gingerbread men with cayenne icing

i got a set of ninja cookie cutters for my birthday before last. it took me this long to get around to using them.

there was a recipe on the back, but i changed it a bit. i also hate decorating because i'm not very good at it sooooo yeh. i put a bit of icing on. it's tasty enough.

made about 20

• 350g plain flour
• 2-3 tsp ground ginger
• 100g butter
• 175g light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons golden syrup (try yr best, i can never get enough off the spoon to quantify each spoonful)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• any amount of fresh ginger you want (a thumb sized piece perhaps)

you're probably going to need two or three baking sheets, put some grease proof paper all up on that. put yo oven to 190C/gas 5

1. sift that flour, baking powder and ginger into a bowl. sift it good.
2. cube yr butter and rub it in, pretty fine breadcrumby stuff is what you want
3. pop the sugar, syrup and the egg into the bowl now
4. beat it and stir it etc, till it's mixed
5. smoosh together and bash about a bit to get it into a firm dough
6. roll out onto a pretty floury board, about 5-6mm thick. i used my new rolling pin which has measurements :3 (previously i had been using a nicely shaped bottle of balsamic vinegar...)
7. get yr cutters stuck into that, pop them into a tray, roll it the rest out again, repeat until you just can't go on
8. STICK THEM IN THE OVEN and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. 12 about did it for me, but y'know... ovens aren't all the same.

when they're out and cooling, make some icing! huzzah :|

• 1 tablespoon of royal icing sugar (or normal icing sugar)
• 1 tsp water
• a pinch of cayenne to 'give your ninjabread that extra kick' hahahaha... (that was a suggestion for the above recipe, i thought it'd be nicer in the icing)
• red (or any other) food colouring

1. mix all the ingredients together to get an icingy paste. work before it sets.
2. be create and decorate to your heart's content. or get your housemate to do most of it...

pre-christmas christmas ii: blinis & custard

GUESTPOST

i made the most important bits of the meal: blinis upon which the starters sat and custard with which we made the pudding more fat.



bitten blini & betting
recipe: dead good blinis

1. put 140g of plain flour & 1/3 tsp of baking powder in beccy's cleaned out fruit bowl. (wil has taken all the mixing bowls).
2. search nearly fruitlessly for dried yeast. find dried yeast beyond/underneath the cupboard (student house). mix 1/3 tsp dried yeast with warm milk. add the yolk of a separated egg to this yeast/milk. (i had to do this twice; the first time i let the milk get too hot & the yolk cooked. this apparently also kills the yeast).
3. whisk wet mixture into dry ingredients. + melt & stir in the 1 tsp melted butter.
4. get your boyfriend to whisk remaining egg white to stiff peaks & fold into the battter.
5. let your boyfriend clarify 125g butter (melt in pan, pour off yellow liquid to use and leave behind white bit in pan). fry tbps of the batter in hot oil & flip - just like pancakes!
6. served by chloe/wil with creme fraiche, dill, salmon, avocado in various combinations.

it tastes like mcdonald's but maybe that's just cos it's fried.



MAIN MEAL AINT NO BIG THING



heating up the brandy
recipe: "so you want me to make delia's custard?" "USE THE TRADITIONAL ENGLISH RECIPE"

thus spoke wilisinvisible.

1. heat 275ml double cream (gently, before simmering / as it starts to steam a little)
2. split & pod 1 vanilla pod & put the lot into the cream
3. whisk 3 egg yolks (whites will be leftover), 25g caster sugar & 1 tsp cornflour.
4. when cream is heated to optimum level, remove vanilla pods. whilst whisking egg mixture, pour the cream into it.
5. put the lot back over a gentle head, and whisk until custard is thick & smooth. apparently this happens all of sudden. i wouldn't know cos i consulted wil (assuming he would know) & he took over.
6. clingfilm & fridge for later
7. to serve, heat custard in pan of simmering water whilst whisking.
8. (share sparingly! i was overzealous initially & those who received the latter puddings were jealous as they were lacking in sufficient custard. mostly i am referring to poutyface ward)

xo
serrah

photos courtesy of sai

pre-christmas christmas i: lentil & nut roast

this was from our uni christmas with nottingham friends, we were a third vege and i cooked the shit out of that day, so here's the meat free option. no prices, it's christmas.

i still made the vegetarians help with meat prep

i made this beforehand and kept it in the fridge before we cooked it

you're probs gna need a food processor (or coffee grinder)

lentil and nut roast for 4-5

• 1 leek
• half a bag of mixed nuts
• 250g red lentils
• 500ml veg stock
• bay leaf
• bread crumbs from 2 slices of bread
• bread crumbs from 1 slice of toast
• 100g mature cheddar
• juice of a lemon
• mushrooms if y'like
• 2 eggs
• butter

i've tried this twice, once in a cake tin and once in a loaf tin. the round lentil cake was cooler and stayed together better... might be because of the egg i used in the loaf tin tho.

