Strawberry Shortbread Ice Cream

Extra Special

I made my strawberry ice cream good enough to be sold in cute ice cream parlour.  I made wholemeal shortbread and added it to home-made strawberry ice cream.  The textured, creamy, sweet delight reminded me of a strawberry shortcake ice cream I once had.

Ingredients:

300ml skimmed milk, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 3 egg yolks, 100g caster sugar, 150g strawberries, 1 tsp lemon juice, 300ml double cream, 175g plain wholemeal flour, 50g caster sugar, 110g soft butter.

Method:

1. Heat the milk and vanilla essence before it comes to a boil.
2. Whisk the yolks and 100g sugar together.
3. Add to the cooled milk and vanilla then heat gently.
4. Remove the custard from the heat once again.
5. Puree the strawberries and mix in the lemon juice.
6. Start the ice cream mixture.
7. Mix the strawberry and lemon juice in with the custard.
8. Pour this into the ice cream maker.
9. Pour in the double cream and let it mix for 40 minutes.
10. In the meantime mix the flour, 50g caster sugar and butter into a dough.
11. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
12. Prepare a small baking tin.
13. Roll out the dough and push down into the baking tin.
14. Bake for 20 minutes.
15. When the ice cream mixture has mixed pour into a freezer proof tub.
16.  When the shortbread has cooled crumble into the strawberry ice cream.
17. Freeze until the desired consistency has been reached then serve.

Saffy’s Top Tip:

Even if you are using an ice cream maker stir every few hours.

Aubergine and Quorn Balti with Wild Rice and Green Peas

On the sand

I was not planning on cooking the evening I made this but my mother was stressed out by work so I thought I would make her a quick, healthy and enjoyable meal so she could feel a little more at ease.  I was really surprised at how quickly I rustled this dish up.  I was really proud of myself.  Due to my creativity my mother went from being in a file cave to a comforting sandy beach (in the mind).

Ingredients:

1 tbsp sunflower oil, 1 onion (peeled and chopped), 2 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped), 1/2 medium aubergine (chopped), 250g chopped quorn pieces, 1 tbsp medium balti paste, 100ml water, 2 tsps cornflour, 2 tsps tomato ketchup, 1 tsp mustard, 150g wild rice, 1 cup frozen green peas, 150g frozen spinach.

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan.
2. Fry the onion and garlic cloves for 2 minutes.
3. Add the aubergine and quorn pieces.
4. Add the balti paste and fry for a further 5 minutes.
5. Add the water and bring to the boil.
6. Bring the dish to a simmer and add the cornflour, ketchup and mustard.
7. In the meantime prepare and start cooking the wild rice.
8. After bringing it to the boil let it simmer for 25 minutes and then add the green peas.
9. Add the frozen spinach to the balti and cook until the spinach has wilted and separated.
10. When the curry has thickened and the vegetables have cooked remove from the heat.
11. When the wild rice and peas have cooked serve with the balti.

Millionaire Shortbread

Air-planes

I was speaking to a few people about what they would do if they won the lottery.  Eating like a king came up a few times but I would personally travel around the world.  My grandfather and grandmother loved air-planes so when I fly in the sky it makes me feel like I am closer to them.  You may be asking what this has to do with millionaire shortbread… It is all in the name.  Anything can make you feel like a millionaire.  Whether it is a sweet treat lazying around in bed or flying in the sky to another world.  I made a luxury home-made shortbread, a lovely toffee and indulgent chocolate topping.

This recipe was adapted from Sam Stern’s Student Cookbook (Walker Books).

Ingredients:

175g plain white flour, 50g caster sugar, 110g soft butter, 175ml low – fat condensed milk, 110g butter, 110g brown sugar, 2 level tbsps golden syrup, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 175g milk chocolate.

Method:

1. Lightly grease a round baking tin and line with baking paper. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Mix the flour sugar and 110g butter into a bowl.
3. Use your hands to create a dough.
4. Roll out and press into the baking tin.  Bake for 20 minutes.
5. Heat 110g butter, 175ml low – fat condensed milk, 110g brown sugar, golden syrup and vanilla extract into a saucepan.
6. Keep stirring until the mixture has thickened and formed into a toffee.
7. Pour the mix onto the shortbread.
8. Leave to cool.
9. When the fudge has set then melt the chocolate and pour on top.
10. Serve with the chocolate has set.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Dripping down your fingers

This ice cream tastes so good you will not even want to waste a drip down your fingers.  I love strawberry season, all year I have been waiting for the luscious berries to get cheap.  I started to make a normal vanilla ice cream then puréed some strawberries and added a little lemon juice.  It tasted lovely.  On a hot day I would recommend making a strawberry sundae by making this ice cream and decorating the scoops with fresh strawberries and strawberry syrup.

