45-60 minutes

Remove from the oven, and allow to cool before eating

Still warm from the oven Scotch egg with bread and butter, celery, and mature chedder cheese for supper .... .... .... .... Delicious!

This is one that you have really got try. I will never go back to factory made Scotch Eggs again

A teaspoon of Madras curry paste in LAMB sausage meat and you have Nargis Kebabs.

 

[jimboalee]

150 ml Whole milk.
40g Sugar.
300 ml Fresh double cream.
1 desert spoon Vanilla extract.

Everything in a 1 litre jug and whisk until doubled in volume.

Slap in the freezer and give a stir every half hour.


Vanilla Ice Cream.

Add choccy drops, jelly tots, dolly mixtures, pistachio nuts or anything that you like at 1 hour in freezer.

 

[Campfire]

I had a lovely bowl of Spicy Parsnip soup when I met up with some cycling friends the other day. It was lovely and I can't find any recipes for it. Has anyone got one?

 

[661-Pete]

I had a lovely bowl of Spicy Parsnip soup when I met up with some cycling friends the other day. It was lovely and I can't find any recipes for it. Has anyone got one?

Was it 'Spicy' as in 'Curry-flavoured'? You could try this one, although it may not be the one you tasted. Certainly the sweet parsnip flavour and the curry spices offset each other well. This one is from Cranks by the way. We think it's excellent. Serves up to 6 (fewer if hungry cyclists ).

25ml sunflower oil*
1 onion, chopped.
1 potato, peeled and chopped.
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
seeds from 2 cardamom pods, crushed.
1 kg parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped.
2 litres vegetable stock.
1 garlic clove
200ml cream*.
salt and pepper.

Fry onion in oil in a big saucepan, then add potato and fry a bit longer until they are transparent. Add garam masala, coriander and cardamom. Add a little water and stir for 2 minutes. Add parsnips, saute for 3-4 minutes, add half the stock and (whole) garlic clove, bring to boil and simmer about 15 minutes until parsnips are soft. Put in blender until smooth, return to saucepan along with rest of stock, bring to boil. Stir in cream, season and serve.

*I would suggest, fry the onion in butter rather than oil, and you can substitute natural yoghurt for cream if you want it to be less fattening! You could also experiment by adding ground cumin as well as coriander, also try a handful of fresh coriander before blending. But I think the recipe as set down above works OK.

 

[the snail]

Brown Bread Ice Cream
I can't find my friend's version, so this comes from Sophie Grigson. My version doesn't use rum, so it's optional, otherwise this is close to my version I think.
Cook time: 20 min + freezing timeServes:1-8Miles cycling to burn off calorieslots

Ingredients

• 60 g brown sugar
• 110 g wholemeal breadcrumbs
• 300 ml single cream, (or substitute single cream mixed with milk, or use just milk)
• 1 vanilla pods, slit in half lengthways
• 1 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp dark rum (optional)
• 300 ml double cream

Method
1. Set the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Mix the breadcrumbs with 100g of the sugar, and spread out on a baking tray. Bake for 8-12 minutes, stirring at least twice until the breadcrumbs are golden and have melded with the sugar. Don't let it burn! As soon as they are done, and while still very hot, stir again, scraping up any pieces that have stuck to the tray. Keep stirring for a few minutes, until the crumbs have cooled slightly and are crisp rather than sticky. Leave to cool.

2. Put the single cream into a pan with the vanilla pod and bring up to the boil. Draw off the heat, cover and leave to infuse for 15 minutes, then bring back almost to the boil. Meanwhile, whisk the egg and yolk with the remaining sugar until pale and fluffy.

3. Whisk in the hot infused cream, then pour the mixture back into the pan. Stir over a low heat for a few minutes until the custard thickens slightly. Draw off the heat, stir in the rum and then pour into a clean bowl. Leave to cool, stirring occasionally.

4. Whisk the double cream until it just about holds its shape but is still a little sloppy, and then fold into the custard, with the breadcrumbs. Freeze in an ice-cream making machine or if you don't have one, pour the mixture into a shallow container and place in the freezer, set to its lowest setting. Leave until the sides are beginning to set, then break them up and push into the centre. Leave for another half hour or so, and repeat. Now leave until the ice cream has just about set but is not yet rock hard. Beat hard with a wooden spoon to break up all the ice crystals. Return to the freezer and leave to finish freezing.

5. Transfer from the freezer to the fridge a good 30-40 minutes before serving, to soften

 

[Gareth]

Vegetable Curry Soup.

