Yorkshire Puddings

I have been so scared to make Yorkies for such a long time now that they have almost reached legendary status.  I found this recipe and tried it to make Toad in the Hole and it worked perfectly! Not as difficult as I had feared! :)

Ingredients

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 cup of eggs (I find 3 fits in my cup)
• 1/2 cup of water
• 3 drops vinegar
• vegetable oil - enough to cover the base of each well in your pudding tray.

Method

1. Put everything into your mixing bowl and give it a good whisk. 
2. Once combined and bubbly, pour into a jug and leave to settle for 15 mins.
3. When your ready, heat your oil in the oven, when the oil is smoking, remove your tray from oven and pour in your batter. 
4. Cook until golden and well risen.

Sausage and Potato Bake

I've been watching Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites and this recipe looked delicious.  This will make a lovely, easy dinner.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large onions, sliced lengthways into wedges
• 2 red peppers, deseeded and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 500g/1lb 2oz baby new potatoes, halved
• 12 sausages, pricked with a fork
• 200ml/7fl oz white wine
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/Gas 7. 
2. Place all the ingredients except the wine in a large, resealable freezer bag. Seal the bag shut and shake well to coat everything in the oil. Alternatively, put everything in a large bowl and turn the ingredients until they are fully coated in the oil. 
3. Tip into a large roasting tin, spreading the ingredients out into one even layer and ensuring that the sausages aren't covered by any of the vegetables. Season well with salt and pepper. 
4. Roast for about 30–35 minutes until golden-brown. 
5. Remove from the oven, turn the sausages over and toss the vegetables in the cooking juices. Pour in the wine and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes or until browned and the sausages are cooked and the potatoes tender. 
6. Serve hot with a dollop of mustard on the side.

Chicken and Leek Pie

This is a recipe I saw on the television the other night. On Nigel Slaters Dish of the Day he made this pie as a  way to use a small piece of good but inexpensive chicken, we had some chicken in the freezer, so I thought I would give it a go and boy was I glad I did! This was a hit with the whole family and was really easy to do!
This is definitely going to to be a family staple from now on..... thanks Nigel!

Ingredients

• 2 chicken thighs
• 2 chicken legs
• 8 peppercorns
• ½ onion
• 1 bay leaf
• milk (enough to cover chicken pieces)
• 6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, cut into postage stamp-size pieces
• 30g/1oz butter
• 2 leeks, sliced into ½ inch discs
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 3 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 x 375g/13oz packs of puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten, for glazing
• parmesan, grated, for topping

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. In a saucepan add the chicken, peppercorns, onion and bay leaf. Cover with milk. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked.
3. Meanwhile, fry the bacon in the butter. Add the sliced leeks and allow to soften.
4. When the chicken is cooked remove from the milk and flake the chicken meat into the pan with the leaks, discarding the bones.
5. Add the flour and cook through for two minutes before adding the milk through a sieve to remove peppercorns and bay leaf. Add the Dijon mustard. Stir constantly to make a thick sauce.
6. Roll out the sheets of puff pastry to a rectangular shape at a pound coin thickness. Lay the filling on one sheet and then cover with the second sheet and crimp the edges.
7. Brush the pie with a beaten egg and sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the top. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes

I made a few changes to the recipe.... I knew that I wanted this to do the 4 of us for 2 nights so I bulked out the filling a little by adding mushrooms to the frying pan once I had fried off the bacon.  I also used chicken drumsticks instead of thighs as that was what I had in the freezer. I didn't add the mustard or sprinkle with parmesan as my husband and son are not keen, although I would have loved it!!

Marble Cake

Ingredients

• 125g/4oz butter
• 175g/6oz caster sugar
• 5ml/1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 225g/8oz self raising flour
• 45-60ml/3-4tbsp milk
• 30ml/2tsp cocoa power dissolved in same of water
• 2.5ml/½tsp red food colouring

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Cream the butter and the sugar together until fluffy.
3. Beat in the vanilla and eggs.
4. Fold in the flour with the milk.
5. Divide batter into three.
6. Add the red food colouring to one third and the cocoa to another. Leave the last third as is.
7. Spoon the mixtures into a well greased 18cm / 7in cake tin in alternate colours.
8. Cut through and swirl the mixture using a skewer.
9. Bake for 50 min to an hour, or until a knife inserted into the centre come out clean.
10. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

I never use the red food colouring and instead only have choc and vanilla marble cake.

We have this cake un-iced but one of my friends has a recipe for icing this type of cake. I will ask if I can post her recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 75g/3oz butter
• 50g/2oz caster sugar
• 125g/4oz self raising flour
• 50g/2oz plain chocolate chips

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Cream the butter and the sugar together until fluffy.
3. Fold in the flour to get a smooth paste.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Roll in to small balls and space evenly on a well greased baking tray (I use a piece of baking parchment to stop them from sticking).
6. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

I can never get the mixture to bind once all of the ingredients are added so I always add a tiny splash of milk to bind them. My cookies need slightly longer baking but are always lovely.

You can change the type of chocolate chip (milk, white) or even add fudge pieces and you can make double chocolate chip by adding some cocoa power in place of the flour.

Recipe - Chicken and Sausage Cobbler

Serves: 6
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 1 1/2 hrs

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onion, roughly chopped
• 6 sausages, skins removed
• 1 1/2 glasses red wine
• 4 chicken breasts, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 5 carrots, chopped
• 600ml (1 pint) hot veg stock

Scone Topping

• 200g (7oz) self raising flour
• 50g (2oz) butter
• handful parsley, chopped finely
• splash milk
• 1 egg beaten (for egg wash)

Method:

1. Heat oil and onions in a large ovenproof dish with lid. Cook for 5 minutes then add the sausage meat and cook until it is no longer pink. Add the 1/2 glass of red wine and simmer until wine disappears.
2. Turn heat up a little and add the chicken. Cook until white. Add the garlic and the rest of the wine and simmer till wine disappears. Add carrots and pour in the stock. Cook gently without the lid for about 1hr (or 1 1/2hrs is you are not topping with the scones).
3. For the scone topping: Preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5. In a large bowl rub the flour and butter together till the breadcrumb stage. Stir in the parsley. Add a few drops of milk and mix till the mixture comes together in a dough. Make into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and pop into fridge for 20mins. When you are ready to use, roll onto floured board and cut out scone rounds (about 4cm across). This should make approx 18 scone rounds. Pop these round the edge of the casserole and brush with the beaten egg. Pop into oven for approx 20 -30 mins until golden brown.

Disclaimer - I haven't tried this recipe yet, but it sounds great and have it earmarked for the weekend!! If I try this recipe and make any changes I'll amend the recipe.

Amendments: I omitted the wine and used turkey instead of chicken. Was truly delicious!!