Weekend Cooking - Coffee Swirls

As I said in last week's edition of Weekend Cooking, my Grandmother was a pretty good cook. About twenty years ago my Mum gave me my Grandmother's cookery books. They were nothing particularly special, but I am not surprised that Gran had them, she was a Women's Realm fan.

My Grandmother often cooked from memory, but this little book always happy memories for me; and in particular the recipe I am going to share with you today.

The little book is paperback, with 98 pages and quite rightly includes 101 cakes to bake. The last two pages has over the years become torn, not surprising when I recall where my Grandmother kept it. Several pages have had sellotape applied to the spine of the book. That sellotape becoming brittle over the years. The book dates from 1978 and cost the sum of 50p. Nowadays you can not even buy a pint of milk for 50p!

Over the years she made various recipes and I don't recall Mum ever making any of these, but she might have done. I certainly know that I have never baked any. Not even my favourite that I am sharing with you. My favourite was Coffee Swirls.

Coffee Swirls, Page 50 of Women's Realm  Book of 101 Cakes to Bake
Published 1978 by Susan King

A quick check of the cupboard for the ingredients and a spare half an hour or so and I made a batch of these, although I only made eleven. Here they are, without any swirls though! A lovely trip down memory lane!

Julie Goucher 5th May 2014

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Beth at BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Nigella Christmas

As promised, this is the final of four posts taken from this delightful book. This fourth recipe Eggnog Cream and take from the website.


Ingredients

350 ml double cream
125 ml advocaat

Method

1. Put the cream into a bowl and, using an electric whisk, start whipping to aerate and thicken.  While it's still floppy, whisk in the advocaat, and once the yolk-yellow, eggnog-flavoured liqueur is combined and the cream thick but still soft, stop and spatula into a generous bowl and serve with the pudding.

Sounds just the thing to add some zing to the Christmas pudding!

Weekend Cooking is hosted by BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Nigella Christmas - Yule Log

As promised, this is the third of four posts taken from this delightful book. This third recipe is for Yule Log and is taken from Nigella's fabulous website









For the cake
6 medium egg(s) (separated)
150 gram(s) caster sugar
50 gram(s) cocoa powder
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
4 teaspoon(s) icing sugar (to decorate)

For the icing
175 gram(s) dark chocolate (chopped)
200 gram(s) icing sugar
225 gram(s) butter (soft)
1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. In a large, clean bowl whisk the egg whites until thick and peaking, then, still whisking, sprinkle in 50g of the caster sugar and continue whisking until the whites are holding their peaks but not dry.
3. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining caster sugar until the mixture is moussy, pale and thick. Add the vanilla extract, sieve the cocoa powder over, then fold both in.
4. Lighten the yolk mixture with a couple of dollops of the egg whites, folding them in robustly. Then add the remaining whites in thirds, folding them in carefully to avoid losing the air.
5. Line a Swiss roll tin with baking parchment, leaving a generous overhang at the ends and sides, and folding the parchment into the corners to help the paper stay anchored.
6. Pour in the cake mixture and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Let the cake cool a little before turning it out onto another piece of baking parchment. If you dust this piece of parchment with a little icing sugar it may help with preventing stickage, but don’t worry too much as any tears or dents will be covered by icing later. Cover loosely with a clean tea towel.
7. To make the icing, melt the chocolate – either in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water or, my preference, in a microwave following the manufacturer’s guidelines – and let it cool.
8. Put the icing sugar into a processor and blitz to remove lumps, add the butter and process until smooth. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and the tablespoon of vanilla extract and pulse again to make a smooth icing. You can do this by hand, but it does mean you will have to sieve the sugar before creaming it with the butter and stirring in the chocolate and vanilla.
9. Sit the flat chocolate cake on a large piece of baking parchment. Trim the edges of the Swiss roll. Spread some of the icing thinly over the sponge, going right out to the edges. Start rolling from the long side facing you, taking care to get a tight roll from the beginning, and roll up to the other side. Pressing against the parchment, rather than the tender cake, makes this easier.
10. Cut one or both ends slightly at a gentle angle, reserving the remnants, and place the Swiss roll on a board or long dish. The remnants, along with the trimmed-off bits earlier, are to make a branch or two; you get the effect by placing a piece of cake at an angle to look like a branch coming off the big log.
11. Spread the yule log with the remaining icing, covering the cut-off ends as well as any branches. Create a wood-like texture by marking along the length of the log with a skewer or somesuch, remembering to do wibbly circles, as in tree rings, on each end.
12. You don’t have to dust with icing sugar, but I love the freshly fallen snow effect, so push quite a bit through a small sieve, letting some settle in heaps on the plate or board on which the log sits.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Nigella Christmas - Star -Topped Mince Pies

