Recipes
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Please, please, please, resist the temptation to buy any sort of instant pancake mixture from the supermarkets for pancake day today. They are a complete waste of time and making proper, fresh mixture is SO EASY!
Eggs, milk, water, plain flour. That is it, ingredients that you probably have at home, to be honest – you dont need to even go out. This recipe makes a huge amount, so you can cut it down if you like.
- In a food processor or large blender, beat 5 or 6 eggs till frothy.
- Add 500 grams of flour and mix well. Add a pinch of salt.
- Add 500 milk gradually while beating till properly mixed in (use a spatula to scrape anything off the side of the blender/processor)
- Add 500 ml cold water and beat until smooth.
- Add a couple of table spoons of sunflower or groundnut oil and beat in.
Okay, ignore the mixture and go and sort out the rest of the evening. You will get better pancakes if the mixture has been allowed to stand for a while – a couple of hours is great, but even 20 minutes is useful.
When you are ready to cook your pancakes, add a couple of table spoons of cold water and give the mix another blast. Cook in a hot, non-stick pan, just wiping the pan with an oily bit of kitchen towel.
Keep making pancakes and serving them fresh to your friends until they start falling over and groaning in agony.
I love my pancakes flambéed with Grand Manier, but stocks of ice cream, maple syrup, lemons, sugar, honey and warm chocolate are also good! Marmalade and Whiskey is another favourite.
Eat well, and enjoy the fact that you have had proper pancakes and not the miserable rubbish you get out of bottles of instant mix!
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Category Bad Stuff, Recipes | Tags: Tags: batter, eggs, flour, homemade, instant mixture, lemon, milk, pancakes, shrove Tuesday, water,
Sunday, December 11th, 2011
Well, the UK, and Scotland in particular, have seen temperatures fall and winds rise this last week; enough so that even I have a touch of sympathy for those who thinks salad should only be eaten when it is 25º or so. So, for those who are feeling chilly, I have put together a very simple, warming soup made from Chicken Stock, veg and laced with good cheddar cheese (so, definitely NOT Cathedral City!) and some chilli powder.
It takes very little time to make and all the ingredients are straight out of your local shop. So, here goes:
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Monday, November 28th, 2011
I have started experimenting for Christmas and have come up with this very quick apple pie laced with orange zest, honey and ginger. It is sweet and refreshing and gently cooked in an almond pastry.
Generally speaking, I am not a great pie maker; especially since it is very definitely on my diet black list! But others in the family love them, so I might as well get them worked out in advance – useful for those who visit the site too! Rather pointless getting a Christmas recipe after the event.
There are no clever twists and turns here, this is very straightforward pie making. However, I do strongly recommend non-stick pans for these sorts of pies – if they leak, they can glue themselves to anything and you will really appreciate the non stick. After all, you don’t want to go all safe on the amount of stuffing. So, on to the recipe… (more…)
Monday, November 14th, 2011
There are some things English which can easily get overlooked because we are often enamoured by the fine produce of our European cousins. One such is ham. I would guess that 90% of the ham sold in this country is a tasteless, textureless waste of our time and money, but picking between the rubbish we also produce some of the finest hams around, and you can even find them in your supermarket if you avoid anything prepackaged.
Like many things we buy, the trick is rather than buy a whole pile of cheap ham for a few pounds, buy less of the really nice stuff for the same price – the smaller quantity will be good for your waistband and the better quality will be good for your soul.
I sometimes look for the end cuts – the bits that are a little bit fattier and often uneven thickness. Perfect for this dish. (more…)
Sunday, November 13th, 2011
Sealed leg of pork waiting to go in the oven
I know I have covered roast pork before, but tonight it turned out particularly nicely, so I thought I would give you the recipe.
I used a fairly cheap cut of pork that you would find in most supermarkets, but if you want to splash out on something exceptional, well, I think you should go for it. I am always amazed at how big the difference between cheap, intensively produced meat, and slow grown, carefully bred and nurtured meat. The biggest difference tends to be in the cooking. For instance, a few years ago I was able to purchase half a lamb with some friends of ours. It was a rare breed animal from an organic farmer who believed quality was the be all and end all of the job.
The lamb had more fat on it that the fast grown ordinary fare but this fat, when the meat was cooked was golden in colour, crisp and gave the meat a delicate, joyous flavour. It was like a completely different product. I was quite happy to eat less (it was expensive) and enjoy the moment rather than buy cheap just so I could have a large plateful.
Anyway, back to the pig and on with the recipe! (more…)
Thursday, October 13th, 2011
This is something that here in the UK we just don’t do. The Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis do it, the Greeks and Turks do it, the Spanish and their Latin American friends do it and even the Swedish do it. But we just don’t. In fact not only don’t we do it, we don’t know anything about it – I have read several articles over the years that think Pita bread is unleavened – which it aint!
A good, leavened flat bread – soft, bouncy, warm and tear-able is a feast not to be missed, and using it as a wrap for cold meats, or for wiping up a chilli is, to say the least, a delight. It is pretty easy too (especially if you have a big mixer – convert here) and does not need an oven. This is my variation and sits somewhere between Mediterranean ideas and a Naan. (more…)
