These ginger-breads are what we call cookies in America. I have been looking at this recipe for a while and today was the day to give the recipe a try. These cookies, which hail from Lincolnshire, England, are golden and crunchy when you take a bite. Besides, what is there not to like about a cookie?
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter (8 tbsp)
1/2 cup of sugar (granulated)
1 medium to large egg
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
a pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place parchment paper on 2-3 baking sheets. Cream the butter, sugar, and egg together. Add the salt, baking soda, ginger to the mixture. Mix well. Add the flour about 1/2 cup at a time until it is all used. Pour the mixture onto a lightly floured surface and knead a little until it is smooth. Shape the dough into 24 little balls, about 1 1/2 inch in size or use a small scoop. Place them on baking sheets about 2-3 inches apart, enough room for them to spread out. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a light golden color. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool. Enjoy!
I baked two of these cakes this evening. One for the birds and one for me. As you can guess the first one was a complete flop. I hate it when that happens. Anyway, I just found this recipe in a book called, The London Ritz Book of Afternoon Tea, by Helen Simpson. This recipe has existed in various forms since the Middle Ages. It has caraway seeds, which gives the cake a distinct flavor. I rather like this cake and shall be making it to have with tea or coffee.
Ingredients:
8 TBS butter (1 stick of butter)
2/3 cup of sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tsp caraway seeds
1 1/4 cups cake flour or all purpose flour
3 TBS cornstarch or rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
6 inch round cake pan about 3 inches deep (I used a square pan)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the cake pan and set aside. Cream together the butter and the sugar. Add the spices, baking powder, and rice flour. Mix well. Next begin adding the eggs and the flour a little at a time, alternating with add a little of the eggs and a little of the flour until it is mixed well. Lastly, fold in the caraway seeds. Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake between 40-60 minutes or until the center of the cake is firm. Let it cool on a wire rack and then sprinkle with powdered sugar or leave plain. Enjoy!
We have sausage rolls here in the States. There are massive amounts of meat in them, at least, that is what I have observed. I like meat, but not a mound of it. When I saw a recipe that Jamie Oliver came up with; I decided to give it a try. Click on the link and it will take you to his web site. The recipe calls for higher-welfare pork sausages. Higher welfare means that they are organic. I used Irish bangers from Fresh Market. They have a lot of imports there. If you cannot find imported sausage, use any sausage that you like or use ground lamb, chicken or beef.
I did make this recipe two ways. I asked my neighbor, who is English, how she makes her sausage rolls. She told me that traditionally they don't season theirs, but roll the sausage up in the pastry and bake it. I prefer it with a little spice.
Ingredients:
1-2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 sprigs fresh sage, leaves picked
2-3 TBS breadcrumbs, I used Italian
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 lb sausage or any ground meat you prefer
1 package ready made puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the onions. Cook until they are golden brown. Next add the sage leaves, cook for a couple of minutes or until crispy (crispy is my preference). Take off the heat and set aside to cool. Crumple the sage when it is cool.
Remove the casings from the sausage and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the sage, onion, nutmeg,and breadcrumbs. Mix well.
Put the pastry onto a floured surface. Roll out into a big rectangle, then split it down the middle so that you have two.Shape the sausage mixture into logs and place on the pastry about an inch from the edge. Brush the end with egg and roll it up. Seal the end with egg. Cut into whatever size you like. Place on a greased baking sheet and brush with egg. Bake about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. This is great with a salad. Enjoy!
This is a creamy, crunchy, and wonderfully delicious salad. I saw this recipe in the book, The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook by Emily Ansara Baines. Since it is Labor Day here in the States, it would go very well with our traditional barbeque. Here is my adaptation of the recipe.
Ingredients:
3 cups of medium shell pasta, cooked according to package directions
2 - 8 ounce packages of imitation crab meat or the real thing if you prefer
3 green onions, cut into small slices
1 rib celery, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp fresh lemon or lime juice. I used the juice of 1/2 lime.
1 tsp orgeano
1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp of rice vinegar or white vinegar
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, Add the pasta and cook until al dente, approximately 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Whisk the mayonnaise, sugar, garlic powder, basil, oregano, vinegar, and lemon juice together in a large bowl. Add the pasta and mix well. Next, add the crab meat, cheese, carrot, and celery. Mix thoroughly and chill up to three hours or overnight. Adjust the seasonings to your taste. Enjoy!
When I discovered orange flavored oil at the grocer, I felt like I was in bakers heaven. There is so much you can do with flavored oils. I found a recipe in a book by the "The two fat ladies" Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson called cooking with the two fat ladies to make orange shortbread. I used to watch their program many years ago and collected a number of their recipes to try. I am really pleased with this recipe and shall be making it over and over again.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1 1/3 cup of ground almonds
grated zest of 3 oranges
1 tsp vanilla extract
4-6 drops of orange oil if you don't have orange rind or use both, which is what I did
granulated sugar for sprinkling on top
Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and mix until it forms a dough. Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge and chill overnight.
