Mini Prawn Poppadoms.

Well, I'm certainly getting my money's worth from this month's Delicious.

This is a recipe for really easy canapes.  I fancied trying them so I just served them to the family for tea.  I made up for the small tea by giving them sticky toffee pudding for pudding (it wasn't homemade - I'm only a learner domestic goddess).

These were really quick and easy to make and really very tasty.  Also looked pretty cute.  I will keep them in mind for any parties.  We don't have any parties planned this year as our house is up for sale.  Can't wait to get moved so we don't feel like we're in limbo anymore but nowhere seems to be selling around here just now.

Recipe - 

Makes about 20.

Ingredients - 

1 tbsp sunflower oil

200g raw peeled king prawns

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

3 spring onions, finely sliced

20 mini poppadoms

1 little gem lettuce, shredded

handful of fresh coriander, leaves picked

lime wedges to squeeze over

Method - 

1. Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat.

2.  Add the prawns and stir-fry for a couple of minutes, then add the sweet chilli sauce and spring onions.

3. Cook for 1 minute more until sticky and glazed, then remove.

4. Arrange the poppadoms on a serving plate, sprinkle a little shredded lettuce onto each, then spoon on the prawns and spring onion.

5.  Drizzle with a little more sweet chilli, if you like, and top each with a coriander leaf.

6.  Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over.

Pork Chops With Spiced Baked Beans.

Another quick and easy recipe from this month's Delicious magazine.

We all enjoyed this one and would definitely make it again.

Recipe - 

Serves 4.

Ingredients - 

1 tbsp olive oil

4 pork chops

90g black pudding, crumbled

4 shallots, finely sliced

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp cayenne pepper

150ml white wine

400g tinned cherry tomatoes

400g tinned haricot beans, drained and rinsed

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

small bunch flatleaf parsley, leaves roughly chopped.

Method - 
1.  Heat the oil in a shallow flameproof casserole over a medium heat, season the chops and brown for two minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.
2. Add the black pudding and fry for two minutes or until crisp.  Set aside and keep warm.
3. Lower the heat, add the shallots and soften for 10 minutes, stirring through the garlic and cayenne pepper for the final two minutes.
4. Pour over the wine and bubble until reduced by half.  Stir through the tomatoes, beans and worcestershire sauce.  Season.
5. Return the chops to the casserole and simmer for a couple of minutes or until the pork is cooked.
6. Divide the bean mixture among 4 plates with a chop on top.  Scatter over the black pudding and parsley to serve.

Breakfast Idea Number 1 - Croissants with Mulled Carrot Jam.

The very lovely mangocheeks from Allotment 2 Kitchen sent me some of her mulled carrot jam.

I had it this morning for breakfast on a croissant.  The natural sweetness of the carrot gave me a fantastic shot of sweetness which helped to wake me and get me ready to cope with the kids.  She has kept any flavour from the spice really subtle so that the carrot is very dominant.  Works extremely well with the croissant.  Adam declared it a success too so that is a big compliment!

Dear Love Blog has challenged herself to do a different breakfast every day for a week so I have been following this and enjoying the variety of breakfasts.  I have breakfast every day but during the week it is usually just cereal and can get a bit monotonous.  Weekends are more adventurous if we're not too busy.  I think I would like to document a few breakfast ideas too so I'll start with the croissant and carrot jam - I think that's one that won't be on a lot of people's breakfast lists!  And, believe me, it is so easy to prepare if you get your friendly, local, blogging friend to make the jam for you then just spread it on shop-bought croissants. Now, I like breakfasts like that which don't need any faffing in the morning. 

Sticky Chicken With Plums.

My younger boy and I found we had some time to kill while waiting for the puncture in my tyre to be repaired so we each got a magazine.  He got a 'Show Me Show Me' one and I picked up a copy of December's Delicious.  So, all our cooking this week has been from this magazine.

Started off with this one because everything is cooked in the one roasting tin and it is nice and easy with little in the way of preparation time.  

Recipe - 

Ingredients - 

2 tbsp runny honey

3 tbsp wholegrain mustard

1 whole large free-range chicken jointed into 8 pieces (I just used a pack of thighs and drumsticks)

2 red onions

6 plums, halved and stoned

1  tbsp olive oil

small bunch fresh thyme, leaves stripped

15g unsalted butter

Method - 

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/GM 6.

2. Mix the honey and mustard together in a small bowl, then brush all over the pieces of chicken.  Season.

3. Mix the onion wedges and plum halves together in a roasting tin, with the olive oil, fresh thyme leaves and some seasoning.  Dot over the butter and top with the chicken pieces (skin-side up).

4. Roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, sticky and golden.  Serve with creamy mash.  (I served mine with roasted potato wedges because the oven was on anyway).

Well this was so very quick and simple to make and with minimal washing up.  I enjoyed it - I like most things with fruit in but Steve wasn't so keen on the plums.  Rufie ate up all the plums and potatoes but only a little of the chicken whereas Adam LOVES nothing more than chewing chicken off a bone so he got through all his chicken, all Rufie's and asked for more.  Didn't eat his plums, though!  Pah, kids!

Salted Oat Crackers.

Well, I can take no credit for these whatsoever.  I came in from rowing yesterday and found Steve and the boys making something.  So I just decided to photograph them and see what treat lay in store.

