SWEET & SOUR PRAWNS WITH NOODLES

Sometimes I really want a takeaway dinner. It's so easy choosing from the menu and everything sounds so tempting. Ringing up, placing the order, hopping in the car and picking up the wonderful brown bag filled to the brim with foil containers. Coming home, and taking the lids off with waited anticipation! Ah yes, all so easy.

That's all a distant memory now and it's so much more fun making your own takeaway, with the added advantage that you can play around with the ingredients, depending what's in the house. I am definitely not an expert when it comes to stir frying, but you don't need to be to turn out something tasty.

The supermarkets are brimming with packs of stir fry vegetables, to which I tend to add mushrooms and onion, throw in some chicken if you like, buy a fresh stir fry sauce from Marks and Spencer, cook up some noodles and then add these to the stir fry - done!

Here is my homemade takeaway I made last Saturday evening, it definitely satisfied my craving for a sweet and sour Chinese meal.

COMPLETE FAMILY FOOD

ISBN 1844511804 - Page 120

Serves: 4

You will need: 425g can pineapple pieces in natural juice or better still fresh pineapple, 1 deseeded green pepper deseeded and quartered (optional), 1 tablespoon groundnut oil, 1 onion cut into thin wedges, 3 tbsp soft brown sugar, 150ml chicken stock, 4 tbsp wine vinegar, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp cornflour, 350g fresh prawns, 225g pak choi shredded, 350g medium egg noodles, coriander leaves to garnish (optional).

1. Make the sauce by draining the pineapple and reserving 2 tablespoons of the juice.
2. If using a quartered pepper, remove the membrane and cut into thin strips.
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and pepper and cook for about 4 minutes or until the onion has softened. Add the pineapple, the sugar, stock, vinegar, tomato puree and the soy sauce.
4. Bring the sauce to the boil and simmer for about 4 minutes. Blend the cornflour with the reserved pineapple juice and stir into the pan, stirring until thickened.
5. Clean the prawns if needed. Wash the pak choi thoroughly, then shred. Add the prawns and the pak choi to the sauce. Simmer gently for 3 minutes or until the prawns are cooked and have turned pink.
6.Cook the noodles in boiling water for 4-5 minutes until just tender. Drain and arrange the noodles on a warmed plate and pour over the sweet and sour prawns. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve immediately.

MERINGUES WITH PEACHES IN ROSE-WATER SYRUP

Have to admit I am more than 'a bit of a Bill Granger fan'! I have all of his books - and please don't tell my husband - but they really do earn their place on the bookshelf.

The peaches came from our new Lidl store and excellent they were too. I am trying out some of their fruit and vegetables at the moment and so far so good. The milk costs less than a pound for two litres and they sell some really great chocolate!

Our Lidl store is only a five minute car journey away and was built in what I would describe as Waitrose country. The residents who live nearby, first refused Waitrose and then Marks and Spencer. Waitrose took over our huge Safeway Supermarket and so as they say every cloud has a silver lining!

I didn't use Bill Granger's recipe for the meringues because I am hopelessly addicted to Nigella's mini pavlova recipe. Here is Bill's recipe for the peaches in rosewater syrup.


This was a really easy recipe to make and has the added advantage that it looks as though you spent the best part of the day preparing it. I hope you take advantage of the peaches at the moment and make this pretty desert!

STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM

The strawberry plants have produced a bumper crop this year. I picked 2kg in one day and today picked another basket full, that's besides all the strawberries picked on previous days. I have my very own PYO at the bottom of the garden this year!


The squirrel is quite partial to strawberries and so they have to be covered up with netting which makes picking them quite difficult.

As well as making strawberry jam, I have now made a couple of tubs of ice cream. One ice cream was custard based and the other is a very simple ice cream made with double cream and a few other ingredients. It's best if you have an ice cream making machine because it makes life much simpler.