As promised, this is the second of four posts taken from this delightful book. The second recipe is Star-Topped Mince Pies and this recipe makes 36 of them! This comes from Nigella's fabulous website








For the pastry

240 gram(s) plain flour
60 gram(s) vegetable shortening
60 gram(s) butter (cold)
1 orange(s) (juice)
1 pinch of salt
350 gram(s) mincemeat
1 sprinkling of icing sugar (for dusting) 

For the cranberry studded mincemeat - makes about 600ml

75 gram(s) soft dark brown sugar
60 ml port
300 gram(s) cranberries
1 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon(s) ground ginger
½ teaspoon(s) ground cloves
75 gram(s) currants
75 gram(s) raisins
30 gram(s) dried cranberries
1 clementine (zest and juice)
25 ml brandy
3 drop(s) almond extract
½ teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
2 tablespoon(s) honey

Method

1. Make the mincemeat in advance.  In a large pan, dissolve the sugar in the ruby port over a gentle heat.  Add the cranberries and stir.  Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves, currants, raisins, dried cranberries and the zest and juice of the clementine.  Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the fruit has broken down and has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. (You may need to squish the cranberries a little with the back of a wooden spoon to incorporate them fully.)  Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.  Add the brandy, almond extract, vanilla extract and honey and stir well with a wooden spoon to mash the mixture down into a paste.  Spoon the mincemeat into sterilised jars and, once cool, store in the fridge for up to two weeks.
2. Then once you are ready to make your mince pies, get out a tray of miniature tart tins, each indent 4.5cm in diameter, along with a 5.5cm fluted, round biscuit cutter and a 4cm star cutter.
3. Measure the flour into a shallow bowl or dish and, with a teaspoon, dollop little mounds of vegetable shortening into the bowl, add the butter, diced small, shake to cover it, then put in the freezer for 20 minutes. This is what will make the pastry so tender and flaky later.Mix together the orange juice and salt in a separate, small bowl, cover and leave in the fridge to chill. 
4. After the 20 minutes, empty the flour and fat into the bowl of your food processor and blitz until you’ve got a pale pile of porridge-like crumbs.  Pour the salted juice down the funnel, pulsing until it looks as if the dough is about to cohere; you want to stop just before it does (even if some orange juice is left). If all your juice is used up and you need more liquid, add some iced water.
5. If you prefer to use a freestanding mixer to make the pastry, cut the fats into the flour with the flat paddle, leaving the bowl in the fridge to chill down for the 20-minute flour-and-fat-freezer session.  Add liquid as above. I often find the pastry uses more liquid in the mixer than the processor.
6. Turn the mixture out of the processor or mixing bowl onto a pastry board or work surface and, using your hands, combine to a dough. Then form into 3 discs (you’ll need to make these in 3 batches, unless you’ve got enough tart tins to make all 36 pies at once).
7. Wrap each disc in clingfilm and put in the fridge to rest for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.
8. Roll out the discs, one at a time, as thinly as you can without exaggerating; in other words, you want a light pastry case, but one sturdy enough to support the dense mincemeat. This is easy-going dough, so you don’t have to pander to it: just get rolling and patch up as you need.
9. Out of each rolled-out disc cut out circles a little wider than the indentations in the tart tins; I use a fluted cookie cutter for this.  Press these circles gently into the moulds and dollop in a scant teaspoon of mincemeat.
10. Then cut out your stars with your little star cutter – re-rolling the pastry as necessary – and place the tops lightly on the mincemeat.
11. Put in the oven and bake for 10–15 minutes: keep an eye on them as they really don’t take long and ovens do vary.
12. Remove from the oven, prising out the little pies straight away and letting the empty tin cool down before you start putting in the pastry for the next batch.  Carry on until they’re all done.
13. Dust over some icing sugar by pushing it through a tea strainer, and serve the pies with one of the butters from "Nigella Christmas".