They were making salted oat crackers from a recipe in the Weekend section of this Saturday's Guardian.

Recipe - 

Ingredients - 

300g plain flour, plus a little extra for rolling

1tsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp fine salt

25g unsalted butter, softened

100g rolled oats

175ml cold water

sea salt flakes, for sprinkling

Method - 

1. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and rub in the butter.

2. Toss in the oats and milk, and mix to a soft dough.  

3. Cover the dough in the bowl, and set aside for half an hour.

4. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/GM 6.

5. Liberally flour a worktop and roll out the dough very, very thinly, using extra flour to stop it sticking.

6. Cut the dough into 10cm discs using a pastry cutter, or into squares with a sharp knife.

7. Lay the discs (or squares) on an oven tray lined with nonstick baking paper.  Brush the top of each disc lightly with water then sprinkle a few salt flakes over each.

8. Bake for about 12-14 minutes, until barely golden at the edges, but still slightly pale.

We had them warm out of the oven.  They weren't as thin and crisp as they could have been - really because if they had been too thin it would have been too difficult for the boys to handle the dough.  They were delicious, though.  Tasted just like the porridge my Granda used to make.  So, in honour of that, I had mine drizzled with honey as we always had our porridge with honey and salt - love the contrast.  Yum.  The boys enjoyed theirs with honey like me and Steve had his with cheese.  We will definitely make these again - probably make these to go with the cheese when we have people over for dinner.

Actually, it's probably about time we had a go at making our own oatcakes too. 

The Daring Cooks' Challenges No. 1, Nov 2010 - Souffle.

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

See Dave's and Linda's post from the challenge for loads of useful information and tips about making souffles.

This was my first challenge with The Daring Cooks so I was really excited about it.  I have made souffles before.  I used to make chocolate souffles as a student and I am sure I have made a twice baked camembert souffle from a recipe torn out of a magazine at some point.  It has been some years, though, since I have made one so I was very pleased to be challenged to try again.

While browsing in my local library, I found a book completely dedicated to souffle ("Souffle, sweet and savoury" by Sara Lewis) so had to get it out.

I chose her recipe for stilton souffle with rocket.  It had to be cheese!

Recipe - 

Serves 4.

Ingredients - 

65g (2.5oz) butter

3 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs

50g (2oz) plain flour

300ml (1/2 pint) milk

150g (5oz) stilton cheese, rind removed, crumbled

4 eggs, separated

25g (1oz) wild rocket leaves, torn into pieces, plus extra to serve

salt and freshly ground black pepper

balsamic vinegar, to serve

Method - 

1. Grease a medium tall 15cm (6in) diameter X 9cm (3.75in) deep souffle dish with some butter, then line the dish with the breadcrumbs.  Attach a souffle collar that stands 7.5cm (3in) higher than the top of the dish.

2. Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan,stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.  Gradually mix in the milk and bring to the boil, stirring until thickened and smooth.

3. Stir in the cheese until melted, then remove from the heat and stir in the egg yolks and some salt and pepper.  Cover and leave to cool.

4. Whisk the egg whites into stiff, moist-looking peaks.  Fold the rocket leaves into the cooled sauce, then a large spoonful of egg whites to loosen the mixture.  Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

5.  Pour the mixture into the prepared souffle dish and bake in a preheated oven, 190C, 375F, GM5, for 30-35 minutes until the souffle is well risen, the top is browned and there is a slight wobble to the centre.

6. Quickly snip the string off the souffle collar and gently peel away the paper.  Spoon the souffle on to plates.  Serve with extra rocket leaves dressed with balsamic vinegar.

The souffle tasted a lot better than in looks in that photo above.  Really cheesy!  Serving it with rocket and balsamic vinegar was the perfect contrast to the cheesy, eggy souffle.  Even my kids ate it!  Yay.

If you are really interested in making souffles, I would recommend having a look at fellow Daring Cook, Audax's post from this challenge.  He has done a lot of research and gives loads of tips and ideas for different sweet and savoury souffles.

Spiced Mushroom Pastry Roll.

I have been following Allotment 2 Kitchen for the past few months and it is one of my favourites if not the favourite.  Mangocheeks not only has loads of great recipes but her blog is also hugely inspiring.  She grows her own and also makes loads of beautiful looking preserves and chutneys.

We moved to the country five years ago and I had the piece of ground for my veg patch fenced off and ready for use.  I then got pregnant and all the great plans kind of ended there.  I did grow some small bits and pieces but only a little and I haven't grown anything at all this year being rather caught up in looking after my two wee ones.  So, I suppose Allotment 2 Kitchen lets me live vicariously without having to do the hard work.

Anyway, I liked the look of this recipe and so gave it a try tonight.

It worked very well.  It was quick and easy to make.  Steve and I both loved it. Don't be fooled by the photo below - we had way more than one slice each!  It could have done with a little more spice and seasoning because I had deliberately made it a bit bland to test it out on the kids but next time I can easily ramp that up a bit.  Adam ate all of his.  He did add some brown sauce, I have to admit, but I reckon I can let him away with that.  Rufus didn't really try it.  He can take a while to warm up to new things and he has a cold just now so isn't eating that well anyway.  Well, we're having the leftovers tomorrow for lunch so we'll see if a second offering will tempt him.  

Lovely recipe - thanks Mangocheeks.