Next week it will be more jam making, rhubarb and strawberry crumble, Eaton mess, more ice cream, strawberries dipped in chocolate, strawberry cupcakes, strawberries on their own and anything else I can think of to use them up!

FRESHLY CHURNED ICE CREAM

The book from which the recipe is taken has a useful section at the beginning regarding ingredients, finer points of ice cream making and rippling, scooping and serving. Lots of wonderful recipes to whet the appetite such as extra-rich vanilla, strawberry and kiwi fruit, gunpowder, mango, triple berry just to name a few. Also there is a chapter on sauces to serve with your freshly made ice cream.

Rosemary Moon, the author of this book, is a Waitrose consultant and also a food writer.

The following recipe was the best strawberry ice cream I have ever tasted, it's non-custard based and is light and creamy.

ICE CREAM MACHINE BOOK - Rosemary Moon

ISBN 1845430999 - Page 36

(Slightly adapted)

You will need: 450g hulled strawberries, juice of half a lemon or to taste, 150g-200g sieved icing sugar to taste (I used 150g), 300ml double cream (I used whipping cream)

1. Puree the strawberries in a blender or food processor, then turn them into a bowl and add the lemon juice and sugar to taste.
2. Stir in the cream.
3. Freeze-churn until the ice cream is ready to serve or pop the ice cream into a tub and freeze for later.

SUNBURST ROLLS

These may not be 'trendy' but I love pulling this bread apart to reveal the fluffiness! Also, I find the poppy seeds and sesame seeds irresistible.......


The dough was made in my Panasonic bread maker and then each piece of dough shaped into a ball. When I attended college, I was taught by a baker how to make perfect dough balls. Firstly, remove your watch and rings, these harbour bacteria! Make sure that your hands are free of any perfume or hand lotion otherwise this will transfer onto the dough. Take the piece of dough and place under the palm of your hand, then grasp the dough ball lightly with spread out fingers and make round movements on the work surface. You should now have a dough ball without any creases underneath!

Below the recipe are a couple of photographs of bread baked in the bread maker. Speedy Sesame Bread and Light Seeded Wholemeal Bread, these recipes came from Bread Machine Easy, also from Sara Lewis.



Another useful book for baking bread by hand or using the bread machine is Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno.

I came across this very interesting blog which concentrates on bread, called The Knead for Bread, so why not hop over to this website for some wonderful photography and bread recipes.

THE BREAD BOOK - Sara Lewis

ISBN 0600607909 - Page 97

You will need: 475g strong white flour (I always use Waitrose Canadian Strong Flour), 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon caster sugar, 1¼ teaspoons fast-action dried yeast, 275ml water

For the glaze and topping:
1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, 2 teaspoons poppy seeds

1. Pop the dough ingredients into the bread pan in the order given for your make of bread maker.
2. Set for the dough option. Press start.
3. At the end of the programme, tip the dough on to a lightly floured surface, knead well and then cut into 16 equal pieces and shape each one into a ball. Arrange the dough balls in 2 rings inside a well buttered 25cm spring form tin. Put 10 rolls in the outer ring, 5 in the second ring and the last remaining roll in the centre.
4.Cover loosely with oiled clingfilm and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes until the rolls are well risen and touching.
5. Remove the clingfilm, brush with the egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon of water and sprinkle the outer ring and central roll with sesame seeds and the second ring with poppy seeds.
6. Bake in a preheated oven 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 - I cooked mine on Fan 180°C - for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden and the bread sounds hollow when tapped with the fingertips. Check after 15 minutes and cover with foil if over browning.
7. Loosen the edges of the rolls with a palette knife and then turn them out on to a wire rack or large plate, then turn again onto a wire rack so that the tops of the rolls are uppermost. Leave to cool completely.

CHICKEN, PAK CHOI AND ALMOND STIR-FRY

Xanthe Clay has brought out a wonderful book for the busy cook. The title says it all - 10 Minutes to Table.

