Hello

Welcome to Yet Another Cooking Blog.

As you may have guessed, this is a blog about cooking - in particular my cooking. It has been mentioned to me several times that I seem a little obsessed with food, so I have decided to blog about my menus, my successes, my failures and anything else that springs to mind

Sunday 29 May 2011

Week 22 dinner menu

Monday - Chicken Madras, brown rice and naan bread
Tuesday - Meatballs in tomato sauce with spaghetti
Wednesday - Honey mustard pork, mash and veg
Thursday - Chilli beef ramen
Friday - Double egg and chips
Saturday - Steak and mash
Sunday - Jacket potato with cheese and coleslaw

Monday 23 May 2011

Chocolate lime cheesecake and cola cupcakes

Did some baking yesterday, 2 things to make up with not having made anything for 2 weeks (boiled fruit cake lasts for a very long time!!).  Both the recipes were from the Hummingbird Cake days book again.  The first was a lime and chocolate cheesecake - I only used 1/3 of the ingredients suggested as I was only making for my husband and me to eat for dessert.


The next thing that I made was cola cupcakes.  I wouldn't normally make something like this, as it requires soda stream syrup, and not having a machine buying a full size bottle would be expensive for something used so infrequently, but currently there are tester packs availalble with 7 small portions of syrup, 1 of which is enough to make one full batch of cupcakes according to the recipe.  

I have found ther is always too much frosting with these recipes, so I halved the ingredients for the frosting, and still had plenty to frost 12 cupcakes.



Sunday 22 May 2011

Week 21 dinner menu

Monday - Sausage casserole, mash and leeks
Tuesday - Hoisin lamb with moodles
Wednesday - Chicken kievs, croquettes and peas
Thursday - Prawn and pea risotto
Friday - Mince and mash
Saturday - Pork fried rice
Sunday - Roast chicken, rosemary potatoes and salad

Sunday 15 May 2011

Week 20 dinner menu

Monday - Sausage casserole with mash and greens
Tuesday - Japanese chicken curry and sticky rice
Wednesday - Fishcakes and beans
Thursday - Buttered fish and linguine
Friday - Ham and rocket pizza
Saturday - Spicy chicken wings, home made hamburgers with spicy wedges and salad, and cheesecake
Sunday - Roast pork and all the trimmings

Monday 9 May 2011

Week 19 dinner menu

Monday - Mince and mashed potato
Tuesday - Chicken kiev, croquettes and sweetcorn
Wednesday - Chilli con carne and rice
Thursday - Gnocchi with pancetta and spinach
Friday - Chicken curry and rice
Saturday - Fishfingers and chips with beans
Sunday - Roast chicken and all the trimmings

3 course meal with duck

Its not very often that I cook a full 3 course meal, and wanted to do something lovely for my husband before he goes away for work for 2 weeks.  Partly because it was a surprise, but mainly because I'm very much a 'think about it at the last minute' kind of person when it comes to my meal planning, I decided on the final menu on the day of the meal.

Starter - Scallops on crispy black pudding with crushed minted peas
Main - Duck in honey and clove sauce, with rosti potato and creamed cabbage with bacon
Dessert - Apple strudel tart with cinnamon cream

Scallops on crispy black pudding with crushed minted peas





Ingredients


3 scallops per person
1 large slice of black pudding per person
Approx 1 tbsp petit pois per person (I prefer frozen for the flavour)
2 tsp mint sauce
Sunflower or other tasteless oil
Large knob of butter

1.  Put water on to boil, add the mint sauce and cook the peas for a minute or two depending on the size of the peas
2.  Whilst the peas are cooking, put a little oil into a frying pan, and when hot put the black pudding in.  Cook for approx. 3-4 minutes per side
3.  When the first side of the black pudding has cooked, put the knob of butter into a separate frying pan and heat.
4.  When it has foamed, put the scallops in, in the order of a clock face (this to make it easy for turning in the correct order).
5.  Leave the scallops for approx 2 minutes (depending on the thickness) to cook halfway through, and for the side to caramelise, and then turn in the order they were placed in the pan.
6.  Once the black pudding has cooked, drain on kitchen towel to remove the excess grease.
7.  Lightly break the peas with a masher or fork, taste, season and add extra mint sauce if required.
8.  Put the black pudding on the plate, put the peas on top, and then put the scallops on.

Duck in honey and clove sauce with potato rosti and creamed cabbage with bacon




This was my first time cooking duck (why did I wait so long!!) so I used a recipe.  I knew what sort of flavours I wanted, and eventually found this recipe from Ainsley Harriott which I used.  The sauce is delicious, and my husband really loved the creamed cabbage.  I used turkey bacon to make it (as it was open) and it went very well with the cabbage and onion.

Apple strudel tart with cinnamon cream




For dessert I wanted something light (especially as we don't normally eat 3 courses) so decided on a filo tart.  I will be honest from the start here, and say that I had no intention of making filo pastry, so it is very much shop bought.

This recipe needs individule tartlet tins.  Due to how delicate filo pastry is, I would advise getting tins with the removable base.

Ingredients (4 tarts)


1 large Bramley apple
Small handful of sultanas
Juice of 1 lemon
Demerera sugar
Melted butter (approx. 25g)
2 sheets filo pastry
1/2 tsp cinnamon plus extra for dusting
Double cream

1.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (180 degrees fan assisted).
2.  Cut the pastry into squares a little larger than the size of the tins.
3.  Brush the tin with melted butter, then little put in the first piece of filo pastry.
4.  Brush lightly with melted butter, then lay another piece of filo in at 45 degrees to the first one.  Do this until all the pastry is used between all the tins.
5.  Peel, core and chop the apple, and add the lemon juice, cinnamon, sultanas and sugar, then mix together.
6.  In a heavy based pan heat to a medium heat and add the apple mix.  Heat through, stirring occasionally so that the sugar melts and the apple softens slightly.  If any of the melted butter is left, it can be poured over the mix.
7.  Once the apple has softened slightly put into the tart cases and then put into the oven for about 5-8 minutes (depending on how many layers of pastry you have) to cook the tart case through.
8. Whilst the tarts are cooking, whip the double cream and then put onto the plate.  Dust with a little cinnamon.
9.  When the tarts are ready, carefully remove from the tin and serve immediately.

Monday 2 May 2011

Week 18 dinner menu

Monday - Japanese chicken curry and sticky rice
Tuesday - Scallop, prawn and pea risotto
Wednesday - Mince and mash
Thursday - Lasagne, garlic bread and salad
Friday - Stir fry chicken with garlic and ginger
Saturday - 3 course meal - surprise for the husband
Sunday - attending a wedding

Sunday 1 May 2011

Lemon and thyme loaf

Being Sunday, it was baking day!  I decided to not go down the cupcake route, and instead bake a loaf cake.

Today it is the Hummingbird Lemon and Thyme loaf.  Pretty easy to make, not as easy to turn out of the tin if you forget to butter the tin like I did.  This meant that this lovely light cake broke as I was shaking the tin to try and get it to drop.  On the plus side, this meant that I had an excuse to eat the warm bits of cake I pulled out of the tin, whilst the rest of the loaf cooled.