harbour view kitchen.......

Frangipane topped mince pies

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:21:14 +0000

I’ve finally got round to some Christmas baking after a manic few weeks of work. I made these last year and they were lovely. A nice change from the usual mince pie.

Makes at least 24 large mince pies.

Here’s the recipe:

Pastry:

125g caster sugar

125g cold butter

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk

zest of an orange

350g plain flour

In a food processor mix the butter, sugar, zest and salt together until combined. Add the eggs and blitz till it comes together. Place in clingfilm and chill for an hour.

Pre-heat oven to 180 deg.

Frangipane:

100g caster sugar

100g butter

100g ground almonds

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

Additional ingredients:

1 jar of mincemeat - 450g

flaked almonds

Cream the butter and sugar together and then add the egg and vanilla and mix. Finally add the ground almonds and mix again.

Roll out your pastry to about 5mm thick and cut into rounds to fit your baking tray. Line your tray with the rounds and then add teaspoons of mincemeat until full. Add dollops of the frangipane mixture to the top and spread over the edges of the pastry. Add some flaked almonds on top and the bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Delicious warm or cold.

Posh fish fingers & chips

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:00:56 +0000

This was last nights treat. Dover sole filleted and cut into strips. Then dipped in a light beer batter with whisked egg white to make it extra light and fluff, then fried in hot oil till crispy. Chips were oven roasted. The peas were cooked in a pan with some butter until soft and then mashed.

Served with tartare sauce and ketchup, yum!

Spicy apple cake

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 20:01:06 +0000

After helping our neighbours to move their giant pumpkin, they kindly gave us a bag of apples as a thank you. This prompted me to make the yearly spiced apple cake. A dense moist spiced cake full of apples. Delish! Keeps for ages too.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9925/squidgy-spiced-apple-cake

Chocolate gingerbread

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:00:59 +0000

Thanks to Nigella’s Feast for this one. I’d been meaning to make this for a while and decided over the Bonfire night weekend to give it a go. A very light sponge, rich in spices and flavour, perfect for the cold autumn nights.

This makes loads!

You can find the recipe here online:

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/recipe.html?dishid=8142

Pumpkin Ravioli

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 20:01:27 +0000

After our trip to Italy I was keen to make some pasta again and in particular pumpkin ravioli. We have been growing pumpkins in the garden and I thought I would give this dish a go in the run up to Halloween, Tortelli di Zucca. In northern Italy this is a popular dish during the winter and is often made with crushed amaretti biscuits in. I left these out and I think it is sweet enough without, but am keen to try them at some point.

My recipe is from Antonio Carluccio’s website:

http://www.antonio-carluccio.com/Tortelli_di_Zucca

I also served mine with a sage infused brown butter as well as the parmesan.

Pigeon Pie

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:01:06 +0000

After a trip to the local Wednesday farmers market in town I came across a bag of 10 pigeon breasts for £7. I decided Saturday night was pigeon pie night. After reading through I few recipes I decided to comebine a couple to get the pie I wanted. We also had unexpected guests invite themselves round for dinner and luckily we had more than enough to go round once I raided our supply of home grown potatoes in the garage!

Heres the recipe I came up with (adapated from Hugh F-W’s recipe for Game pie):

Pigeon Pie - serves 6 with lots of veg!

100g of streaky bacon cut into strips

10 pigeon breasts cut into bite sized pieces

1 onion diced

2 carrots diced

Glass of red wine

2 tbsp of plain flour

125g of chesnut mushrooms, quartered

400ml chicken stock or game stock if you have any

1 tbsp tomato puree

sprigs of thyme

1 egg beaten

Rough crust pastry

500g plain flour

pinch of salt

250g cold butter cubed

Ice cold water

To make pastry combine flour and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Add the butter and mix again and then add the cold water to bring together to form a dough.

On a well-floured surface, shape the dough into a fat rectangle and roll it out with a well-floured rolling pin, rolling away from you in one direction so that you have a long thin rectangle. When the dough is around 2cm thick, fold the far third towards you and fold the near third back over that. Turn the pastry a quarter turn (90º) to the right and roll it out again, away from you, into another long rectangle. Repeat this procedure, 6 times. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour before using in recipe.

To make the filling:

Heat some oil in a pan and add the streaky bacon and onion and carrot and cook until the bacon is brown. Remove from pan and add more oil if required. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 mins and then remove. Coat the pigeon pieces in the flour and brown the meat in the pan Season with salt whilst browning. Then add back the vegetables and bacon followed by the wine and then the stock and tomato puree. Add in the sprigs of thyme or just the leaves if you can be bothered to pick them off. Stir and bring to the boil, making sure the liquid is thick.

Meanwhile roll out your pastry larger then the size of the dish you are using, to 2cm thick. I used a 20cm diameter dish. Ensure you have enough to cut a lid for the top. Then line the pie dish. You should have plenty left over. I used this for quiche or you could freeze it.

Fill your pastry with the pie filling from the pan. brush the edges with the beaten egg and crimp the pastry top to the sides of the pastry lining. Brush the top with the egg and decorate how you see fit. Cut a small vent in the top for steam to escape. Bake in the oven at 180 to 190C for 40 to 50 minutes until the pastry is golden.

You may need gravy with this depending on if your guests like extra sauce. I made some just in case!

Lemon & poppy seed cupcakes

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 11:42:08 +0000

I’ve been away and neglected my blog for a while so a few posts to catch up! We have been on a long awaited trip to Italy eating and drinking our way from Venice through Florence and down to the Amalfi coast. The Amalfi coast is famous for its lemons amongst oither things. They are everywhere you go by the side of the road, huge things. I really wanted to bring some back but had no room in the case. On returning to a cold and wet UK I decided to bake these to cheer us up.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/470636/lemon-and-poppyseed-cupcakes

Herby fishcakes with cucumber salad

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:46:34 +0100

Another recipe from Ottolenghi. Haddock with dill, basil & coriander fresh herbs and thai flavourings. I served this with a thai style cucumber, shallot & chilli salad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/24/herb-fish-cakes-recipe-ottolenghi

Blueberry & lemon muffins

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:40:00 +0100

These were made using our homegrown blueberries. An amazing little plant with so many berries on. Only 8g of sugar per cupcake so you can have two!

Tomato & brie mini tart

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:37:56 +0100

This is a quick and simple lunch using leftover pastry. I formed the pastry into mini tart cases using some stainless steel rings. Once cooked I filled the cases with slices of brie and tomatoes that had been roasted with garlic. Popped back into the oven for 5 minutes and topped with chopped basil leaves. A great way to use up tomatoes from the garden. I served this with a homegrown spinach salad with pine nuts and parmesan.

Middle Eastern Meatballs

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:47:37 +0100

After reading some Ottolenghi’s recipes lately I decided to give this one a go.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/31/yotam-ottolenghi-jerusalem-recipes-meat?newsfeed=true

Instead of using a mixture of lamb I just used beef. The result was full of flavour, spicey and full of fresh herbs. I was too lazy to shell all the broad beans but it is worth doing for the vibrant green colour and they can be tough at this time of year.

Sourdough

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:41:00 +0100

I had previously attempted to make my own sourdough starter ( a natural yeast starter made of flour and water ) without much success. I recently met a chef who was very kind enough to give me some of her 3 year old rye starter. I had one attempt at making a wholemeal sourdough last week but failed miserably. I discovered afterwards that I had fiddled with the dough too much. So this week I attempted another one this time with white flour and by mixing it in my Kitchen Aid. This took less time and was less messy as the dough made is very wet. The dough was then poured into a bread tin and allowed to prove until the it reached the top of the tin. In the weather we have been having recently this took about 7 hours. The result is above and very delicious it is too.

Simple pasta sauce

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:40:17 +0100

Take some large ripe tomatoes, these are from my garden. Core them and skin them after plunging them in hot water. Chop into quarters and remove seeds into a separate bowl. Put a large pan on the hob and add a splash of olive oil, some finely chopped garlic and chopped rosemary and cook for a few minutes before adding the tomatoes. Then push the seeds and juices through sieve over the large pan to add as much extra juice as possible. Put a lid on and turn the heat down and cook until reduced and thick. Yum!

Peanut butter & white chocolate cookies

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:26:02 +0100

The first thing to christen the Kitchen Aid were these delicious beauties! I’ve been meaning to make these for a while and having the Kitchen Aid made it all the more easier and less mess! Recipe here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1974664/white-chocolate-and-peanut-butter-cookies

My new toy!

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 16:32:00 +0100

I’m so excited this arrived today, now just to decide what to make first with it! Hmmmm…….

Piccalilli

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 22:12:00 +0100

Its that time of year when the garden is full of delicious produce, well it is if the sun had been out at all! Anyway we did have some success this year and we do love piccalilli, great with a pork pie. So I gathered up what we did have a combination of carrots, green beans, green & yellow tomatoes, small onions, green peppers along with some bought cauliflower and chopped it all up. Salted it over night to reduce the water content. Added cider vinegar, honey and sugar to pan, bring to boil. Then add tumeric, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and cornflour, boil for a few minutes and then turn off the heat and mix in the veg. Bottle straight away. Keep for 4-6 weeks and then crack open to enjoy with a tasty pork pie.

Cinnamon rolls

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 22:00:55 +0100

Cinnamon rolls are one of my favourite pastries to eat. I thought it was about time I learnt how to make them. I found a recipe that uses a quicker way to make the dough for the rolls, a type of crossiant dough with, lots of butter. You just need to allow the dough to rest overnight before hand. Easy to make and delicious to eat. Our friends who were visiting for the weekend both left with one for work on Monday after eating them for breakfast and lunch the previous day!

Artichokes alla romana & red pepper with potatoes & saucisson

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:00:00 +0100

Artichokes are tricky buggers to deal with, well I think so. Determined to try again after a pretty disasterous ordeal last time, I found this recipe for artichokes alla romana on BBC food: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/artichokesallaromana_91747

The flavours worked really well with the artichoke and it can be eaten warm or cold. I still think they are difficult to prep though, took me ages. Sharp knifes help! They were worth it though.

To go with the artichokes I boiled up some home grown spuds mixed with sauted red pepper and garlic along with some french saucisson. Drizzled with some olive oil, red wine vinegar and fresh basil and parsley.

Greengage frangipan tart

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:56:19 +0100

I got given a bag of greengages. I’ve never eaten greengage before so bit of internet research and I found this lovely recipe from Nigel Slater. The ones I got given were deliciously sweet and perfect in this frangipan tart.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/sep/18/nigel-slater-autumn-recipes

Tomato & feta keftedes

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:49:22 +0100

Someone I know recently made these and they looked amazing, so I had to give it go. Using our homegrown tomatoes mixed with feta, red onion, mint and coriander and then mixed in a flour batter. Tablespoons of the mixture were then deep fried in some oil. Served with homemade tzatziki. Delicious hot or cold.