Cherry Bakewell Pudding

Made this with one tin of cherry filling to 2/3 of the sponge

2 x 425g cans pitted black cherries , in syrup

6 tbsp cherry jam

200g butter, softened

200g golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

50g self-raising flour

140g ground almond

1 tsp almond extract

50g flaked almond

icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1.    Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Tip the syrup from the cherries and the jam into a saucepan. Boil for 10-15 mins until the liquid has reduced by half and is thick and syrupy, and add the cherries to the pan. Pour into a baking dish, roughly 18 x 25cm, then set aside.

2.    In a large bowl, mix the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, almonds, almond extract and a pinch of salt with an electric whisk until combined. Dollop the sponge mixture over the cherries and spread to a smooth layer, trying not to disturb the cherries underneath too much. Scatter over the flaked almonds, then bake for 45 mins until a skewer inserted into the sponge layer comes out clean. Leave to cool for 5 mins, then dust with icing sugar and serve with cream or, better yet, custard.

Caramel Banana Cream Pie

Used a pastry base instead of digestives and a tin of nestle caramel instead of the sweets

Serves: 8-10

For the Graham Cracker Crust:

·         12 graham cracker sheets

·         ¼ cup sugar

·         ¼ cup butter, melted

For the Pie Filling:

·         2 bananas

·         1 11oz package caramels, unwrapped

·         3-4 TBS heavy cream

·         1 3.5 oz instant vanilla pudding mix

·         1 3.5 oz instant banana cream pudding mix

·         2½ cups milk

·         8 oz cool whip

Crush your graham crackers into a fine crumb. (It should make about 1½ cups).

Mix together your sugar with your graham cracker crumb in a medium sized bowl.

Pour your melted butter over the top of your crumb and mix it all together.

Pour your crust mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch pie crust pan and press down on the bottom and the edges.

Cut your bananas into slices and lay them over your graham cracker crust.

Combine your caramels and heavy cream in a small sauce pan. Heat over medium until caramels are melted and smooth, stirring throughout. Pour caramel over banana slices (reserve about ¼ cup if desired for later).

Pour your pudding mixes into a large bowl and pour your milk over it and stir together. Add ½ cup of cool whip to the pudding mixture and mix well.

Pour pudding mixture over caramel and smooth top. Place in fridge to set for about 3 hours.

Top with remaining cool whip and additional bananas before serving.

Smoked Salmon Terrine

Didn't have red salmon so used pink - think the red would make the colour pinker

·         ½ Cucumber

·         280g Soft cheese

·         3 tbsp Mayonnaise

·         200g Smoked salmon, finely chopped

·         213g Red salmon, can, drained and flaked

·         1 Lemon, finely grated zest and 1 tbsp of juice only

·         1 tbsp Dill, fresh, chopped

·         60g Butter, melted

Instructions

1            Cut half the cucumber into thin rings and dice the rest. Put the diced bits in a bowl and sprinkle with salt, leave for 20 minutes then drain and squeeze out excess liquid with kitchen paper.

2            Meanwhile, beat together the soft cheese with the mayonnaise, all the salmon, lemon zest and juice and dill. Fold in the diced cucumber and half the melted butter. Season to taste.

3            Spoon into a large glass jar or 6 glass ramekins. Top with cucumber slices and brush the top with melted butter.

4            Cover tightly with clingfilm and chill overnight. Serve with oatcakes or fresh crusty bread.

Strawberry Doughnut Trifle

Found this on Google - unusual but ingredients sound ok

1 x 284 ml double cream

1 x 250 g Mascarpone

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 can made custard

8-10   ready-made plain cake donuts cut into cubes

2 lbs. fresh strawberries halved

Cream to decorate

Reserve some strawberries for the top and slice the remainder’

To make the whipped topping, beat the heavy cream in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer on high speed. When stiff peaks form add in the vanilla and mascarpone and briefly combine.

Layer doughnuts, strawberries, custard and cream mixture

Chicken Fried Rice

Very Tasty

80g rice, cooked
1 boneless chicken breast, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces

1 cup of medium-size cooked shrimp or prawns.
1 cup peas and carrots, frozen
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 eggs
1 Tbsp sesame oil
4 Tbsp soy sauce

1           Cook rice and allow to cool.

2           Heat sesame oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add onion, garlic, peas, and carrots. Stir                  fry until tender.

3           Crack eggs into pan and scramble, mixing throughout vegetables.

4           Add rice, chicken or shrimp or both, and soy sauce to pan. Stir to combine all ingredients and              remove from heat.

Normandy Pork Casserole

I added some quartered mushrooms and did half for 2 of us - very tasty

50g (2oz) butter

4 pork loins, cubed

8 slices chunky streaky bacon, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

300ml (½pt) dry cider

300ml (½pt) chicken stock

6tbsp half-fat crème fraîche

2tbsp cornflour mixed with 2tbsp water

2tbsp Dijon mustard

2tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped

Optional New potatoes par boiled for 10 mins

Heat the oven to 170 C, 150 C fan, 325 F, gas 3. Heat half the butter in the casserole dish, add half the pork, season and fry until thoroughly browned. Remove the meat from the casserole with a slotted spoon and reserve. Add the rest of the butter to the casserole and fry the rest of the pork until evenly browned.

Dry-fry the bacon until crispy. Remove, set aside, and then fry the onion and celery for a few minutes, to soften slightly.

Combine the pork, bacon, onion and celery in the casserole and potatoes if using. Pour over the cider and chicken stock to cover. Cover the dish and cook in the oven for 1 hour.

Add the crème fraîche, cornflour mix, mustard and tarragon to the casserole. Heat on the hob and stir until the sauce has thickened slightly.

Pear, Almond And Amaretto Tart

From Lorraine Pascale's Cookbook - Made this as a round as didn't have an oblong tray big enough but I did do 1.5 the cake amount as it did not look enough for the size of my dish. After cooking brushed the top with melted apricot jam.

• 375 g pack of ready-rolled dessert pastry or 500 g pack of shortcrust pastry.
• 100 g soft butter.
• 100 g caster sugar.
• 100 g ground almonds.
• 3 tbsp plain flour.
• 1 medium egg.
• 1 tbsp amaretto liqueur.
• 411 g tin of pear halves, or 4 very ripe soft pears.

• Preheat the oven to 180°C / Gas Mark 4.
• Unravel the ready-rolled pastry and use it to line a flan tin. Roll it out a touch more, if necessary, to fit in perfectly. If using a block of pastry, then roll out to just bigger than the tin on a floured surface and use in the same way. Either way, be really careful to not stretch the pastry or pull it, as this will make it shrink in the tin when it cooks.
• Try and get the pastry right into the fluted edges of the tin. You can use a wooden spoon handle dipped in some flour to ease the pastry into the ‘flutes’. Cut off the excess pastry with a sharp knife and then sit the tin on a baking sheet and pop in the fridge to harden up a bit while you prepare the filling.
• Mix the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl either by hand or using a hand-held electric whisk (or in a freestanding electric mixer) until it is really soft and well combined. Then beat in the ground almonds and plain flour. Crack the egg in, add the amaretto liqueur, and then beat it hard so everything is combined. Remove the lined tin from the fridge and add the almond filling, spreading it out evenly so it is nice and smooth on top.
• Drain the tinned pears well in a colander and then on kitchen paper. Or peel, halve and decore the fresh pears, if using.
• Arrange the pear halves, cut side down, in the almond filling. If you lay the tin running from left to right in front of you, then lay a pear half in pointing away from you, then the next one pointing towards you and so on, so they are in an alternating pattern and all fit in perfectly.
• Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes or until the filling is nicely puffed up and golden.