Picture courtesy of Nigella's website

Weekend Cooking is hosted by BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Nigella Christmas - Seasonal Breeze

As promised, this is the first of four posts taken from this delightful book. The first is a refreshment called Seasonal Breeze (page 11) and does not contain any alcohol.

The recipe is simple.

1 part chilled cranberry juice
1 part chilled clear apple juice
1 part chilled and freshly squeezed orange juice
ice (optional)

To make one glass - the three ingredients should be in equal parts of 75 mls each. To make enough for 10 glasses each part should be in equal measures of 750 mls each.


Nigella's tip is that this can be made in advance and kept cool. Adding chunks of ice just before serving.

Chin, Chin!

Weekend Cooking is hosted by BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Nigella Christmas

I am cheating ever so slightly and writing this post in January! Just before last Christmas I caught on the television the end of Nigella Christmas the TV programme. I was inspired with one of her recipes and had to watch. Whilst watching, I reached for my iPad and located Nigella's website

A few weeks later I was in the library and wondered if they had the Nigella Christmas book in. They did and what a whopper as I carried it home.

I spent a few hours reading and enjoying the recipes and pictures. The text is quite like Nigella having a conversation with you, it is like welcoming an old friend. There is a degree of familiarity and I liked that.

Back to the book. The book is a delight. It oozes quality and it is simply one of those books that says pick me up and buy me!

Chapters in the book

• The more the merrier 
• Cocktails, canapes & manageable mass catering
• Seasonal Support
• Come on Over
• Stress free suppers
• The Main Event
• Joy to the world
• Christmas baking & sweet treats
• All wrapped up
• Edible presents & party preserves
• A Christmas brunch for 6-8
• A bevy of hot drinks
• Dr Lawson Prescribes......
• Stockists
• Acknowledgements
• Index

Over the coming weeks I am going to share a few recipes from this delightful book. You can create an account on Nigella's website and book mark some recipes.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by BethFishReads

Advent Calendar 2012 - Fruitcake – Friend or Foe?

My Grandmother spotted this Christmas Cake recipe in a copy of Woman Magazine, and since then both my Mum and I  have used it.

The photograph is of the actual page from the magazine, which does look in rather a sorry state! The actual date is gleaned from a book review on the reverse of the recipe - 1983!

This post is also being shared with Weekend Cooking which is hosted by Beth at BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo

Carrying on from last week's post  I thought that I would share a further recipe from this delightful book.

Despite the fact that it is July and apparently a UK summers day it is miserable, chilly and wet, or at least it is in my part of the UK. So that means comfort food looks good on the menu.







Nids de tartiflette (Cheese and Potato nests) - Page 37

1 tablespoon soft butter
500g waxy potatoes eg Maris Peer or Charlotte
1 onion finely chopped
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
1 bay leaf
200g of cubed bacon
100ml of dry white wine
250g piece of Reblochon Cheese cubed.

• Preheat the oven to 180 centigrade and brush a muffin tin with soft butter
• Peel the potatoes and use the Julienne blade on a mandoline to make thin matchsticks
• Put the onion, garlic, bay leaf and bacon into a non stick frying pan and cook until the bacon is golden
• Add the wine and reduce until a couple of tablespoons of juice remain
• Stir in the matchstick potatoes and take off the heat
• Remove the bay leaf and stir in the cubed cheese
• Divide the potato mix between the 6 holes of muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

Preparation 30 minutes
Baking time 15-20 minutes

Taking part in Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads and Paris in July which is hosted by Karen from BookBath and Tamara from Thyme for Tea.

Paris in July 1 - 31 July 2012

Weekend Cooking - Good Friday Dinner

As is customary, it is traditional to have fish on Good Friday. A few weeks ago hubby went fishing and caught some trout. As he went to a fishery, they had to be bought home and after being gutted and filleted they were destined to spend a few weeks in the freezer. So, it seemed appropriate to have them for dinner on Good Friday.

So I placed four fillets (there were three of us!) in a lasagne dish lined with tin foil

Here they are with a couple of knobs of light butter, salt and pepper and lemon juice from a fresh lemon.

I then fold in the tin foil and place ready for the oven.

Next boil some potatoes and then mash with butter and milk, as well as salt and pepper.

