Pickled Onions

You know Christmas is coming as soon as you do these. In the shops around 20th October as we always did pickling in half-term week:)

3 lb Onions (Topped, tailed & skinned)

2 pints water to 2 tbsp Salt

1.   Leave to soak overnight > 18-24 hours

2.   Rinse and place in sterilised jars with handful of pickling spice and malt vinegar

Cream Scones

Only 3 ingredients and smell good :)

• 1 1/2 cups of self raising flour
• 1/2 cup of thickened cream
• 1/2 cup of lemonade (like Sprite)

1. Preheat oven to 200 °C (400 °F).
2. Place flour in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add cream and lemonade and mix to combine.
4. Turn the mixture out onto a well-floured board and knead with extra flour until smooth (mixture is very sticky initially).
5. Use your hand to flatten the scone dough out to about 2 -3 cm (1 inch) thick and then cut into rounds with floured scone cutter (Makes around 10)
6. Place scones onto a lined baking tray so that they are just touching and then bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Scones are cooked when they are golden brown

Cheats Rum Babas

Based on John Torodes easy rum baba - was very moorish :) I tried to cut down on the sugar in the rum syrup and just used 50g dark brown and some arrowroot to thicken.

For the rum syrup:

·         150 g sugar

·         150 ml dark rum

Chantilly cream:

·         200 ml double cream

·         1 tsp vanilla essence

·         2 tbsp caster sugar

6 PLAIN doughnuts

1. For the rum syrup: Put the sugar and 750ml water in a pan over heat, stirring regularly. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the rum. 

2. For the chantilly cream: In a bowl, mix the cream with the caster sugar and the vanilla. Whisk together until the consistency reaches soft peaks. 

3. For the doughnuts: Drop the doughnuts into the hot syrup and using tongs, turn them so that they absorb the liquid. Place the doughnuts on a plate. Drizzle the rum syrup over the top (you can thicken with arrowroot if preferred) and use two spoons to form the cream into 2-3 dollops to place on top. Decorate with fruit and serve. 

Chicken in Pear Cider

I did this in my slow cooker for 6 hours and added the pear slices cooked in sugar and butter about 1 hour before serving with the cream just poured on top. Quite a different flavour from chicken cooked in apple cider. This amount made plenty for 6.

•          4 chicken breasts cut in pieces
•          2 cups pear cider
•          1 cup chicken stock
•          3 tbsp tomato sauce
•          1 medium leek OR Onion, chopped
•          1-2 pears sliced
•          12 sprays 1cal sunflower oil
•          3 tablespoons light cream
•          ¼ cup flour
•          Tsp marjoram
•          1 bay leaf
•          salt + ground black pepper

1.     Dust the chicken in the flour and marjoram.

2.     Heat the oil in a large skillet and sear the chicken pieces for a few minutes on each side until they are golden brown.

3.     Transfer the chicken to a medium-sized pot then fry the onion or leek and pear slices

4.     Deglaze the skillet with half of the cider (1 cup) and stock. Let it simmer for a minute then add it to the chicken with the rest of the cider, leek, pear, tomato sauce and bay leaf.

5.     Simmer on low heat, half-covered for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

6.     Add the cream. If you want the sauce to be thicker, low-boil until the sauce reduces.

7.     Throw on some chopped parsley or chives.

Easy Eclairs

I fill these with made up thick birds custard and top with glace icing or you can do the traditional cream and chocolate. Recipe says makes 10-12 but I had just 9.

2 oz Butter
1/4 pint water
3 oz Plain Flour
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with non-stick spray or lining it with baking paper.

Boil the water in a small pan  and add the butter and allow to melt. Add all the flour in at once and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pot.

Remove from the heat and place the mixture in the bowl of your mixer. Beat the flour mixture for about 1 minute so that it can cool and then add the eggs one by one, beating in between each addition of eggs.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and pipe 3inch long choux buns on the baking paper.

Bake for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and make a small cut on the side of each choux bun to release the steam. Place back in the oven, with heat now reduced to 160C.

Bake for another 5 minutes or until choux buns have now hardened. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Recipe from http://www.my-easy-cooking.com/

Welsh Cakes

I didn't have a griddle so cooked in a frying pan and a few came out well done :)

110 g butter

• 225 g self raising flour
• 80 g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 80 g sultanas
• caster sugar, for dusting

1. In a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, eggs and sultanas. Mix with your hands until a firm dough forms.
2. Turn out the dough onto a floured board and roll out until 1cm (1/2 in) thick, then cut into rounds using a fluted cutter.
3. To cook, grease a griddle or a cast iron pan with butter and then wipe away with kitchen paper. Cook the Welsh cakes for 2 to 3 minutes until a dark caramel colour forms on the underside, then flip over and cook the same on the other side.
4. Arrange on a serving plate, then dust with caster sugar while still hot. Serve hot or cold.

Wensleydale Stuffed Chicken

I had some Wensleydale Cheese with Apricots to use up so made this and it was very tasty :)
Would not sprinkle crumbled cheese on top again as it went very black

2 Chicken Breast
2 oz Wensleydale Cheese crumbled
Streaky Bacon or Prosicutto

Heat oven to Gas 5 Fan 150
Cut a pocket in the chicken and stuff with the cheese
Wrap chicken with the bacon
Place on baking tray and cook for 40-50 minutes