Raspberry, Meringue and Blueberry Chocolate Brownies

     So it's a sunday and after a week of partying and drinking the girls in flat 11 at Haig are washing away the hangover blues with really decadent chocolate brownies which have A LOT of sugar in but are gorgeous!
     The recipe is from BBC Good Food and was written by Sarah Cook.

Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate , broken into chunks

100g milk chocolate , broken into chunks

250g pack salted butter

400g soft light brown sugar

4 large eggs

140g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

200g raspberries

 How to Make:

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celscius and line a brownie tin with foil and butter.
2. Heat butter, sugar and chocolate together in a pan being careful not to burn the chocolate.
3. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled add the eggs slowly and mix thoroughly.
4. Sieve over flour and cocoa powder and stir in.
5. Scatter in Raspberries, Blueberries and crushed meringue.
6. Cook for 25-30 mins.
7. For added  sugar scatter over popping candy.

 

 

xxx

Duck Salad

Dear Foodies,
     Today's society favours a more hectic lifestyle and with it comes the need for food that can be made quickly and easily, a fact which is much milked by the celebrity chef's of today. While I think cookery is something that should be enjoyed sometimes life does get in the way and I am sure even the best chefs are forced to throw together a quick meal during the week. That said a quick meal is perhaps more reliant than others on really fantastic ingredients rather than the many processes which 'fancier' cookery demands. So here it is a quick and simple recipe which is tasty and perfect for a mid week meal.

Ingredients: (for 4 People)

• 4 Duck Legs
• Mixed Salad (rocket works particularly well with this)
• 4 Spring Onions
• 1 Cucumber
• Hoi Sin Sauce
• 1 Orange  
• Sesame Oil

How to Make:

• Mix 4 tbsp of Hoi Sin Sauce with the juice of the orange and 1 tbsp of Sesame Oil
• Rub this mixture into the duck legs and bake for 30 mins at 180 degrees/gas mark 4
• On each plate divide the mixed leaves, season and dress with olive oil
• Peel the cucumber into thin strips piling a handful onto each plate
• Slice the Spring onion into strips and place one spring onion onto each plate
• When the duck legs have cooled cut the meat from the bone and scatter across the salad
• Mix 2 tbsp of Hoi Sin sauce with 1 tsp Sesame oil and and drizzle over the duck and salad

Optional: We had some spare cherry tomatoes so I scattered them on top to add some vibrant colour to the dish.

coat duck in Hoi Sin mixture

Add cucumber and spring onion to the mixed leaves

Enjoy

 This dish is a healthier version of the duck and pancakes that you can get from every Chinese takeaway and therefore makes for a delightful treat.

Enjoy xx

Apple Jam Tartlets

     A family joke in our household is that as a boy my Dad won a Jam tart making competition in Battle, Sussex; however while he assures us it happened no one has ever seen him make a jam tart since. This legendary jam tart joins the mouthwatering curry which Dad also claims he used to make at University and therefore means he has ultimate cooking prowess which manifests itself today as a right to throw advice across the kitchen and criticise but never to cook.
     This is a recipe that links both the apple crisps and the spiced apple jam which I have already made on my blog. It is however also a way of making a jam tart a bit more interesting and perhaps a little more dinner party worthy.

Sweet Shortcrust pastry:

200g plain flour

1 tsp caster sugar

125g unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of ice cold water

1. Butter a mince pie/bun tray or 12 small tart tins.
2. Sieve flour and sugar into a food processor, add diced butter and whizz until the mixture is fine crumbs.
3. Add the water to the mixture until it comes together.
4. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 20 mins.

  
The Tarts

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius 
2. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut circles big enough to fit your tins.
3. Place each circle in the tin and gently press into the corners.
4. Fill each tart with two dessert spoons of apple jam. 
5. Bake each tart for 15-20 mins.
6. Top with an apple crisp and serve.

Apple Crisps

     I recieved a cookery book for my birthday written by Gordon Ramsay. One of the simpler and less decadent recipes was this one for apple crisps. These can serve as a healhy snack or a delicious garnish to desserts. I used them as a garnish for my spiced apple jam tarts but made far too many so I had lots to snack on.