Add some cheese (depending on how cheesy!)

Mix in together and add to a dish. A few slices of tomato to garnish and a smattering of cheese and pepper.

Cheese & Potato Pie ready to go into oven.

Add the trout and the cheese and potato pie to the oven for around 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, the cheese and potato pie looks like this 

......And after 20 minutes!

Taking part in Weekend Cooking, hosted by BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Chicken & Vegetable Pasta

A few weeks ago I simply could not face the thought of shuffling around the supermarket with my bad back, so got organised and shopped on line and had the shopping delivered. All was good, until it arrived and I realised that I had ordered, and been sent the wrong size chicken portions.

Faced with a pack of boneless chicken breasts marked as mini, I did concur that they were indeed mini. Some quick thinking and I pulled together the following, which hubby said was delicious.

1. George Foreman the chicken breasts
2. Cook some vegetables - I cheated and used two bags of the ready prepared cauliflower, carrot and broccoli
3. Cook some pasta shapes
4. Make a cheese sauce
5. Drain pasta
6. Serve chicken and vegetables onto the pasta 
7. Pour over cheese sauce and a few stands of grated cheese.

Cheese Sauce  - all into a saucepan!

1. One and half tablespoonfuls of plain flour
2. Around 2oz of butter
3. 1pint of milk (or half milk and half water)
4. Salt and Pepper
5. Add to the hob and stir furiously
6. Add grated cheese  - depending on how cheesy you like it!

Taking part in Weekend Cooking hosted by BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Forgotten Recipes

Several weeks ago I came across a website, aimed mainly at genealogy. You can visit the site HERE. One of the links on the main page is called Barry's Forgotten Recipes. You do need to register, but having done so you receive each week a link to some forgotten recipes and then periodically a complete PDF version of an antique cookbook.

Intrigued, I registered and began to receive the weekly email with the update for that week. I also received a full PDF of The New Dr Price Cook Book.

What is quite useful, is that the weekly update provides not only the recipe, but also the date the recipe has been sourced from.

Overall, this is quite a useful site, for those who just like reading old recipes and for those interested in the social and domestic lives of our forebears.

Taking part in Weekend Cooking, hosted by BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Beef Casserole

Last weekend, I had some cubed casserole steak in the fridge. I hadn't made any plans on what to cook and then had a vision of warm, thickish gravy!

I cut up two carrots and a few mushrooms added them to a pan with only a smidge of Olive oil and on a high heat to get some juices flowing! I could have added onion, but gave it a miss as it seems to upset my digestive system!

I then added the steak. What I had bought was already cubed, but I cut up into smaller chunks and added it to the pan. I left the heat high to brown and get some extra juices.

Then I added some gravy granules - about a tablespoonful, mixed in and turned the heat down to a number 2 (electric). I added about two fluid ounces of water.

Served with mashed, buttery potato. Cooking time was about an hour on the hob on a low heat.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by BethFishReads

Weekend Cooking - Bread

I have a bread maker, although it rarely sees the light of day and lives in the kitchen in a rather over crowded cupboard. Before Christmas you may remember I wrote about a programme called The Big Bread Experiment. Inspired by the programme, I made a conscious effort to make some bread using the said machine.

I limped around Sainsburys and purchased some yeast and a few bags of strong white flour. Then one day while Stuart was working, I decided to make some bread. Now, I am not able to stand or sit for huge periods of time due to my sciatica. The bread maker was the perfect assistant. It took about 10 minutes to read the recipe, gather the ingredients and a further 10 minutes to add the ingredients to the machine and set the timer.

After a couple of hours I heard the timer and descended the stairs, excited to see the bread. Well, all I will say is that England could have used the bread for the next test match. It was absolutely and completely rock hard. I checked the recipe. All was OK there. I then spotted the bread flour, recently purchased for the event completely unopened. What had I used? I checked the cupboard and finally the bin and there spotted an empty bag of flour that I have meant to throw away, as I had had it a few years. I checked the expiry date. I am embarrassed to confess the expiry was August 2000. As you may deduce, I don't make much bread.

I have not baked any bread since, but have stumbled across a couple of eBooks via Amazon on baking bread.

