National Baking Week 2010

Is finally coming to an end for 2010! Unfortunately, I don't think I made quite as much of an effort as I perhaps could/should have. Funds are very low and I couldn't splash out on the ingredients I perhaps would have liked to. So I've had to make it out of ingredients I already have, which was a suprisingly substantial variety.

National Baking Week is all about encouraging people to start baking their own treats, whether it's just to learn a new skill, or to update some passed down recipes, it's always an awesome time to start getting your scales and muffin trays out. 

In the cooking community it's almost a mini festival in itself, forums exploding with recipes, family tips and tricks to make your baking the best and most rewarding it can be. It sounds so very bourgeois, but it's actually quite exciting, oh how adult of me! 

Nevertheless it's been fun, any spare moment i've had it's been spent either reading about recipes or new places I can find to get unusual ingredients. Great for the soul...not so great, however, for my dissertation reading, of which i've done not nearly enough. Saturday morning spent watching Saturday Kitchen, followed by Nigella introduced me to not only an amazing recipe for Grasshopper pie (thankyou Nigella, you goddess!), but inspiration to make an entire range of cocktail-based cupcakes. That bourbon biscuit bases...I literally could not help myself imagining bourbon cupcakes with creamy, minty, chocolatey icing. It's going to be immense!

I've found out some great little pointers to help me with future baking, example, tossing fruit or chocolate chips in plain flour before adding to cakes or muffins stop them sinking to the bottom, or to make your cakes rise enough, they have to go from adding the final baking powder (or the liquid to your dry ingredients) to the oven in under a minute...which is quite difficult. Or to not open the oven door for the first half of cooking time, because it will interfere with the rising of the cake. 

Simple things like that can make you give up on baking and think you're rubbish, but they are easily resolved and can give you confidence to try again. Baking your own stuff can save you a tonne of money once you've bought the basics (baking tins, scales, spatulas etc) and it tastes so much better. Running the risk of sounding like an advert, i'll carry on to the recipe of the week for me.

To honour National Baking Week, I'll keep the theme alive...

Scones (Courtesy of James Martin)

225g Self Raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

25g Caster sugar

50g Unsalted butter

150ml milk

1 egg, beaten (for brushing on top)

Pinch of salt

- Oven at 220C degrees/Gas mark 7

- Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, stir in sugar, add butter and rub quickly into the flour, until a fine breadcrumb consistency forms.

- Add the milk, slowly, working into a smooth dough. Leave to rest for 5-10 minutes before rolling

- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until about 2cm thick-ish. Cut with a standard pastry cutter, and don't twist when cutting, it'll make them rise wonky.

- Once cut, brush with the beaten egg (for a shiny glaze) or dust with flour (for a matt finish) and place the scones on a greased baking tray, then bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

- Cool slightly and serve with clotted cream, jam, butter, or whatever you like!

Honestly, this recipe is the only one I ever use when making scones, simply, because they are lush, and i've never needed to use another. If you're proud of your successes from National Baking Week, tell everyone about it in the comment box below!

Peace

JR 

Technology is Leading a Revolt

...against me and against my laptop, hence my substantial absence. It is seriously kaput.

But, it's been quite a food packed month and it's been fun! I think i had my proudest moment when i made these cute aqua cupcakes.

Just good quality vanilla cupcakes with some super creamy vanilla icing. Maybe not the most exotic flavour in the world, but they were damn tasty!

And a follow up on my jam, it's beautiful, maybe a little too sweet for me, i'll use less next time. But it's still lovely, I'm actually (almost) a bit reluctant to eat it. I want to preserve it in all its beauty. My first jam-making experience was a great success i think.

In other food-related news, it's the start of a new academic year for me and my Bangor friends. So that means students, it also means communal cooking, which I love! I've tried my hand at some things i've not had for a good while: blackened Cajun chicken, with greek potatoes and roasted paprika peppers, that was pretty yummy. I also tried my hand at some canneloni just the other day, nothing majorly exotic, beef and parmesan, but it was quite tasty in the end, so much better than any of the rubbish you get from a jar. I don't do things by half measures, so if you're gonna do something, and you have the time and the money, do it properly. It is so much more rewarding.