Speedy recipes are all well and good, provided they pack a punch on taste. This recipe had plenty of punch but I think the 10 minutes to table was pushing it somewhat. The cookery book market has been saturated with speedy, quick, in minutes, so on and so on.......

This recipe came from a taster of the book, in Sainsbury's July Magazine 2009. Crisp fish with minted mushy peas look wonderful, although if I just served this up to my husband, I think I might be in line for the sack.....Tomato, soft cheese and sesame tart looks promising as does a salad of asparagus with buffalo mozzarella, pine nuts, peas and new potatoes. All of these recipes are to serve two people.

You will need: 2 nests of medium egg or rice noodles, 1 tablespoon oil, 2 peeled cloves of garlic, a handful of blanched almonds, 1 skinless chicken (I used more), 1 head of pak choi, 4 spring onions trimmed, 1 medium red chilli (optional), toasted sesame oil.
For the sauce: 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger, 2 tablespoons dry sherry or Chinese rice wine, 1 teaspoon cornflour.

1. Put the kettle on to boil. Put the noodles in a pan, pour over the boiling water, cover and keep to one side. Mix the sauce ingredients together with 4 tablespoons water.
2. Heat a wok or large frying pan, add the oil and heat until almost smoking. slice the garlic, cook until golden, then scoop it out and discard.
3. Add the almonds, cook until pale gold, then remove and keep to one side. Thinly slice the chicken across the grain. Spread it out in the wok, allow to sizzle for a few seconds, then toss until lightly coloured and cooked through, then scoop it out.
4. Slice the pak choi. Slice the spring onions diagonally and the chilli, if using, into thin rings and add both to the wok, with more oil if needed. Stir-fry for 1 minute, then tip in the pak choi and stir for another minute, until just cooked.
5. Return the cooked chicken and almonds to the wok. Add the sauce and heat through, stir-frying everything together, adding a little more water if necessary.
6. Drain the noodles and toss with a few drops of toasted sesame oil. Serve with the stir-fry.

Abel and Cole Organic Mixed Box

Abel and Cole have very kindly sent me an organic mixed fruit and vegetable box to 'try out on your behalf'!

Robert, the delivery driver, brought my very welcome box of goodies at 8.00 am on a Wednesday morning.


The box contained: oranges, apples, melon, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, courgettes, white onions, potatoes, carrots and a green pointed cabbage.

My first impression - everything in the box looked in excellent condition - always a good start - next step was to think about how I was going to use the produce, especially as I didn't want to 'mess about' with any of it.


I used the carrots and courgettes by cutting them on a mandolin to produce small strips of vegetables. These were topped with freshly ground pepper and a few small pieces of butter, then cooked for a few minutes in the microwave. Both vegetables were sweet and full of flavour.


For the red potatoes and white onions, I used a Bill Granger recipe, Parmesan-crusted fish with braised potatoes and peas. The potatoes were noticeably white and full of taste.


The oranges were very juicy and sweet, the apples were crisp but lacked in taste, although it is fair to say my husband disagreed with this. I thought the melon was ripe, cut into it and found it was under-ripe. The cabbage squeaked when I cut it (always a sure sign of freshness), also it had a superb taste and cooked well without going into mush. The cherry tomatoes, cucumber and melon I have yet to try.

One of the great advantages of using Abel and Cole, is that you are given online details regarding your next delivery and can change produce you don't like.

When you get a delivery of fresh produce it can be slightly daunting thinking about how best to store it. This is my way, for the onions and potatoes I use these food preserving bags, for the perishables I have found these stayfresh longer bags really do work, and the produce keeps for ages in the fridge.

An amusing Abel and Cole story here - my son, together with a housemate, were to interview prospective new housemates to share the house. One of the housemates had just started an Abel and Cole delivery, and insisted, if the interviewee hadn't heard of Able and Cole they wouldn't be considered!!! I'm still smiling now.........