Ingredients:

• 500ml Water
• 250g Granulated Sugar
• 4-8 apples

How to Make:

• Heat the sugar gently in the water until it dissolves, bring to the boil and then turn off the heat.
• Core, peel and slice the apples
• Dip the apple slices in the sugar water and then place on a baking sheet covered in baking paper
• Place in the oven and bake for 3 hours at 80 degrees
• Once out of the oven the apple pieces should crispen leaving apple crisps

Sugar Water

Apple corer and peeler

Peeled and cored apple

Nice and crisp

Enjoy xx

Food from my first term at University

     It has been an unexcusably long time since I last blogged but at an attempt of an excuse I have started at St Andrews University reading English and I am lucky enough to have met some amazing friends already. While I haven't been blogging we have been eating with lots of lunches out and baking evenings So here are some pictures of our first terms culinary attempts:





Chocolate cake for Perdie's 18th Birthday

Handmade Pasta Shells

Gnocchi

Meditterenean Veg and Goats Cheese

Delicious Chocolate Macaroons made by the lovely Millie

Melanzane

Chocolate Brownie

Jam Tart



Chocolate Cake with a Chocolate Buttercream Filling

xxx

Goats Cheese and Caramelised Red Onion Tart

Dear Foodies,
      I made this tart because my brother has had a craving for a goats cheese and red onion tart for sometime and we couldn't find one in Tesco's anywhere. I thought this would be very complicated but when split into little seperate tasks it is actually a really easy and delicious tart to make from scratch.

Ingredients:

• 4oz Plain Flour
• 2oz Butter
• 3tbsp Ice Cold Water
• 6 Red Onions
• 2tbsp White Wine Vinegar
• 1tbsp Soft Brown Sugar
• 1tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 150g Goats Cheese
• 2 eggs
• 100ml Milk

How to Make:
    
Pastry

• Sieve flour and rub in butter (this can be done by blitzing in the mixer).
• Add the water slowly until the mixture has combined.
• Wrap pastry in cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 20 mins.

Red Onions

• Thinly slice the red onions and place in a pan with a knob of butter.
• Cook on a high heat until the onions begin to soften.
• Add sugar, white wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar and simmer for 20 mins.
• By adding the sugar this recipe cheats the caramalisation process however the longer you simmer this the better it will be.

Pastry Base:

• Roll out the pastry to 5 mm thick and place in a lined, buttered, tart tin.
• Trim edges and prick the bottom with a fork.
• Place a sheet of baking paper over the pastry and fill with baking beans - bake for 15 mins at 180 degrees celcius.
• Lift out baking beans and bake for a further 10 mins.

Putting it all together:

• Place onions in the bottom of the pastry base.
• Cover with crumbled \goats cheese (you could also add some roasted courgettes at this point)
• Whisk together eggs, milk and seasoning of your choice and taste together and pour over the onions and goats cheese.
• Bake at 180 for 25-30 mins

Heat onions until soft

 Add sugar and vinegars

 The bottom onion layer with cheese on top

One with courgettes

Enjoy xx

An Olympic Snack: Courgette and Chocolate Brownie

Dear Foodies,
      As you will be able to tell by the number of courgette based recipes that I am likely to publish over the month of August  courgettes are in season; and as one of the few vegetables we always have success with, our kitchen is inundated by a plethora of courgettes. Combining this with the Olympics, something that is on everyone's mind in England and will be through August, I decided to make courgette and chocolate brownies. For me this is ground baking cookery and while not necessarily healthy, having a vegetable as a sweet treat does feel healthy. So here is how to make my courgette and chocolate brownies which perfectly sum up the Olympic spirit and were enjoyed in our household while watching Bradley Wiggins making British Olympic history.

Ingredients:

• 125g Butter
• 100g Dark Chocolate
• 300g Soft Brown Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 150 ml Milk
• 350g Plain Flour
• 2tbsp Baking Powder
• 4tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 450g (roughly 5) Courgettes Grated
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract 

How to Make:

• Line a 20x30cm Baking tin with foil or baking paper and then butter spread a thin layer of butter on the foil/paper (I do this with a paper towel). 
• Cream butter and sugar together (I prefer to do this in a mixer but both doing it by hand and with a mixer it is essential that the butter is soft).
• To the creamed butter mixture add the eggs one at a time, mixing continually, add the milk in the same way.
• Melt the dark chocolate in a glass bowl over boiling water - once cooled at the the butter, sugar, milk and egg mixture.
• Peel skins from the courgettes and then grate.  
• To the chocolatey cake mixture sieve in flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and vanilla extract.
• Once the dry ingredients are combined, stir in the grated courgette then tip mixture into the prepared tin, spreading evenly.  
• Bake for 25-35 mins at 180 degrees Celsius or until a skewer comes out clean.

Line and butter tin.

Grate courgettes

Mix in the grated courgettes

Yummy Yummy Yummy



 WARNING: These brownies may not increase our Olympic medal tally but will increase your enjoyment of the Games!

Enjoy xx