Are You Dreaming Of A White Christmas?

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...#Home

Advent calendars at the ready?25 days to go...it's official the countdown for Christmas is in full swing!

How prepared are you? Are you an early bird like me and have already finished your gift shopping? Or, will you leave it till the last minute? Most people will do the latter, joining in with the hectic hustle & bustle that is created around this festive season.

However, for me, I prefer the preparation that leads up to creating a "perfect" Christmas spread. As my favourite part of Christmas day is sitting around the table sharing a meal with the ones I love.

What is your favourite part to the Christmas holiday?

More to come...The Cookman's Festive Menu

Baking Is Good For The Soul

Having some spare time on my hands and wanting to enjoy myself before Uni starts back up on Monday I thought to myself "Have a baking day".

So on goes the oven at 160 degrees Celsius and turn up some cheerful Christmas music. Yes, I know you might be thinking it is too early for Christmas music but I couldn't resist when baking Chocolate & Orange Biscuits. The scent of orange being grated reminds me of this magical time of year.

Basic ingredients (makes one log-20 biscuits): 100g soft unsalted butter, 50g caster sugar & 175g plain flour
~ Combine all ingredients till it forms a soft dough (may seem very dry/crumbly but it's meant to be). ~ Form the dough into a log shape- approx. 18cm, wrap in cling film and place in fridge till firm- around 2hours.
~Once firm slice into 5mm discs (you should get 20biscuits or so), place on a baking tray and bake at 160 Celsius for 15minutes.
 ~Remove from oven, cool completely before decorating!

Extra ingredients you could use to flavour the biscuits with: Orange zest, vanilla or almond essence, cocoa powder, lemon zest, fresh lavender or whatever takes your fancy.

Note: For making the chocolate biscuit you replace 10% of the flour with cocoa powder. In this case it would be 157.5g of flour & 17.5g of cocoa powder.

To decorate the orange flavoured biscuits: Melted dark chocolate to dip biscuits in & finish with candied orange peel.
To decorate the chocolate flavoured biscuits: Orange icing~ mix together 125g icing sugar and 3tbsp of orange juice till the mixture is smooth, place in a piping & decorate as you wish. To finish, sprinkle on chopped candied orange peel.

Note: Combine any flavours and edible decorations as you wish just make sure you use the exact basic ingredients/method. Have fun with it! ~Enjoy :)

Feel free to send feedback or any biscuit recipes with me...

Fish For Thought

It may sound rather weird but I've had fish on my mind for the past week or so. Maybe it’s because I've eaten it more than normal and it is said to be food for the brain…

During my childhood years my consumption of fish was low to none at all. I’d say the most fish I consumed would have been in fish-cakes (mainly consisting of potato), maybe the odd piece of battered fish from the chippy (normally went for a sausage instead) or the odd tuna sarnie. We weren't a fishy family and I think that was due to my Mum not being keen on fish or preparing it.
However, in the last 4 years I would say my fish & shellfish intake has risen. This is related to the skills I've acquired through catering college. Learning about the varieties of fish and the ways to prepare/serve them.  Now I truly appreciate these delicate creatures of the sea. Unfortunately my stomach doesn't see enough of them. Mainly because I'm a student and can’t afford it. But I’ll definitely eat any coming my way when I can!

Why should we eat fish?

1.       Full of omega 3

2.       Great source of vitamin D

3.       High in protein

4.       Low in fat

5.       Fish oil is good for the heart & blood vessels

How should we get our dose of fish?

It’s recommended to intake fish once or twice a week.

Lunch ideas:  The classic tuna sandwich- add some sweet corn for the sweetness and crunch or the up and coming cream cheese and salmon bagel. Easy, yummy & healthy :)

Dinner ideas: There are a lot of easy fish options that have been created for us such as;

• Breaded or battered fish- can be found in the frozen or chilled section of supermarkets
•  Fishcakes- try and go for the ones in the chilled section that contain a higher quantity of fish
• Fish ready meals, watch out for the added salts & sugars
• OR treat yourself, buy some fresh or frozen fish and have a go at cooking it! It’s not as daunting as you may think.

Here’s a handy website that I use A LOT for easy recipes:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/fish

Alternatively try out my recipe for fish goujons, easy & fun to make

Lemony plaice goujons with a crunch-Serves 2

Ingredients

      4 fileted, skinned & deboned flat white fish fillets (ask your fishmonger if you’re unsure)

Juice of half a lemon

1 egg, whisked and seasoned

50g Seasoned flour

Mixture of 60g breadcrumbs & 40g sesame seeds (you could use any other seeds or crushed nuts)

Also, you can add different herbs (dried are best) or spices to your taste.

Method:

1.       Cut your fish fillets into strips, place in a bowl with the juice from of half a lemon. Let stand covered in the fridge till required.