Ingredients:

1 litre of Home-made Vegetable stock (left over from the stock used to make Nettle soup)

4 carrots Peeled and diced.

2 small Parsnips, peeled and diced.

1 Piece of Swede, about 1 cm thick, peeled and diced.

3 Spring onions finely sliced.

1 slice of Red Onion, about 0.5 cm thick, peeled, sliced, and diced.

1 Heaped teaspoon of Medium Curry Powder; Although I can handle hot Curries and Chillies, I much prefer to be able to taste all of the flavours behind the spice.

1 level teaspoon of ground Coriander.

1/2 teaspoon of ground white pepper.

2 level tablespoons dried, split Chickpeas.

2 level tablespoons dried orange Lentils.

2 Level tablespoons dried soup mix of pulses and grains

1 litre water.

Sling it all into a saucepan, bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occosionally.

For the thickening Roux;
50g Butter or Margarine, and 2 heaped teaspoons of Cornflour.

In a seperate pan, melt the butter or Margarine, add the cornflour, and stir into a smooth roux. Add the roux to the main pan whilst still simmering and stir for a few minutes until thickened.

Serve in a pre-warmed bowl with some bread.


Approx. 1 litre of pre-made and frozen Vegetable stock, going into the pan to be thawed out.

Add the Dried Chickpeas, lentils and soup mix.

Add the Curry powder, Ground Coriander, and Ground white pepper.

The peeled Vegetables prior to dicing

Everything sliced and diced and ready to go.

Simmering away nicely.The second Saucepan ready and waiting with the margarine to make the thickening Roux

Note that my pan of soup boiled over while I was reading another post here on cooking for engineers. Now, what is it they say about a watched pot not boiling?

Well, an unwatched pot does, and it boils over!

img]http://i105.photobuc...urrysoup006.jpg[/img]

I can't tell you how good this tasted. Now it's time for a few bottles of chilled Perry.

 

[Campfire]

Was it 'Spicy' as in 'Curry-flavoured'? You could try this one, although it may not be the one you tasted. Certainly the sweet parsnip flavour and the curry spices offset each other well. This one is from Cranks by the way. We think it's excellent. Serves up to 6 (fewer if hungry cyclists ).

25ml sunflower oil*
1 onion, chopped.
1 potato, peeled and chopped.
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
seeds from 2 cardamom pods, crushed.
1 kg parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped.
2 litres vegetable stock.
1 garlic clove
200ml cream*.
salt and pepper.

Fry onion in oil in a big saucepan, then add potato and fry a bit longer until they are transparent. Add garam masala, coriander and cardamom. Add a little water and stir for 2 minutes. Add parsnips, saute for 3-4 minutes, add half the stock and (whole) garlic clove, bring to boil and simmer about 15 minutes until parsnips are soft. Put in blender until smooth, return to saucepan along with rest of stock, bring to boil. Stir in cream, season and serve.

*I would suggest, fry the onion in butter rather than oil, and you can substitute natural yoghurt for cream if you want it to be less fattening! You could also experiment by adding ground cumin as well as coriander, also try a handful of fresh coriander before blending. But I think the recipe as set down above works OK.

It wasn't curry, just peppery I think. It was darkish in colour & had herbs in it. However, I have copied your recipe and will try it as I seem to have a lot of parsnips at the moment. Thanks - I'm most impressed with all these recipes and also the wonderful photographs.

 

[Speicher]

150 ml Whole milk.
40g Sugar.
300 ml Fresh double cream.
1 desert spoon Vanilla extract.

Everything in a 1 litre jug and whisk until doubled in volume.

Slap in the freezer and give a stir every half hour.


Vanilla Ice Cream.

Add choccy drops, jelly tots, dolly mixtures, pistachio nuts or anything that you like at 1 hour in freezer.

Stir every half hour, for approx how many times, or is that just until you cannot stir it?

Excellent a recipe for ice cream that does not include eggs. Thank you Jimbo.

 

[Brahan]

Orange and Honey Chicken

I do this one all the time. It's great for filling the house with warm fruity cooking smells.


Zest of 1 orange
Pinch of hot curry powder
A good a squeeze of honey 3-4 table spoons?
6-8 chicken thighs
Squeeze of lime + a little zest

*somtimes add some ginger or a tad of garlic

Mix up all the ingredients in a warm pan and smother the chicken with the sauce. Cook it in the oven until ready.
Whilst cooking, you can pinch some of the juices to roast carrots and parsnips in. Yum.

Best enjoyed with a few bottles of ale.