BOOZY BERRY & ELDERFLOWER TRIFLE

The weather was glorious last bank holiday weekend. Saturday was taken up buying plants, gardening and getting all the pots and hanging baskets ready for the summer.

On the Sunday we all went to a wedding in Shropshire and for part of the evening sat outside, surrounded by the stunning Shropshire countryside.

Bank holiday Monday - more gardening and preparing a BBQ. We did get the occasional shower but managed to cook the BBQ just before the heavens opened!

I hope you all had a good bank holiday too and found time to get outside and take in some of the much needed sun!

Time wasn't exactly on my side last weekend, but I managed to make this dessert taken from the BBCGoodFood website.

I didn't have any fresh raspberries, but the frozen ones worked just fine. My raspberry canes in the garden are coming on well and I can't wait to start picking raspberries.

We haven't had trifle for ages, I'm thinking perhaps it was Christmas. This dessert was quick and easy, literally just an assembly job, and I know it won't be long before my husband requests this trifle again!

This weekend we went to a very sunny Bristol, walked loads, had great food -especially in the evening at Hotel du Vin in the bistro.













The next day on our way home, we called in at Gloucester where they had a display of tall ships in the historic docks. Next to the docks they have a new shopping mall which is a designer outlet, most of the units were in use but there are still quite a few shops yet to open up.

MUSHROOM QUICHE

Delicious Magazine is a great source of reliable recipes, they devote a section to 'veggie matters', which is where this quiche recipe came from.

If you are off on a picnic anytime soon, this is the perfect quiche to take with you!

The recipe title should be 'with parsley pastry', but I feared I would possibly end up with green pastry! Maybe, I just wasn't feeling very lucky the day I made the quiche and so decided to play it safe using the usual shortcrust pastry.

I always use Delia's foolproof method for baking the pastry 'blind' and to date it has never let me down, also it gives a wonderful crisp pastry without all the messing about with parchment paper and baking beans.

Quiche can take forever to make, but I now make mine in stages, it seems to be less painful this way.

. Make the pastry and rest in the fridge.
. Later remove pastry from the fridge, roll out, line the tin and prick the pastry with a fork.
. Pop lined tin in the freezer overnight.
. Remove pastry case and prepare to Delia's instructions.
. Whilst the pastry case is cooking, deal with the filling ingredients.

Well, it works for me anyway!!


Equipment: 35cm x 10cm x 3cm deep fluted tart tin with loose base.

You will need: 30g unsalted butter, 1 finely chopped red onion, 200g sliced button mushrooms, 1 tsp lemon juice, 4 tbs chopped fresh flatleaf parsley, 3tbs snipped fresh chives, 2 large free-range eggs lightly beaten, 170ml whipping cream.

For the pastry: 155g plain flour, 3tbs very finely chopped fresh flatleaf parsley (if you are making the parsley pastry), 90g cold unsalted butter chopped, 1 large free-range egg yolk and you may need a couple of teaspoons of iced water.

1. To make the pastry, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Mix the parsley through. Lightly rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre. Add the egg yolk to the well and mix, using a knife, until a rough dough forms, adding a little iced water if needed. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball. Cover with cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.
2.Roll out the pastry on a sheet of baking paper until large enough to fit the base and sides of the tin. Line the tin and trim the edges. Chill for 20 minutes.
3.Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas5. Bake the pastry shell using Delia's method. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/fan160°C/Gas4.
4. Make the mushroom filling. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion and saute over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the mushrooms and saute for 3 minutes until soft. Stir in the lemon juice and herbs. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and cream together and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
5. Spread the mushroom mixture into the pastry shell and pour the egg mixture over the top. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the filling has set.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

SUNFLOWER AND HONEY FLOWERPOT BREAD

It is the first National Family Week 25th to the 31st May 2009 here in the UK and by visiting the website you will find lots of family activities taking place across the country.

