Tomato & Manchego Tapas Tart

Posted on April 3, 2012 by

Please send me on holiday to Barcelona, if only to escape London for a glass of carver and a few plates of tapas in the Spanish sun shine! do follow the link to easyjet Barcelona holidays

http://holidays.easyjet.com/spain/barcelona/barcelona-inner-city-breaks.htm

So in vain of re-creating the flavour of Barcelona’s bustling tapas bars I put together a classic tomato tart for lunch, roasting your tomatoes really intensifies their flavour and locks in the sweetness, even people who aren’t fans of tomato seem to like them roasted, they are a versatile ingredient and well worth a try.

8 ripe tomatoes
Fresh or dried thyme leaves
Good Spanish Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 block of ready made puff pastry
Flour for dusting
1 egg beaten
2tbsp tapenade
100g  Manchego or goats cheese
Hand full of basil leaves

Preheat the oven to gas 2 150c
Cut the tomatoes into 1/2cm slices and place on a greased baking tray sprinkle with salt and pepper the thyme leaves and drizzle with a little more olive oil roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
……………………………….
8 ripe tomatoes
Fresh or dried thyme leaves
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Turn the oven up to gas 7, 220c
Lightly flour your surface and roll out the puff pastry to around 2cm thick. Place on a baking tray and lightly score 2cm border into the pastry, prick the inside of the base all over with a fork to prevent from rising. Brush with the beaten egg and bake in the oven for 12 minuets.
……………………………….
1 block of ready made puff pastry
Flour for dusting
Beaten egg

Remove the pastry from the oven, with a fork press the pastry inside the border down to make level; spoon over the tapenade, carefully layer with the roasted tomatoes lightly cover with foil and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
……………………………….
2tbsp tapenade
Roasted tomatoes

Remove from the oven, leave to cool slightly before crumbling over the cheese and topping with freshly torn basil leaves.
……………………………….
100g Manchego cheese
 Hand full of basil leaves


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Chocolate Guinness Cake

Posted on March 15, 2011 by

Everyone likes to celebrate St Patrick’s day any excuse for a pint of Guinness mid week, this is a very grown up chocolate cake, moist and rich, what could be better than a cake dressed as the iconic pint a  perfect accompaniment glass of Guinness or cup of coffee.

When made the mixture is very liquid not the consistency of normal cake batter, don’t panic it results in a most fudge cake, lining the tin is essential and for best results leave to cool completely in the tin before turning out.

FOR THE CAKE

250ml Guinness
250g unsalted butter
75g cocoa
400g caster sugar
150ml pot sour cream or cream fresh
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2 1/2teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

FOR THE TOPPING:
150g cream cheese
100g softened butter
250g icing sugar
splash of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C, butter and line a 23cm springform tin.

In a pan over a low heat warm the Guinness, cut the butter into cubes and add to the warmed Guinness, stir to melt, add the coco and sugar, mix well and leave to cool a little.

Add the baking soda to 50g of the soured cream and set aside for 10 minuets.

Beet the eggs into the remaining soured cream along with the vanilla extract. Whisk and add to the Guinness mixture and stir well to combine.

Sift in the flour and add the bicarbonate mix and mix well with an electric whisk until smooth.

Pour the cake bater into the prepared tin cook for 50 minuets.

For the frosting
Beat the butter until pail and fluffy add the cream cheese and vanilla, mix again sift in the icing sugar stir to combine then beet with an electric whisk until thick and creamy.

Using a pallet knife smooth the frosting over the cooled cake to mirror a creamy Gunniess top.

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Blueberry Bundt Cake

Posted on February 21, 2011 by

This recipe is from Bill Granger’s Feed Me Now it’s become my favorite cake the soured cream gives a really moist, dense texture. I have adapted this recipe to various flavors over time, chocolate and morello cherry, lemon and poppy seed, it always turns out perfectly. The recipe is for a 20cm square cake tin I like use a bundt tin it yields a lot of servings this way and cuts into the perfect size slice.

Blueberry tea cake
210ml soured cream
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
180g butter at room temperature
330g caster sugar
1ts vanilla extract
3 eggs beaten
375g plain flour
250g blueberry’s

Cream cheese frosting
200g cream cheese
100g butter at room temperature
1tsp vanilla extract
250g icing sugar sifted

I used a 27cm bundt tin, you can also use a 23x23cm square tin

Pre heat the oven to 180c/ Gas 4 grease and flour your tin.

Mix the soured cream with the bicarbonate of soda set aide

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy, mix in the vanilla, slowly add the beaten eggs and mix to combine then add in the soured cream mixture and mix again until smooth.

In a separate bowl toss the blueberry’s in a little of the flour, sift the rest of the flour and baking powder into cake mixture, fold to combine carefully fold through the blueberry’s.

Spoon the mixture in the prepared tin, bake for 40-45 minutes test with a skewer to see if the cake is done.

When cooked leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, beat the butter cream cheese and vanilla together until light and fluffy, mix in the icing sugar until smooth.

Spoon the frosting over the cooled cake to serve.

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♥ Valentines breakfast… HOT Cakes ♥

Posted on February 10, 2011 by

Valentines hot cakes ….. a perfect start to a romantic day,  light and fluffy and great for special breakfast. I serve with shocking pink home made raspberry curd.

HOT cakes…

50g caster sugar
120g plain flour
140ml milk
1tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3 large eggs

Measure out the milk in to a jug. Separate your eggs adding the yolks to the milk, and the whites to a large bowl. Using an electric whisk beat the eggs until they form stiff peaks adding the sugar as you go.

Lightly beat the eggs and milk,  sift in the flour and baking powder and mix to form a smooth batter.