Change is exciting. I'll leave a recipe at the bottom of each of my posts from now on, so if you're feeling a little uninspired for food and you happen to read my rubbish little blog, you can maybe try it out? You really don't need to measure anything, you can change it to your tastes

Beef and Parmesan Canneloni:

with some cracking home-made garlic bread.

this feeds 4 medium sized portions.

300g lean beef mince

4 or 5 garlic cloves, depending on the size

1 small red onion

1/2 green pepper 

Small handful of grated parmesan (plus a little to sprinkle on top)

Canneloni pasta (about 12/13/14 tubes)

700g passata (either the big jars or 2 small cartons)

Small ball of mozzarella

1 Beef stock cube

1/2 small ciabatta loaf

1 tablespoon of butter (proper butter! Lurpak or the like)

Parsley

Paprika

Oregano

Pepper

Salt

Pinch of sugar

Olive oil

It's a lot easier to do all your prep before cooking so you don't have to faff around in the middle.

So, dice your red onion and pepper as tiny as you can, remember it's gotta fit into the tubes so it helps the smaller it is. Also, if you have a garlic crusher, perfect, if not, just cut that too. I find it's easier if you take the skin off the cloves, cut in half lengthways down the middle once so you have two flat sides to cut, slice into thin stripes, turn and cut into teeny tiny cubes.

Fry off the onions in a splash of olive oil on a medium heat until they're softened, add the peppers, add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, don't overcook the garlic or have it on too high or the garlic goes bitter and tastes awful! 

Add your mince, the stock cube, about a tablespoon of oregano, paprika and cook until the mince is cooked through. Add the passata, the pinch of sugar (it balances out the flavours of the super tomato-ey-ness of it) and the parmesan and stir through. 

Get your oven proof dish, your canneloni tubes, a teaspoon and a little oil. Drizzle your oil over the bottom so it doesn't stick and turn your tube so the bottom hole is covered by the the dish and spoon the mixture into your tubes and fill the dish. Leave a little sauce in the pan and cover the tubes with the last bit, tear up the mozzarella, chuck it on, and sprinkle a little parmesan on top. Cover your dish with foil and bake in a medium to low oven for about 40 minutes. Whilst you're waiting for this to cook you can prep your garlic bread.

For this, it's really simple, get the butter, soften it with a spoon, add crushed garlic (1 or 2 cloves) a teaspoon of parsley and a pinch of salt (a little for taste, but mostly to help tie all the flavours together). After that, cut your bread however you wish and spread it on. When the canneloni's been cooking for 40 minutes, put the bread in and turn up the oven to about 190C degrees and take the foil off the top of the canneloni so the cheese can crisp up. Cook for another 20 minutes and then serve.

I'm sorry, i know i've gone on a bit, so i wholly forgive you if you've not bothered reading to the end!

But, go explore the exotic and the unusual, and if you find any interesting recipes, and you have time, please leave me a comment and tell me about it (and the recipe if you have it), i'd love to try it out!

Peace.

JR

The Gods of Chance

...Really were smiling down unto me yesterday afternoon!

Me and my other half went blackberry picking in the woods next to his house on the beautifully rainy afternoon, to console me for my rotten luck of being able to find no damsons this summer. I searched, and i complained many times when i realised that i would be without my beloved home-made damson jam for an entire year (unless, i resorted to the tooth-meltingly sweet store bought crap). So we set off, me looking like little red riding hood in my red coat, aiming to get enough to make at least one pot of bramble jam. Luckily, we got absolutely tonnes, enough for two, maybe even three pots.

AND, to top it all off, coming back to Mr Jess' house, his dad came across a person at work with 2 kg of damsons, after i'd searched all over for some. Lucky or what :)! Needless to say i made a BIG pot of jam to keep me going for a while, which is delicious, if i may say so myself :D.

As for the cake, after a few problems with bad feelings it was undercooked, it came out quite well, it tasted quite yummy, and it's long gone :)! Hooray!

And here it is...candles and all! Ready to be covered by the tin lid to go on the train just before i left.
 
Peace.

JR