2.       Set up an assembly line. Plate with the flour on, bowl with the egg in and a plate with the breadcrumb mixture.

3.       Get your fish strips out and do as follows:

4.       Coat in flour, tap off any excess. Dip in the egg. And roll in the breadcrumb mix. Repeat.

5.       Heat your deep fat fryer to 180 degrees Celsius or heat oil in a deep pan (be careful!)

6.       Deep fry your goujons for approx. 3minuts until golden brown.

7.       Remove from oil and place on absorbent paper to soak up excess fat.

8.       Serve with your favourite dipping sauce. I made a Marie Rose sauce which is equal amounts of mayonnaise and tomato ketchup mixed together.

This is a great way to get children started on fish. They could also help with the coating process as its fun getting your hands stuck in!

Here’s an interesting guide to sustainable fish, start thinking about fish from a new perspective: http://www.goodfishguide.co.uk/ 

How often do you eat fish? What kind of fish do you eat? And how do you prepare it?

Once On The Lips Forever On The Hips

FUDGE IT!Quite literally

A Saturday night in calls for pure and utter indulgence...

Roly's Fudge...it's crumbly!

"Creamy, crumbly textured fudge, made using only natural ingredients. A fantastic feast for fudge fanatics"

https://rolysfudge.co.uk/

A cold Autumn night in can't happen without a hot chocolate with Baileys...

Made by my awesome house mate Matt :)

http://www.baileys.com/Gateway/

Go on and treat yourself...

Beef Stroganoff Remade

Serves 2

#Stroganoff

Ingredients

350g rump steak, trimmed and cut into strips

25g unsalted butter & a dash of olive (prevents the butter from burning)

2 garlic cloves, peeled & crushed

Half an onion, peeled and thinly sliced

Half a red & half a yellow pepper, sliced into strips

120g assorted mushrooms (Chestnut, button, chanterelles or your favourite type)

25ml white wine

2tbsp of wholegrain mustard

100ml creme fraiche

50ml double cream

Chopped parsley to garnish

Salt & pepper- to taste

Note: tbsp= table spoon

Method

1. Trim and cut your rump steak into strips. Place the meat in a bowl and mix/rub in a tbsp of wholegrain mustard, a clove of crushed garlic & seasoning. Place in the fridge whilst you prepare the remaining ingredients.
2. Prepare/slice up your onion, peppers and mushrooms. (On a medium flame/heat)
3. Heat half the butter and oil in a frying pan, gently fry your mushrooms & the remaining garlic 'till they have a little colour on them. Set aside once cooked.
4. Using the same frying pan add the rest of the butter & oil, fry the onion and peppers 'till glossy.
5. Turn up the heat. Add the beef and cook for 2-3 minutes, stir constantly so all the meat is browning. 
6. De glaze the pan of all the sticky meat juice with the white wine, bubble & reduce.
7. Return the mushrooms to the pan.
8. Lower the heat, add the creme fraiche, double cream and the last tbsp of wholegrain mustard.
9. Heat through. Adjust seasoning and stir through the parsley.
10. Serve either with rice or noodles. Personally I like it with some fresh baked bread so I can mop up the creamy sauce-divine!

ENJOY :)

I'm a huge lover of mushrooms. Whether it is mushroom soup, mushrooms on toasts or mushrooms in a risotto I just can't get enough of them.
How do you use mushrooms? Any recipes you'd like to share with me?

Go foraging but be safe, here's a helpful website: http://www.wildfooduk.com/

In a Blink of an Eye

This week has flown by, where has it gone?

Last weekend was my 21st Birthday and here's a little recap of what I consumed.

Friday afternoon: I received the most beautiful edible flower bouquet you could imagine.

The large cupcakes were caramel flavoured and the smaller ones chocolate.The cupcakes were visually stunning as they were delicious & moreish-divine!

Thank you Mum & Dad

I also received a box of 6 strawberry flavoured cupcakes that my amazing sister won for me, thank you Tash :)

https://www.facebook.com/angeldaysbakery.0ldbury?fref=ts

 

Friday night: Dinner at Piccolinos Birmingham

1. Mojito
2. Calamari Fritti, fried calamari, roast garlic mayonnaise & lemon- delicious!
3. Farfalle al Salmone, smoked salmon, asparagus, lemon & herb mascarpone- rich but over seasoned for my liking. Note to chefs, don't season to your taste! There are condiments on the tables for a reason, let the customer season the food.
4. Tiramisu- average, nothing to talk about. It is so disappointing that pastry chefs are in lack in most restaurants. I love to finish my meal with a memorable scrummy dessert and not something that leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth.
   
   Overall it was an average dining experience. My expectations were set too high! Not sure if I'll go back. However, I signed up with Individual Restaurants loyalty card and have £20 to spend in one our their restaurants, bonus! Next place to try out "Bank".
   http://www.individualrestaurants.com/

Saturday: Fry up, cupcakes, coffee cake, paella and MORE cupcakes <3

What are your favourite bakes or recipes you like to cook at the weekend? Or where do you like to go out and treat yourself?

Winter Warmer

 The cold nights are starting to creep up on us. It's come to the time of year where we start piling on the calories from the heavy meals we consume.

Here's a recipe that will comfort and warm you. Full of fresh and healthy vegetables.

Minestrone

Yummy in my tummy

Ingredients

350g prepared mixed vegetables (onion, leek, celery, carrot, parsnip, cabbage)

25g French beans

20g butter

20g tomato puree

1 tsp. sugar

1 lt. of either chicken or vegetable stock

Bouquet garni

25g pasta shells or spaghetti (broken into pieces)

Pork balls (optional but amazing flavour)

40g bacon, chopped finely

10g chopped parsley

1 garlic clove, crushed

Extra chopped parsley to garnish

Salt & pepper

 

Method

1. Wash and trim all the vegetables. Thinly slice the onion and celery. Cut the French beans diagonally into small diamonds. Cut the remaining vegetables into small flat rounds or squares.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan on the hob, low heat. Add all the vegetables EXCEPT the French beans. Sweat the vegetables for a few minutes so they are gorgeous and glossy (no colour).
3. Stir in the tomato puree and the tsp. of sugar, cook for one minute. (The sugar takes the edge off the tomato puree).
4. Add your made up stock, bouquet garni, bring to the boil and simmer for approx. 20 minutes, with the lid on.
5. Whilst the soup is simmering make up your pork balls. Bind together the chopped bacon, parsley and crushed garlic together. Form into pea size balls. Place in fridge 'till ready to use.
6. After 20 minutes of simmering add the French beans and pasta, cook for a further 5mintues.
7. Drop in your pea size pork balls, place lid back on top and cook for a further 2minutes.
8. Remove off the heat, take out the bouquet garni and adjust seasoning to your taste.
9. Finish with chopped parsley.

Serving suggestion: Fresh home made bread, selection of cheeses and (my mums home made) chutney.

What indulgent meals do you make during the Autumn/Winter season?



 

 

Clearing the air

I feel like I need to apologise to you. I jumped straight into my blog without giving you any background information about why I'm actually writing this blog. So instead of sleeping in on my day off I got up to write.

I'm currently a first year uni student at University College Birmingham (UCB) previously known as "College of Food". One of the modules on the course is "Food practice and application", this module consists of taking fairly basic recipes and adapting the ingredients/methods to how we want. So this is where most of my recipe ideas will be coming from. And I hope you will try the recipes out!

http://www.ucb.ac.uk/home.aspx

The other reason why I'm writing this blog is because I want to go into the journalistic side of food. So writing up recipes for magazines, reviewing new foods or food equipment that have come out and writing food critics. I was encouraged by my house mates to start the blog to help me get into the flow of writing and maybe get a slight heads start in my career.

So I'm not trying to do anything special or fancy. I don't want to come across as one of those bloggers who thinks they know it all as I've read blogs like that and it gets my blood boiling.
Hope that cleared things up for you as it did me.

So...

Questions for you readers: Is it possible to be food obsessed? Because I think I may be. What role does food play in your life? Any thoughts...?

My first love: food

Focaccia

Ingredients:

 

400g strong white flour

5ml salt

1 sachet easy-blend yeast

250ml hand-hot water

2 garlic cloves crushed (optional but adds great flavour)

 

Topping- Half a red onion sliced and cooked in a tsp. of olive oil, one sprig of rosemary finely chopped and 8 black olives sliced.
Why not get creative and pick your own toppings?

Oven: Preheat to 220C, Gas 7

 Method:

1. Dissolve the easy-blend yeast into the hand-hot water, leave for 5mins until frothy.
2. Sieve the flour into a bowl with the salt. Gradually add in the yeast/water mixture until it forms a ball.
3. Knead the dough for 5mins until smooth and elastic. It should stretch when pulling it.
4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and let prove for 30mins in a warm place.
5. Whilst the dough is proving prepare the garlic to go in the dough as well as the toppings.
6. Knock back the dough once it has proved and add in the garlic. Roll out and make small indents into the dough with your thumb. Let prove a further 15mins on an oiled tray covered in cling film.
7. Once the dough has proved add the toppings.
8. Place in the oven for 10-15mins until baked. You know it is baked as it will sound hollow when you tap it on the bottom.

 

Serving suggestions: Serve warm with balsamic vinegar or flavoured oils to dip it in.

Speciality breads in Tesco