• Old Fashion bread recipes by Philip Holbrook - A small book with about 10 recipes in of different breads. Written for the American market going by the terminology - "A cake of yeast?" The book focuses on traditional bread making methods
• 30 Easy Flavoured bread popular recipes by Tellme More - Contains both recipes for traditional methods of baking and using a bread maker. Included a Gluten Free sun dried tomato bread. Each recipe presented in an easy to read format - indicating level of making difficulty, preparation and cooking time, ingredient, method in a detailed step by step format, Tip for recipe. 
• Easy, fabulous bread making  - A Collection of quick, no knead home made bread recipes by Barbara Mack - This is my favourite book out of the three. It is clear to follow, easily presented and some very interesting bread recipes. All made with a minimum of fuss!

Weekend Cooking is hosted by BethFishReads

The Book Bloggers Cookbook 2011

I recently became aware that this was available for
the Kindle. My Kindle isn't available until after Santa brings it! but I downloaded the book and was able to read it via the iPad app made available by Amazon.

What a fantastic idea; I so wish I had thought of it!

The layout is clear and simple. Starting with a photograph of the book cover with the name of the author, then followed by a synopsis of the book. Next comes the recipe with photograph, inspired by the book and lastly a small list of what several bloggers said about the book with click able links to their respective blogs, which hosts their full reviews.

There are indexes of books, authors, contributing blogs and recipes which is great, as so many books of this sort don't bother with indexes and that is a pet hate of mine!

I have a couple of favourites - Rosemary and Lemon Roasted Chicken, which accompanies the book, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I also spotted a rather fun cozy mystery called Lemon Tart by Josi S Kilpack. Not too surprisingly, the accompanying recipe is for To Die For Lemon Tart!

This such a simple idea, yet a really enjoyable read, full of recipes to try, books to read and blogs to explore. Exactly what a book blogging cook needs!  I loved this book and plan to sign up to take part in the next edition. 

My advice is sit with a cup of your favourite drink, a note pad and pencil and jot down the names of those books, recipes and blogs to visit.....I did!

Available to purchase and download via Amazon

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Exchange 2011

I took ages to find a suitable recipe. My ongoing sciatica and the subsequent leg pain seriously impacted on the time I could stand, so I enlisted the help of Mum! Anyway, I looked on line and through every cookbook I owned and still was undecided on what recipe. Then I recalled that one of my favourite books, which is part of a series and sits on the bookcase in the hall was a novel, interspersed with recipes. A quick look and I knew that I had found the recipe. It's very title sharing the ethos of the cookie exchange.

See what mean, it was meant to be! Each hardback edition of the series has printed within the covers the quilt designs shared within the book. These is the Friendship Square design.

So to cooking -

Firstly, heat the chocolate and butter over a pan of simmering water

While that was under way, I gathered the rest of my equipment and ingredient.

The little red measuring spoons were my Grandmothers, and despite having two much newer sets, I used my old faithfuls. I used a photocopy of the recipe, rather than have any spillages on my nice book!

Then in a bowl mix the sugar and 4 eggs. Then add the vanilla essence and lastly the mix of flour and salt. After a further good mix add the cooled chocolate.

Pour the mixture into a prepared 9 x 13 tray. Lightly greased with a sprinkle of flour and decorate with the choc chips, nuts and coconut you can see in the above picture.

Place in the oven at 190c or 325F for 25 minutes.

Here we are after cooking.

Make sure that the tray has more than a slight grease! Removal was tricky and I was quite worried about cooking casualties!  - Here they are on a plate just before packing and posting.

It is a lovely recipe and one I shall try again. I think next time I shall use cake cases and then add a small plop of chocolate drops or a walnut or two, as cleaning the baking try was a bit of an ordeal!

I really enjoyed the Cookie Exchange and hope to participate again.

Here are the details of the cookies I received  - they were all delicious and a few photos too!

1. Chocolate Orange Cookies from @foodiebob
2. Biscotti from Soup-Tuesday.blogspot.com
3. White Chocolate, Cranberry & Macdania Cookies from Zenzeroni.blogspot.com

Chocolate Orange Cookies from @foodiebob

Biscotti from Soup-Tuesday.blogspot.com

Biscotti from Soup-Tuesday.blogspot.com - wrapped wonderfully - it was a shame to open them!

White Chocolate, Cranberry & Macdania Cookies from Zenzeroni.blogspot.com

Twitter Hashtag - #fbcookieswap