Max & his Fish & Chips

Max was 'quite' pleased with his efforts, I thought he did fab, hope it goes well at school on Thursday!

Homemade Fudge

Just made some fudge to take to the Colemans. (Sorry Paula!)

A bit of a crumbly one today, still don't understand how you can use exactly the same recipe time and time again and  the results are different everytime!

Making Fish and Chips with Max

Off to the Coleman's for Fish & Chip Supper - the catch? I'm showing Max how to make it for a task he's doing at school this week - hope it's a success!

Eating Out!

We had a stay at The Keswick Country House last night. Dinner was lovely Chicken Liver Parfait and Pheasant wrapped in Bacon for me and Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup and the same main for Duncan, all lovely. I resisted dessert but Duncan enjoyed Chocolate Pudding & Custard.

Tonight I'm at Jill's for supper, looking forward to it, just hoping she's off the detox diet otherwise it will be loads of protein and water. Will take a bottle of wine just in case!

Raspberry & Thyme Custard Tart

The final pudding recipe from the Royal Wedding party (at last). I saw this recipe in Delicious magazine a while ago but I'm not a great fan of custard tarts so haven't made it before - wish I had its a really tasty light desert. Try now - raspberries should be at their best.

For the pastry beat 100g unsalted butter with 100g caster sugar until fluffy then gradually beat in 2 large egg yolks. Add 200g plain flour and a pinch of salt and mix to form a dough. Knead briefly then wrap in cling film and chill for at least 10 mins.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees, gas mark 6. Roll out pastry to fit a deep (3cm) 23 cm fluted tart tin. Prick pastry all over then line with baking paper and baking beans. Place on a baking sheet and blind bake for 10 mins. Remove paper and beans and bake for a further 5 mins until golden and crispy.

To make the custard whisk 2 large eggs and 3 large egg yolks with 125g caster sugar, seeds from 1 vanilla pod and 2  teaspoons of cornflour. Heat 600ml double cream with 3 sprigs of thyme in a pan until almost boiling then pour over the egg mixture and stir to make a custard.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees, gas mark 4. Strain the custard into the pastry case and sprinkle over 120g fresh raspberries and 2 thyme sprigs, leaves stripped. Bake for 25-30 miutes until lightly set.

Leave to cool slightly, remove from the tin and serve warm or at room temperature garnished with a few extra raspberries and some creme fraiche.

Friday Night Fish & Chips

Home made beer battered fish and chips for Friday tea - not very healthy but very tasty!

The Girls at the Royal Wedding Party

Sachertorte Recipe

I made this for the 'RoyalWedding Party' for the first time, it's the best chocolate cake I've ever made and what's even better is it can be made up to 7 days in advance. The recipe is taken from Green & Black's Chocolate Recipes - hope you'll try it and let me know what you think.

Ingredients for the Torte
melted butter for greasing
200g dark chocolate (min 60% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
6 eggs
310g granulated sugar
150g ground almonds
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground coffee
6 tablespoons apricot jam

Ingredients for the Icing
100g dark chocolate (min 60% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
40g unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 180 degrees, gas mark 4 and grease a 23cm (9") springform cake tin

To make the torte, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Separate 5 of the eggs, whisk the yolks and the whole egg and the sugar until the mixture is thick and creamy.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff.

Add the ground almonds, coffee grounds and melted chocolate to the egg yolk mixture and stir well. Gently fold in the egg whites and pour into the prepared tin.

Bake for 1 hour, covering the cake with foil after 40 mins to prevent the top from burning. Check that a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean and remove the cake from the oven. Release the springform ring and leave the cake on the base to cool on a wire rack.

Melt the apricot jam over a low heat, strain and brush over the cooled cake.

For the icing, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add the butter and stir until it has the consistency of thick pouring cream. Pour evenly over the cake, smooth over the top and sides, leave to set.

Tropical Pavlova Cake

This is a great Summer pudding, the recipe is taken from Homes & Gardens March 2008, I've made it a few times now and it's always a success, the recipe serves 8-10 people - here's the ingredients:

4 large eggs, separated

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 tablespoon cornflour

200g caster sugar

Filling

10 passionfruit, halved

300g fresh mango flesh, skinned and chopped into strips and cubes (must be ripe)

50g vanilla sugar

Topping

400ml double cream

200g thick Greek natural yoghurt

Freshly grated nutmeg

Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees, Gas Mark 2 and line a baking sheet with non-stick Teflon paper or silicone paper and sprinkle with water. In a large bowl whisk the egg whites and salt to form a soft foam. Continue whisking, adding the vinegar and cornflour and half the caster sugar until stiff peaks form. Add the final amount of sugar and continue whisking to a glossy, stiff meringue. Smooth the meringue into a 25cm round making it slightly concave in the middle. Reduce the oven to 125 degrees, Gas Mark 1 and bake for 1 hour or until the meringue is crusty, firm and pale, turn the oven off and leave to cool in the oven for 1 hour.

Scoop the passionfruit pulp into a blender, blitz for 5 seconds then pass the liquid through a sieve and discard the seeds. Return the liquid to the blender, add half the mango and blend to a puree. Put the vanilla sugar and half the mango puree into a saucepan with the egg yolks. Heat and stir constantly over a medium heat for 5 mins until a thick creamy sauce forms, cool over ice then fold in the remaining mango puree.

At serving time (if you have enough fridge space you can do this several hours before without any problem), whisk the cream until thick, fold in the yoghurt. Spread the pavlova with the puree, scatter the remaining mango pieces round the edges and smooth the cream and yoghurt mixture over most of the top, dust with nutmeg.