This was adapted from The Dairy Book of Family Cookery (Ebury Press, 1993).

Ingredients:

300ml skimmed milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla seeds, 3 egg yolks, 100g caster sugar, 150g strawberries (puréed), 2 tsps lemon juice, 300ml double cream.

Method:

1. Heat the milk and vanilla and remove from the heat before it boils.
2. Whisk the yolks and sugar together.
3. Add to the milk when it has cooled.
4. Mix the lemon juice into the strawberries and mix into the custard.
5. Heat the mixture for 5 minutes.
6. Cool the strawberry custard and pour into the ice cream machine.
7. Let the machine churn for 40 minutes and pour in the double cream.
8. Pour the ice cream into a freezer proof tub.
9. Freeze the ice cream until desired consistency and stir every few hours.

Chocolate Bark

Jumping About

I know so many people who love sweet things, although I am really not a sugary person and my sweet tooth has calmed down a great deal  I still thought it would be nice to make a snack for those who love chocolate and marzipan.  My mother sure was glad to have me back after visiting.

This recipe was taken from Good Housekeeping Magazine (April, 2013).

Ingredients:

200g white chocolate, 15g rice krispies, icing sugar, 225g golden marzipan, 200g dark chocolate, 100g mini eggs (roughly chopped).

Method:

1. Break up the chocolate into small pieces.
2. Put the white chocolate in a heat proof bowl and melt either above simmering water or in the microwave.
3. Mix in the rice krispies and spread across baking paper on a tray or in a dish.
4. Sprinkle some icing sugar on a rolling board and roll out the marzipan to the same size as the white chocolate.
5. Cut the marzipan to size and place on top of the white chocolate and rice krispies.
6. Melt the dark chocolate and mix in the mini eggs.
7. Spread over the marzipan.
8. Chill till set for a minimum of 2 hours.
9. After it has set break up into irregular pieces.

Carrot and Courgette Cake

Used to be?

Whenever someone starts off a compliment by saying “you used to be”, you best believe it is back-handed.  I never want anyone to say I used to be creative in the kitchen so I always make sure I let my creative juices flow.  I hate restricting my mind.  I made a delicious courgette and carrot cake.  It was so delicious.  My mother really wanted me to make a courgette cake so I sweetened it by adding carrot.

 

Ingredients:

250ml sunflower oil, 200g dark brown sugar, 50g caster sugar, 3 eggs, 225g wholemeal self – raising flour, 100g carrots (peeled and grated), 150g courgettes (Peeled and grated), 150g lighter mascarpone, 50g icing sugar, pumpkin seeds.

Method:

1. Beat the oil and sugars in a large bowl.
2. Beat in the eggs, mixing well after each addition.
3. Sift in the flour and fold.
4. Fold in the vegetables.
5. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
6. Prepare a bundt cake tin.
7. Pour the mixture into the tin and level.
8. Bake for 40 minutes.
9. Wait for the cake to cool before removing it from the tin.
10. When the cake has cooled beat the mascarpone and icing sugar together in a bowl.
11. Spread the cheese and sugar over the cake then scatter pumpkin seeds over the top.

Onion and Green Pepper Tart

And Another One!

I had a very busy and emotional week so I had little time to cook a meal which required lots of ingredients and preparation.  I made another express tart experimenting with new flavours.  It was scrumdiddlyumptious, onions and green peppers can be so exciting.  Whoop!

This recipe was adapted from Sam Stern’s Student Cookbook (Walker Books, 2009).

Ingredients:

Ready roll puff pastry, tomato ketchup, 2 tbsps olive oil, 1 small onion (chopped), 1 small green pepper (de seeded and chopped), 1 tsp sugar, 30g mild cheddar (grated), 20g parmesan (grated), 7 cherry tomatoes (quartered), 15 green olives (pitted and halved), basil, oregano, dried rosemary.

