Traditional Ciabatta

For the starter - biga

150 g plain white flour
1/2 teaspoon dried active yeast
110 ml warm water

Put the yeast and half of the water in a small mixing bowl and mix in

Add the rest of the water and whisk in the flour, which is sieved into the bowl until a dough forms

Mix with your hands or a wooden spoon to get a very smooth dough

Cover and leave at room temperature for at least 8 hours (overnight will do)

For the main dough

1/2 level teaspoon of yeast as before

40 ml warm milk

2 tablespoons oil (olive or sunflower)

175 ml warm water

250 g strong bread flower

1 level teaspoon salt

Stir the yeast and milk together and cover - leave for 15 minutes

Combine the oil and water

Sieve the flour and salt into a mixing bowl

Make a well and add the starter, the mild and yeast mixture and the water and oil

Stir well with a spoon or your hands

The mixture will be quite wet, knead for ten minutes in the bowl

Cover and leave to prove for 2 hours or until it has doubled in size

Folding the dough - keep it in the bowl and fold the end over backwards, rotate the bowl a little and repeat. Repeat this process about 8 times

Rest the dough for 20 minutes and then repeat

Flour a surface well and tip the dough out. It will be a little wet but don’t worry.
Shape the dough onto a large or 2 smaller loaves.

Fold the dough over on itself to form a rectangle and lay on baking paper and rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven with a baking tray inside to 220ºC, 450ºF, Gas 7

Place the bread along with the paper on the hot baking tray and bake for 35 - 45 minutes for a large one, 25 - 30 minutes for smaller ones

Test by hitting the bottom for a hollow sound

BBQ marinaded pork skewer kebabs

A simple dish served on rice, Can be as low fat as you like.

To make the marinade

1 dessert spoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
2 grated garlic cloves

Mix the ingredients together

Cut 400 g pork pieces into 1 cm strips and add to the marinade, coating all the meat

Leave overnight for the flavours to develop

To assemble the kebabs

Choose vegetables of your choice

8 Mushrooms
1 large red capsicum
1 courgettes
Pieces of onion, anything you enjoy and skewer together with the pork.

Tiy can then BBQ them, or griddle them.

Use the left over marinade to brush over the kebab whilst they cook.

Serve with a sauce made fro 3 tablespoons Hoi Sin sauce, 3 tablespoons water and 1 tablespoon soy, heated together in a small pan.

Pour over the kebabs and onto a bed of boiled rice.

Of course you could serve with pitta and salad!

Ginger Loaf

Spices and Autumn (Fall) seem to go together. They are hibernation food, getting all cosy food. This ginger loaf just fits the bill.


You will need

Preheat the oven to 170ºC, 325ºF, Gas 3

200 g butter
1 1/2 tablespoons syrup

Melt these together and mix


Sieve together
180 g Self Raising flour
25 g wholemeal flour
1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
1 level teaspoon cinnamon

Whisk together
150 g soft brown sugar
3 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon of grated fresh ginger

Having whisked the eggs etc in a large bowl, whisk in half the flour

Then whick in the butter / sugar mix

Fold in the rest of the flour

Grease and line a loaf tin and pour the batter into it

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes

Test by using a skewer, giving an extra 5 minutes where necessary.

Mash the potato Sieve the flour and salt and mix
Add the egg and form a dough
Leave the dough to rest for a while and then cut off strips which are then rolled out to 1 cm sausage shapes
Cut each roll into 1 cm pieces
Cook in boiling, salted water – it takes 3 minutes for them to rise to the surface, when they are ready

For the sauce
You will need
Oil for roasting
15 small ripe tomatoes
4 garlic cloves peeled and halved
1/2 small red onion
1 teaspoon fresh origano (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
Salt and black pepper
400 ml passata
1 teaspoon paprika

Preheat the oven to 200ºC, 400ºF, Gas 6
Place 2 - 3 tablespoons oil into a roasting pan
Halve the tomatoes and garlic
Chop the onion finely
Add to the pan and coat with the oil, add salt and pepper
Roast for 20 minutes until the tomatoes are browning
Transfer to a pan and on a low heat add the passata and herbs and simmer for 3 minutes - do not boil
Serve with the gnocchi

The taste of summer, though you can make these all the year round these days.