Add the batter to the egg whites and carefully fold together using a figure of eight motion.

Lightly grease a good non stick pan, warm over a medium-low heat. Take one tea spoon of the pancake mixture and drop into the pan in a tear drop shape repeat with a second spoon full to form a hart shape. Cook until small bubbles begin to appear in the mixture (about 2 minuets) flip the pancake using a spatula and brown on the other side.

Serve warm with a dollop of raspberry curd.

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Raspberry Curd

Posted on February 10, 2011 by

Raspberry Curd

175g raspberries
100g butter
200g granulated sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
150ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Puree the raspberries in a food processor then set aside.

Place the butter, sugar, lemon zest and juice in a heat prof bowl over a pan of simmering water,  stirring until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth; this will take about 5 minutes. Allow the mixture cool a little.

Put a sieve over the butter and sugar mixture, and push the raspberry puree through into the bowl use the back of a ladle to help. Discard the raspberry pips and do the same with the beaten eggs, stir well. Put the bowl again over the pan of simmering water and stir over a gentle heat for about 15 minutes or until the curd reaches the consistency of lightly whipped cream. The mixture will thicken as it cools.

Spoon the curd into two warm, sterilised, Jars I have used 3x 200g  kilner jars.

To sterilise jars, wash in hot, soapy water, rinse, then dry in a low oven; alternatively, put through a dishwasher cycle, leave to dry completely.

Seal the jars, when the curd is cold refrigerate for up to four weeks. Serve the curd with freshly baked scones or hot crumpets.

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Valentine Cake Pop’s

Posted on February 3, 2011 by

The ginger cake pop’s I made at Christmas were really popular, so I have adapted the recipe for Valentines day. I ordered Wilton’s red candy melts with the intention of making red heart shaped pops, I melted the candy melts down but found the consistency to thick to cover the cake, adding liquid curdles the candy melts as they are oil based so as suggested I added a little oil to thin down, this just resulted in giving a horrible greasy taste to the chocolate coating. I ended up discarding the candy melts and going with 70% dark chocolate which worked perfectly. So Valentines cake pop’s turned out to be sweet hearts of chocolate fudge cake, coated in dark chocolate, a lovely home made gift for your Valentine.

I found getting the chocolate smooth on the Cake Pop’s, and to stop it dripping the difficult bit, if you want a quick fix leave out this step, instead put the pop’s on sticks and just dip the cake hearts in the melted chocolate, and leave to dry on grease proof paper, to make as truffles instead

Sweet heart Cake pop’s

1 Pack of Betty Crocker Fudge cake
150g dark chocolate
2x tbsp cream cheese frosting (see below)

Cream cheese frosting
50g softened butter
100g cream cheese (at room temperature)
250g icing sugar
1ts vanilla essence

First make the cream cheese frosting, whisk the softened butter until pale and smooth then add the dried and chopped ginger along with the syrup, whisk again briefly to combine. Sift in the icing sugar and mix to combine in to a smooth thick frosting, cover and leave to chill in the fridge. The frosting will keep well in the fridge in an air tight container.


For the Cake Hearts

Make up the fudge cake as per the packets instructions, bake and leave to cool.

Break up the cake in to pieces,  add to a food processor blitz until the cake forms a crumb consistency,  add  2tbsp of  frosting and mix with a spatula, the mixture should be thick like marzipan.

Line a large baking tray with grease proof paper, pat out the cake mix and cover with cling film, roll the mixture out on the sheet to 2cm in thickens.

Chill the mixture in the fridge for 20 minuets.

Using a heart shaped cutter stamp out the cake heart’s.

You will need  something ready to rest the cake pops in while the chocolate sets I used tumblers stuffed with some kitchen paper, if you have one a polystyrene block works really well as well.

Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over simmering water dip the tip of a lolly stick into the chocolate and secure into a cake heart pushing in about half way then place them back onto the baking tray and allow the chocolate to set.

Once the sticks are secure take a cake pop and dip into the melted chocolate making sure you cover the whole surface, lightly tap on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate, be patient and allow the chocolate to drip off and keep turning the pop around to keep the surface smooth. Carefully secure in the prepared tumblers and top with sprinkles. Leave to dry.

Wrap in cellophane and tie with ribbon.

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Prawn Laksa

Posted on February 1, 2011 by

laksa is a dish I get cravings for with all it’s fresh and spicy flavor and verity of textures a big bow of hot laksa goes on forever. It’s really worth making your own paste for all the fragrance and spice you get out of the ingredients, instead of prawns you can use chicken or tofu.

Serves 2
For the laksa paste
2 red chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2.5 cm piece of root ginger, roughly chopped
1 sticks lemongrass, outer leaves removed, roughly chopped
a hand full of coriander, leaves and stalks torn
juice of 1 lime
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 pack of glass noodles
10 Raw king prawns
1 tin of coconut milk
200ml chicken stock
1tsp sugar
1 lime leaf or the zest of one lime
150g bean sprouts
1 carrot cut into match sticks
8 spring onions sliced
1tsp fish sauce

fried onions and coriander to garnish

Add all the ingredients for the laksa paste to a mini blender and blitz to a rough paste add a splash of water if the ingredients won’t blend.

Cover the noodles with boiled water and leave to soak for 4 minuets,when tender drain and divide into 4 deep serving bowls.

Heat a wok over a medium flame, with 1 tsp of ground nut oil, add the laksa paste and fry until fragrant add the chicken stock coconut milk and lime leaf, simmer for 10 minuets add the carrots white’s of the spring onions and prawns cook for a further 5 minuets.

ladle the laksa over the rice noodles you prepared earlier, top with a hand full of bean sprouts and the remaining spring onion, garnish with fried onions and coriander.

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