Take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for about an hour to soften. When it is a little soft roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Use a cookie cutter, I used a 2 1/2 inch cutter. Line a pan with parchment paper and arrange the cut out shapes. Place back in the fridge for an hour.
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until they are golden brown. Remove and place on a rack to cool. Store in air tight containers.
This crumpet\muffin\popover like breakfast bread is wonderful. I like English muffins very much, which aren't really English at all, I put them in the toaster and let them stay in there until very crispy. Slice into two pieces and then I add a soft boiled egg. This is breakfast heaven to me. Just recently, I purchased Jamie Oliver's cookbook called, Great Britain. The first recipe I wanted to try is the Breakfast Crumpies. They look crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. You can put just about anything you like on these. There is no limit to having a creative breakfast with this recipe. Here is my adaption of the recipe.
Ingreditents:
4 1/2 cups of bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp quick rise yeast
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
butter or oil for greasing the muffin pan
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl, add all of the dry ingredients. Mix well. Then add 2 1/2 cups of warm water and 1/2 cup of warm milk. Mix together very quickly with either a spoon or a whisk. Cover the bowl and allow the mixture to sit for about 15-20 minutes. The mixture should be wet and spoonable, not runny like pancake batter. Next, scoop the mixture in the muffin pan, filling it to the top. If you have a large muffin pan, then only fill half-way. Put the pan into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes. The crumpies should be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Enjoy!
Week after week I would watch Downton Abbey. Mrs. Patmore would cook up the most elaborate meals that I have ever seen. It must be so complicated to make such elaborate meals. I've never made a souffle or made beef wellington, the thought of cooking either of these dishes is daunting. I once read that if you can read, then you can cook. Some of us have the knack for taking the time to learn about techniques and others don't want to be bothered. A recipe is not written in stone but should be looked at as a guide only. After all, you know your own palate. If you don't think that you will like the amount of spice in a recipe, then tone it down. When I look at things like eclairs, cheese puffs and similar edibles, my first thought is that I cannot make it like a pro. Who cares. Try it and you may find a new "favorite" thing to make. Most of the time the recipe is very simple, really it is. This recipe is from Pamela Foster's E-book called Abbey Cooks Entertain.
Ingredients: Makes about 30 cheese puffs
1/2 cup of water
3 tbs, unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red chili powder or cayenne
1/2 cup of plain flower
2 large eggs
3/4 cup of grated gruyere cheese or grated cheese of your choice.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a sauce pan on medium heat and add the butter. As it begins to melt add the salt, water, and chili powder. Then add the flour all at once, using a whisk to mix it all together. Keep mixing it until it is a smooth ball. Take off the heat and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring the mixture quickly. The batter may be lumpy, keep stirring until it is smooth. Then add the grated cheese and stir until well combined.
Wet a teaspoon and drop thumbnail-sized spoonfuls onto the parchment paper about an inch apart. You can experiment with the size of the puff by adjusting the size of the dollops. Bake for 10 minutes and then turn the oven temperature down to 375 degrees F and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Serve them warm with creamy cheese or serve plain. These make a great snack with hot tea. Enjoy!
A few months ago while looking around on Facebook, I saw Scotch eggs for the first time. I had never heard of them before, but they sure looked good. Who would have ever thought of wrapping a boiled egg in sausage ? You can have these as a snack or part of a meal. I searched for a decent recipe and after several attempts I have found the right way of making them for me. Besides, I have an English neighbor who helped me out a bit. English sausage doesn't have near the amount of fat in their sausage as we do. Traditionally, Scotch eggs are fried. I cringed at the thought of putting something that is already loaded with fat in a deep fryer. I tried it anyway and failed several times. Each time I fried them the sausage next to the egg didn't get quite done. Then they stuck to the pan. The sausage would be crispy on the outside and nearly raw on the inside. It was a mess. There are three rejects in my refrigerator right now. However, it was just too greasy for my palate. I finally baked them and I am pleased with the result. They are still crispy but not dripping with oil. For those of you who don't eat pork you can use ground turkey or chicken and add some sage and thyme to spice it up a bit.
Ingredients:
4 large eggs, hard boiled
1 lb sausage
flour
1/2 - 3/4 cup of breadcrumbs
Preheat over to 375 degrees. After the eggs are cooked, peel and set aside. Take out three plates or bowls. Add enough flour to one plate to dredge the eggs through. Add the breadcrumbs to the second plate, and the last one is for holding them until you are ready to place in the oven. Roll each egg in the flour. Next, divide the sausage into four equal parts. Press the sausage into the palm of your hand and smooth it outwards. Place the egg in the middle and wrap the sausage around it. Pinching together any open spots. Make it somewhat thick but not too thick. Dredge the eggs through the breadcrumbs and place in a baking pan or skillet. Place in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, turning them every 10 minutes to brown on all sides. Enjoy!