Makes 12 large cup cakes
150 g frozen (but defrosted) black cherries
50 g caster sugar
You can use up to 100g sugar depending on how sweet you like it

Bring both to the boil and then leave to cool in the pan

For the sponge

180 g butter
165 g soft brown sugar
1 tablespoon Greek Yoghurt
1.5 teaspoons almond extract
2 eggs
170 g self raising flour
30 g ground almons - stirred into the flour
2 - 3 tablespoons flaked almonds

Place 12 muffin cases into a 12 hole tin

Preheat the oven to 170ºC, 325ºF, Gas 3

Cream together the butter, sugar, yoghurt and almond extract

Sift 4 tablespoons of the flour and almond mixture over the creamed mix

Add the eggs, beaten together lightly, and beat into the mixture

Add the rest of the almond and flour mix and fold in

Share the mix equally into each of the muffin cases

Lightly swirl a teaspoon of the cherry mixture and sprinkle a few almonds on top

Bake for 18 minutes

Mushroom and Blue Cheese Pasta Sauce

A simply wonderful treat, well worth the expense of the best blue, and of course, the very short time it takes to make.

You need for 2 people

3 tablespoons oil + big knob of butter

10 chestnut mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

50 g Blue Stilton, crumbled

100 ml double cream

50 ml milk

Gran Padano or Parmesan


How to do it

Heat the oil and butter on a low to medium heat heat and fry the garlic and mushrooms until the juices run from the mushrooms - then cook for another minute.

Stir in the cheese

Add the milk and the cream and stir well over a low heat

Allow to bubble for a minute then turn off the heat.

Serve with pasta and top with grated Gran Padano or Parmesan

Opera Cake

This is our 400th Recipe for the Day!!!

Sorry it took a week to get it out - we have been really ill!


This cake was said to resemble the Opera in Paris. It is a lot of worth, but really is worth the effort.


You are basically making a sponge, a coffee syrup, a creme de beurre and a ganache, then layering.


So here goes…

Jaconde Sponge

3 Egg whites. (You’ll use the yolks later)
15 g Caster Sugar
100 g Ground almonds
100 g Icing sugar (sieved)
3 whole eggs
30 g Sifted plain flour
30 g melted butter


Method

Whisk the egg whites until stiff
Add sugar a teaspoon at a time until glossy

Cover and set aside


Mix almonds and icing sugar in another bowl and whisk in the whole eggs until very frothy

Whisk in flour and the melted butter

Fold into the merangue in batches

Pour into a prepared tin and level the top

Bake for 5 - 7 minutes in a preheated oven , 200ºC, 400ºF, Gas 6 until golden and springy


Coffee Syrup

30 ml Hot water
2 teaspoons coffee
30 g Sugar

Heat the water in a pan and then add the other ingredients, leave to cool.



Chocolate Ganache



120 g 56% Chocolate
120 ml double cream

Heat the cream until it is very hot, but not boiling

Add chocolate pieces and stir carefully, adding until everything is mixed

Leave to cool


Creme de beurre

3 egg yolks
220 g Melted butter
75 g Caster sugar
3 tablespoons water (ONLY 3)

Put the yolks in a bown and whisk gently

Put the sugar and water in a pan and carefully bring to a boil to create a syrup, which you then allow to cool for a few minutes.

Pour the syrup into the egg yolks while whisking and then add the butter, little by little.


To create the cake

Take your sponge and cut carefully four pieces of identical size

Lay one slice on a platter or serving plate and brush some of the coffee into it.

Then a layer of Creme de beurre (Half the total)

Then another sponge

Brush with more coffee

Then a layer of Ganache (About half of it

Another layer of sponge

Brush with coffee

The second layer of Creme be beurre on this

A final sponge layer

Ganache to cover the top

Baked Aubergines

A really nice dish you can make either as vegetarian or otherwise as you please!

You will need for 2 people

2 large aubergines
oil for glazing
oil for frying
1 small red onion, chopped
8 (or more) cherry tomatoes - halved or quartered
2 chopped garlic cloves
1 small red pepper chopped
1/2 to 1 teaspoon oregano
salt abd black pepper
100 g grated cheese of your choice or tofu if you prefer
1 tablespoon pine nuts

Slice the aubergines lengthways and brush both sides with oil, season with salt and pepper

Bake on a tray for 20 minutes at 190ºC, 375ºF, Gas 5

Meanwhile chop the onion and galric and fry lightly in a little oil
Add chopped pepper and fry for 3 - 4 minutes
Sprinkle in the oregano and season with salt and pepper
When the aubergine is ready spoon the mixture over the surface (which should have sunk a little) and and add the cherry tomatoes, cheese and pine nuts and bake for a further 5 minutes until the cheese is bubbling

Notes to follow

It’s harvest time and that means preserving! This preserve is fairly easy to create and just as tasty!

You need


1 kg apple pulp - (so you need to peel core and chop more than 1 kg apples!)
450 g chopped pumpkins
2 medium onions, chopped
200 g sultanas
550 ml malt vinegar
400 g soft brown sugar
2 level teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cm piece of fresh grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 level teaspoons salt

For added heat optionally add 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper