Sweet & Savoury biscuits

Staying with the theme of using curry spices I made a sweet & smoky savoury biscuit for one of my cookery demonstrations. It was my 4th visit to the Stainton & Streatlam WI and the biscuits were a big hit! I have made a few tweaks to the recipe since then but they still taste very nice!

Makes between 12-15 biscuits depending on cutter size

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup wholemeal flour

3 tbsp butter

1 heaped tbsp icing sugar

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

2 tbsp cumin seeds dry roasted and cooled

pinch of salt

1 tbsp chilli flakes

1/4 cup milk

Method

• Preheat oven to 180*C and line a baking tray with baking parchment
• Mix all the spices (apart from cumin seeds), salt, icing sugar & flours together in a metal bowl.
• Add butter to the flour mix and rub in until it has a breadcrumb like texture. Add cumin seeds at this point. 
• Add a tablespoon of milk and bring the flour together to form a ball. You may need to add more milk but do so a little at a time to make a moist dough.
• Put the dough ball back in the metal bowl, cover and refrigerate for half an hour.
• Roll out (as thin or thick as you prefer) the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into any shape you like.
• Put on a baking tray with two finger space between biscuits and bake for 10 - 15 minutes. Cooking tome depends on the thickness of the biscuits.
• Check after 8 minutes and cook until the biscuits have turned golden brown.
• Cool on a wire rack and serve with a tomato chutney or on its own.

Each bite will give you a sweet, spicy, smoky & tangy flavour to be enjoyed with a nice cup of tea!

Fruits of our labour!

After months of watering, pruning and exposure to bees, we (mainly hubby) have got a few beauties to be proud of!

Tomatoes are thriving and finally getting some heat to start ripening. Peppers are growing and we get to sample some cucumbers tonight. Goes to show how a little TLC (again mainly given by hubby) can reap the benefits and all of this can be achieved at the back of the house either in pots or in the ground.

  

Easy Vegetable & Chicken Curry

Hubby requested a mild but flavoursome curry today and this is what was created - it was a big hit so no doubt I'll be making it a few more times!

Serves 2 very generous portions

Wash & slice one red onion, half each cauliflower & broccoli and 2 carrots.

Heat 1 tsp vegetable oil in a large pan. Add onions and cook until soft and turned dark brown - about 3-4 minutes. Add 1 tbsp garlic & ginger paste, 2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp turmeric and 1/4 tsp chilli powder. Mix well and add a few splashes of water if the mix is getting too dry. Put vegetables in the pan & keep cooking on medium heat for 3-4 minutes until all they are coated with the spice mix.

Add 1 tbsp tomato puree, vegetable stockpot & 1 cup boiling water. Mix well and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes to blend all the flavours. At this point if the mix is getting dry add a little more water but not too much or the curry will be very runny. The curry can now simmer for 20 minutes until all the vegetables are cooked through.

If you want to add meat then do it before putting the curry on simmer. I cut 500g of chicken thighs into bite size portions and added to the vegetable curry. Simmer on low heat with the lid on and check after 20 minutes - ensure meat is cooked and the liquid has become thick.

Serve with a crisp salad and minty yoghurt.
 

Afternoon Tea

I entered a competition at the weekend and got 2nd for flapjack entry and 3rd for a photograph of a swan. The highlight for me was to make a display of afternoon tea for two. I got a bit excited about the whole thing so didn't follow the specs however creating this display was an absolute delight! Anything with (*) indicates home grown either from the garden or our allotment.

Menu

Fruit scones with homemade raspberry* jam

Flapjack bites with white chocolate topping

Chocolate mousse with homemade black currant* coulis

Rose water & pistachio cupcakes

Savoury potato* pasty

Italian herbs* mini quiche

Smoked salmon & cream cheese on rye cracker

Egg & tomato on rye cracker with homemade gooseberry* & apple* relish

Teesdale Mercury Recipes

These are the recipes which appeared in this week's Teesdale Mercury Magazine. I have been contributing recipes to the magazine, which comes out every two months, for the past two or three years. When I get time, I will trawl through some of my archived recipes and pop them up on here as well.
This first one, using the gooseberries grown on our allotment is proving to be popular, so give it a go.

Gooseberry & Date crumble

This year has seen another bumper crop of gooseberries, so I made a crumble using dates to add natural sweetness (a suggestion made by my mom in law). The result was a moreish sweet & sour dessert we enjoyed with ice cream.

Serves 2
Prep & cooking time: 1 ½ hours

Ingredients
2 cups gooseberries topped and tailed
1 cup pitted dates chopped
1 tsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup orange juice

Crumble Mix
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp ground almonds
1 tsp granulated sugar
3 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp granulated sugar to sprinkle on top (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 200*C
Make the crumble mix by rubbing all the dry ingredients into butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Put gooseberries, dates, lemon juice and brown sugar in a medium sized ceramic dish and mix together.
Pour over the orange juice and sprinkle crumble mix on top.
Sprinkle with granulated sugar (optional) for added sweetness – this will give the top a caramelised look.
Bake in oven 30-45 minutes or until crumble topping is cooked and mix bubbling.

Raspberry & Chocolate dessert

Quick and easy desserts are my favourite way to end the day. Raspberries were picked fresh on the day from the allotment. This is definitely a cheat’s way to enjoy a chocolate fix!

Makes 8 cups or one large bowl

Make jelly according to packet instructions.
Put raspberries in individual bowls or one large bowl and pour jelly mix and fill half the cups/bowl
Whisk cream cheese and readymade chocolate sauce until light and creamy. Pour over set jelly.
Finish with a dollop of natural yoghurt and top with more raspberries.
Refrigerate for a couple hours and enjoy with a nice cup of coffee

Pickling made easy!

Raw Pickle

I used baby carrots, radishes & herbs from the garden along with red onion to preserve the sweetness of these mini morsels. They taste divine! You can use any vegetable you want/like as long as they are chopped to bite size chunks as they are pickled raw.

The most stress-free way to make a pickle is to get pickling vinegar. This way there is no need to boil vinegar & sugars together to make a preservative. All I did was ensure the jars were sterilised by washing in hot soapy water and drying in an oven at low heat (100*C). Once slightly cool I put in washed & dried vegetables with herbs (sage, rosemary sprigs & lemon thyme) & peppercorns and then filled to the top with pickling vinegar. They were in the fridge for 3 weeks before I opened them. They will stay in the fridge for at least 6 months if not more unless they get eaten much before that!

Pickled Beetroot

After picking all the beetroot from the allotment (we tried an Italian beetroot, chioegia, along with the traditional one), they were cooked, peeled and chopped into chunks. I then put them in sterilised jars with herbs & spices filling them with pickling vinegar. The result – juicy, sweet & sour tasting beetroot!

Roasted Garlic & Herb potato cake

The first lot of potatoes from our allotment was roasted for Sunday dinner. I turned the left overs into a potato cake to have with a crispy salad. Yummy! This can be made with boiled potatoes as well.

I added roasted onions & garlic along with freshly chopped mixed herbs and lemon juice. Season with salt & pepper & roll the potato mix into a ball. Dip in egg and roll in porridge oats. Spray with oil & bake in oven (200*C) for 20-30 minutes. Eat warm with a nice crispy salad.

Herb & Caramelised onion pancakes

I have a wheelbarrow filled with herbs that are spreading like wildfire. To stop them from going to seed I trim them on a regular basis. I made myself these pancakes as a lighter substitute to bread.

Makes enough for 2 people (approx. 8 pancakes)
Prep & cooking time 30-45 minutes

Make pancake batter by mixing 1 cup of plain flour, 2 eggs and 1 cup milk. Season with salt & pepper and add ½ cup freshly chopped herbs (any combination) and 1 tsp chilli flakes and 2 tablespoon caramelised onions.
Whisk well - it should coat the back of a spoon. If the batter is too thick add a little more milk until you get the right consistency.
It shouldn’t be runny so add a little more flour if too runny.
Heat a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a frying pan and make sure frying pan is coated evenly with oil.
Pour a ladle of batter.
Cook on medium heat for 1 to 1 ½ minutes then flip over to the other side.
Cook for another minute and press gently to check pancake is cooked through.
Put filling of your liking and have with mint yoghurt dip. I had mine with quorn mince and plain yoghurt.

Note: I like to use strong herbs like rosemary, thyme and sage and balance with sweet herbs like parsley & mint. You can use dried herbs however I find fresh ones get the best results!

Sweet treats are made of these.....

I like fruit with dessert and made a deluxe version of eggy bread today. I am also going to try my sister's crumble creations (photos attached) and post the recipes later. For now try out my take on the humble bread dipped in egg!

 

I used 3 eggs whisked along with a splash of milk. Dipped a wholemeal bread slice until it had absorbed the egg mixture and cooked on medium heat in a frying pan with a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Cook on both sides until there's a nice caramelised glaze. Add chocolate buttons and drizzle with a butterscotch sauce. Serve with your favourite fruits and a nice dollop of honey yoghurt.

Crumble mixes don't have to be stodgy! These are made with a mix of porridge oats, almonds and coconut butter. One is a raspberry & mango crumble and the other is peach with a toasty crumble.