Method:

1. Roll out the pastry and border the pastry sides.
2. Spread the middle with a little ketchup.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan.
4. Fry the onion and green pepper.
5. Sprinkle the sugar of the onion and pepper and fry for 8 minutes until the onion is browned.
6. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
7. Place the fried onion and peppers over the pastry.
8. Scatter the tomatoes and olives and cheeses.
9. Sprinkle a few shakes of each of the dried herbs over the top.
10. Drizzle the tarts with a tbsp of olive oil.
11. Bake the tarts for 180 degrees C for 30 minutes until the pastry has cooked and lightly browned.

Aubergine and Goat’s Cheese Veg Cheat’s Tart

Everything I Need

Sometimes to make the perfect meal you do not need to spend hours in the supermarket finding rare ingredients.  Sometimes keeping your meals simple and fresh can be more satisfying than any fine dining inspired meal.  I made a simple quick tart using ingredients that were already in my kitchen.  Aubergine, tomato and goat’s cheese are a lovely combination.  My tart tasted as good as a pizza, but healthier and much faster to make.

This recipe was adapted from Sam Stern’s Student Cookbook (Walker Books, 2009).

Ingredients:

Ready roll puff pastry, tomato ketchup, 1 medium aubergine (sliced), 40g mild cheddar cheese (grated), 6 cherry tomatoes (quartered),  20g goat’s cheese (cubed), dried basil, herbs de provence, salt and pepper.

Method:

1. Cut the puff pastry into squares.
2. Use the pastry edges to make boarders.
3. Spread some ketchup in the middle of the pastry.
4. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
5. Place slices of aubergine on the pastry.
6. Scatter the cherry tomatoes and cheese on top.
7. Sprinkle a little basil and herbs de provence on the tart and season with a little salt and pepper.
8. Bake for 30 minutes until the pastry is cooked and the tart has lightly browned.

Saffy’s Allotment Soup

All my vegetables

If I had an allotment I would grow all of my favourite vegetables.  Maybe some day I will grow my own vegetables, you can’t get fresher than that.  My aunt grows the juiciest tomatoes, my cousin grows figs and I am pretty sure my grandma had a vegetable patch of her own.  I found this vegetable soup recipe in my new soup book.  I adapted it to my taste and got a really great feeling while I was eating it.  How could anyone hate vegetables? They are so filling and delicious.  Apart from turnips and all the other nasty ones.

This recipe was adapted from The Soup Book (Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2009).

Ingredients:

1 tin of cannelloni beans,  2 tbsps olive oil, 1/2 large onion (chopped), 2 garlic cloves (finally chopped), 3 medium carrots (peeled and chopped), 2 medium courgettes (sliced), 2 small sweet potatoes (softened by being pre boiled, peeled and chopped), 230g Italian chopped tomatoes, salt and white pepper, 100g frozen green beans.

Method:

1. In a large saucepan heat the oil.
2. Fry the onion and garlic cloves.
3. When soft add the carrots and courgettes.
4. After about 8 minutes add the sweet potatoes, chopped tomatoes, beans and season.
5. Add 1 1/2 pints of water.
6. Bring to the boil then add the green beans and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes.

Oat and Chocolate Raisin Muffins

Saffy’s Sweet Touches

Although I am still learning and am nowhere near the standard I would like to be in cooking I like to incorporate my own sweet touches into recipes to make them that extra bit special to me.  I had some left over hand-made chocolate spread, raisins and oats.  I had to make a muffin with these ingredients.  The last batch of muffins I made in early in the week were quickly disappearing so I made a lovely batch for the rest of the working week.  This cheered my mother up, I wanted to make sure she had some lovely food to look forward to after running errands.

This recipe was adapted from The Complete Low – Fat Cookbook (Bay Books, 2003).

Ingredients:

125g self – raising flour, 150g wholemeal self – raising flour, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 150g porridge oats, 55g soft brown sugar, 185g raisins, 30g milk chocolate, 1 egg, 2 tbsps vegetable oil, 90g honey and 300ml skimmed milk.

Method:

1. Sift the flours into a large mixing bowl.
2. Add the bicarbonate of soda.
3. Add the oats and brown sugar and mix the dry ingredients well.
4. Melt the milk chocolate and mix with the raisins in a small bowl.
5. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and break in the egg.
6. Mix then add the vegetable oil, honey and skimmed milk.
7. Combine the ingredients well then gently fold in the chocolate raisins.
8. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
9. Divide the muffin mix into 12 muffin cups in a muffin holder.
10. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes.
11. Leave to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before serving.