Chef Extraordinaire !

Today is a day of trials for new recipe’s.
Firstly Orange and Walnut Flapjack, courtesy of a chap that Paul works with, and the other Quesadilla's, inspired by Thomasina Miers new TV show, Mexican Meals Made Simple.
I started with the flapjacks.  I used to make flapjack on a regular basis many many years ago, but never flavoured ones, so this is a new experience for me.

Using the hand written notes that Paul had been given by his mate, I measured everything out, and followed the instructions. (If you click on the image above, you should be able to read the recipe quite easily, if you wish to reproduce it yourself)

It was all quite straightforward, and only took about 10 minutes before it was all in the oven.
About 10 minutes later (ours is a fan assisted oven) and the flapjack were golden and brown and making the whole house smell of oranges and walnuts – lovely!
Meanwhile, Paul was making use of his best talent….. cleaning the spatula!

Let us just say that these did not have a chance to get cold…. we ate the lot in one sitting! Terrible I know, but very lovely!
Next came the Quesadilla's.  When I watched these being made, not only was I pleased at how quick and easy they were to do, I was also pleased that there was only one ingredient that we don’t have in our store cupboard on a weekly basis! Bonus!

• Too make them you need:
• Some boiled potatoes left over from the previous meal (or boil one up and cube it) (cost  pennies)
• Chorizo Sausage x 2 (£3 for 4 from Tesco)
• diced onion x1 (about 15p)
• garlic (I used about a teaspoon of squirty stuff) (£1 Tesco)
• Fresh thyme small handful from our kitchen window sill!)
• Tortilla Wraps x 2 (£1.19 for 8)
• Tesco Value Mozzarella cheese (about 35p!!!)
• Some grated Cheddar

OK, so this isn’t actually how Thomasina said to do it, but it’s the easiest way I translated it it my head!
I diced up an onion and put it in the frying pan with a squirt of garlic paste (you gotta cheat with garlic in my book!)
When it starts to soften and brown, add the potato cubes and warm it all through.
Meanwhile dice up two chorizo sausage (I bought a pack of Tesco’ s own which come as a four pack, and froze the spare two for next time)

Add the sausage to the pan, and allow the oils to be taken on by the potato and onion, making everything a lovely deep orange/red colour.
Then place a second frying pan on a second ring and put the heat up high on it.
Place a tortilla wrap along the bottom of the pan and break about a quarter of the mozzarella over the bottom of it and sprinkle some cheddar over it.
Add the chopped thyme over the potato concoction, stir it on and place half onto the wrap in the other pan.
Fold the wrap in half.  It should be crisping up by now. Flip it over to ensure both sides are crisp and place it onto a plate for the first victim….. repeat the process with the second wrap, cheeses and mix for yourself.

We have never eaten anything with chorizo before, and have to say, we really enjoyed it.

Happily there is half of the mozzarella left, and along with the two spare sausage in the freezer, we have enough to be able to repeat the meal again next week.
All in all a totally successful day of cooking unknown recipe’s, and certainly will be repeated again!

Jo Anne

An Attempt at Jamies 30 Minute Chicken Pie

I don't know about the rest of you, but Jamie Oliver's latest 30 Minute Meal programme has actually inspired me to have a go! Everything looks so tasty, and easy to make!

Unfortunately, I didn't keep the series linked episode this little pie was on, and had to do the pie filling from memory. Thankfully, there was not a large amount of ingredients to remember.

The pie turned out really great, and I know this because Paul actually said "well have that again!" High praise indeed. Normally I have to beg him for an opinion of the meal I have made.

The downside? The kitchen was a disaster zone once it was done, and the gas hob was covered in spatter from the frying off and cooking in the pan pre pastry top.

Only the greatest cooks create a mess, that's what I say!

Thanks Jamie Oliver - You Rock!

An Ode For Miss Frugal

This one is totally for my new bloggy friend Miss Frugal.

I discovered her blog only yesterday, after following one of the links from another lady I follow regularly. The post I saw was for a lovely recipe for Chocolate Cinnamon Cake, and I just had to have a go at making it.

If you click on Miss Frugals name above you can go directly to her post for the recipe, and a look around her lovely blog, but if you want to get right down to the chocolate cake experience here is the recipe again for you

Chocolate Cinnamon Cake

175g butter
175g brown sugar
200g self raising flour
3 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
60ml milk
Chocolate spread

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 c.
• Grease and line a 8 inch round cake tin.
• Put the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, cinnamon, baking powder and milk into mixing bowl and mix until smooth and creamy.
• Tip about half of the mixture into your baking tin and then spoon four or five blobs of chocolate spread on top of it.
• Put the rest of your mix into the baking tray and smooth it out.
• Use the skinny end of your spoon and swirl the mixture around a bit.
• Smooth it out again.
• Put the cake in the oven for about an hour or until the cake is springy to the touch

As you can see from the pictures, it was really really easy to make. I would say a total of about 7-10 minutes prep/mix time and then up to an hour in the oven depending on it's fierceness.

(Yes that is my laptop you can see - I needed to follow the recipe from Miss Frugal Blog!)

The best and I suppose only good bit of not having any children is that I get to lick the spoons - YUM!
and this is how my cake came out of the oven 40 minutes later...
it had risen beautifully and got a lovely deep brown colour to it.

When it had finally cooled enough to eat it, we cut a slice each and squirted some cream next to it and got stuck in. By droppping dollops of choccy spread into the mix pre cooking, you have a lotto as to whether you get a gorgeous mouthful of squidgy lovliness in your slice.... mmmm

We have to say that we decided it was far nicer without the cream, and I even think that a thin layer of the left over chocolate spread over the top as an icing may be a good idea, but it was so light and delicious that it will certainly be on my cooking agenda again.

Thank you Miss Frugal x

Scones During a Blizzard

Whilst the snow came down outside, I was getting all domesticated inside. I'd decided to make some scones.

I've no pastry cutters and no baking tray so I had to modify what I had got to help - a pizza tray and some tin foil would do to bake them on and I'd have to use my hands to make balls of dough and squish them to shape. It appeared to work quite well, as they lasted all of 30 minutes! So much for taking some into work...

How to make my scones - and I've used this recipe since I was 14 - that's how easy it is:

8oz Self Raising Flour

Half a teaspoon of salt

1oz Sugar

2oz Margarine

1 Egg

Milk

Mix the flour and salt in a basin.

Melt the margarine in a jug (20 seconds in the microwave)

Stir into the flour, adding the sugar.

Beat the egg in the same jug the margarine was in (this saves on washing up), and add it to the mixture.

Using a fork bring all of the ingredients together, adding a little milk as required to get a doughy mixture.

(The gin and wine in the picture is not always a requirement of making the scones - LOL)

Bring the final mixture together with your hands.

Roll out on a floured surface to about 1 inch thick.

Using a pastry cutter, cut into rounds (or if you don't have a cutter make small balls of dough and flatten slightly with your hands)

Place each scone onto your baking tray

Brush with a little milk and sprinkle with a small amount of sugar.

Place in a pre-heated oven on 220 degrees for a fan assisted oven or gas mark 7-8.

Cook for 7-9 minutes, or until golden brown.

Then - hope you get a look in before the hungry hoards do.....