Children will love this flowerpot bread I've made to celebrate this week. Making bread with little ones, is a great rainy day activity, (obviously, you will need to use the traditional method). It has to be said, using a bread machine couldn't be classed as 'fun'.

The bread is a mixture of white and malted brown bread flower, sweetened with honey and decorated with sunflower seeds (I wouldn't use the sunflower seeds as decoration for very small children but use something like oat flakes).

I made Feta, Tomato and Rosemary Flowerpot bread last time and you can see the recipe here.

There is a problem using flowerpots for bread making, and that is, the cooked bread can stick to them, making removal of the bread difficult. Last time I lined the pots with parchment which made the bread easy to remove. Unfortunately, the parchment paper stops the bread from crisping.

This time round, I decided to put discs of parchment paper in the base of the pots and greased the inside really well with butter. When cooked, if you tip the pots upside down, the bread is well and truly stuck - so, a palette knife carefully put between the bread and pot, just about manages to remove the bread in one piece!

I've now decided to do some research on the net about using flower pots, and it seems that you need to season them first to stop the bread sticking. If you click here you can see how it's done.

I halved the quantities stated in the recipe, which came from Delicious Magazine, and made enough dough to fill six flowerpots. The dough was made in the bread maker, less liquid is needed if you use this method.

There is nothing quite like the smell of freshly baked bread and these little flowerpots had a wonderful crisp top, soft within and scented with honey.

A Piece of Cake by Leila Lindholm

I have been sent a wonderful baking book to review by New Holland Publishers(UK)Ltd.


Leila Lindholm is a popular TV Chef in Sweden and she also has her own food magazine, 'Leila's Country Living' (which is only in Sweden). In the UK she has been featured in Delicious and Easy Living magazines.

There are over 200 easy-to-follow baking recipes in this beautifully illustrated book. Chapters in the book are: In the Cookie Jar - On the Cake Plate - Tarts, flans and pies - Cupcakes and muffins - Party cakes - Berry squash and buns - Savoury bread - Hearty wholemeal and crisp bread - Baking without an oven - Sauces, creams and marmalade - also an SOS chapter.

To whet the appetite there are recipes for - lovely toffee slices, pecan banana bread, high-hat cupcakes, the apple lady's crumble, Spanish meringue, strawberry squash, blueberry and lemon scones, sweet rye and raisin rolls, fruit and hazelnut sourdough, lion bars and elderflower custard.

Leila gives a basic recipe for muffins, and then to this, other ingredients can be added. From the basic muffin mixture, we are given nine different muffin recipes. Maltezer muffins, Snickers muffins, and blueberry muffins with crumble, just to name a few. The principle of taking a basic recipe, to which other ingredients are added, is a theme used throughout the book.

Everyone who loves baking, as much as I do, will find this is a wonderful addition to the bookshelf. I haven't put the book down since receiving it, this really is the sign of a good book!

Here is an example of one of the beautiful cupcake recipes in the book.

RASPBERRY CUPCAKES

ISBN 9781847734457 - Page 86

Makes: 12-16 cupcakes

For the Classic cupcake recipe you will need: 3 organic eggs, 225g caster sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar, 100g unsalted butter, 100ml milk, 210g plain flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 pinch of salt, zest and juice of 1 lemon.
For the Raspberry Cupcakes you will need 150g raspberries.

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F/Gas 4.
2. Place muffin paper cases in a 12 hole muffin tin.
3. Beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Melt the butter, pour in the milk and blend with the egg mixture.
5. Add the lemon zest and juice to the mixture.
6. Carefully blend in the raspberries.
7. Pour the mixture into the cases until they are two-thirds full.
8. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool.

Raspberry Frosting

180g icing sugar, 150g cream cheese, 75g raspberries plus extra for decoration.

1. Make the frosting by mixing together the icing sugar and cream cheese until creamy.
2. Carefully blend in the raspberries and spread the frosting over the cupcakes.
3. Decorate with fresh raspberries.