1. cook yr lentils in the stock w/ the bay leaf for 20ish mins until it's all soaked up
2. butter up that tin of yours, coat the sides with yr dry toast breadcrumbs
3. chop yr leek, grind up yr nuts, chop yr mushrooms and grate tha cheese.
4. mix all that shit into the lentils with the bread breadcrumbs (REMOVE THE BAY LEAF THO)
5. bind it with the lemon juice and eggs beaten
6. stick it in the tin, stick it in the oven at gas 5 (190C) for an hour
7. turn it out and serve (with onion gravy yeh)

THIS IS SUPER MOIST

Ham and Butter Beans

ehh, it's nearly the end of term and i've finally finished with all my deadlines (almost) so now i can write about food again. :)

a secular advent courtesy of my mother

this is pretty much an exact copy from a nigel slater book, but i tried halving the recipe. it still ends up as two meals but it's really really tasty. i don't remember how much it cost.

Casserole for 2/3

• about 250g dried butter beans (they're tastier than tinned, but i guess for ease you could use tinned)
• HERBS (we had no thyme this time round so i used herbes de provence. use thyme if you have it)
• 700g piece of smoked bacon or gammon (the big chunk kind, not packet bacon)
• 1 big onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 big carrot
• paprika
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• half a big sausage of cooking chorizo

if you use dried butter beans, soak them overnight in LOADS of water, then rinse it and change the water and boil it for about an hour before you start cooking

1. cut off big chunks of the fat from the bacon, in a big hob-safe casserole/big pan fry them in olive oil
2. chop yr onions and carrots, remove the fat from the oil and fry the onions in the tasty bacon oil
3. when yr onions are soft, put the peeled garlic cloves and the carrots in the pan, stir it around and put in yr herbs, a tsp of dried or a few sprigs of thyme
4. add the beans and a bit of their juice and stir in the tomatoes
5. chuck in some black pepper and paprika and yr chorizo and the bacon fat, stir yo.
6. stick the bacon joint in there, try and cover it. if you can't... but some juice over it anyway
7. bring it to the boil, cover it and stick it in the oven at 180C/gas

BAM, dinner. don't think I ate it with anything else. it's pretty filling. just as tasty with the sauce reheated and the bacon cold the next day.

i'm pretty tired from all this work. yawn

Cheese on Toast x4

I think this will end up a recurring post as I try more ways to have cheese on toast.

I'm going to assume you can make cheese on toast... Grill some bread, add thinly sliced cheese, grill till bubbly.
Yeh.
4 different ways to have it:

1. With lea & perrins. Standard. Make as usual, top with lea & perrins sauce. Remember, don't give it to a vegetarian: it's full of anchovy. I've forgotten that more than once
2. With mustard. Spread on grilled bread, top with cheese, grill, etc. I used dijon, but that's cause it's my favourite
3. With chutney. Coco's mum made some green tomato and apple chutney. Tastier than expected, apparently. Spread on toast as with mustard 
4. A discovery: lingonberries! We have a jar from ikea that I use in things instead on cranberry sauce. Super tasty under cheese. Yehh.

To be continued, probably. I wrote this on the ipad which is why there're so many capitals. In case you were wondering.

slow cooked pork with star anise and ginger

the fat is rly sweet

it's pretty much a nigel slater duck recipe, but with pork chops instead. duck is far too expensive for my seemingly unemployed, student self.

i didn't put enough ginger in/too much star anise... more aniseed than ginger. costs about £4 for two, assuming you don't already own star anise and you buy freedom farm pork or better.

pork for 2

• 2 pork chops
• 1 big onion
• garlic - 5 or 6 cloves
• ginger, the length and width of about 8 pound coins
• 6 spring onions
• 1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 pint chicken stock
• 125ml rice wine
• 3 star anises... 3 stars?
• a couple of glugs of olive oil

i messed up with the spring onions, so i'm going to put how it SHOULD have been done. dno if it makes that much difference. YOU'LL WANT YOUR OVEN AT 180C/GAS 4

1. in an  fire&ovenproof dish, heat oil, brown pork on both sides. set meat aside
2. gently fry onions (THAT DOESN'T MEAN THE SPRING ONIONS AS WELL)
3. slice the garlic cloves, add those in and fry
4. cut the ginger into matchstick size pieces, stir those in
5. NOW chop the spring onions and stick them in. leave it all for a couple of minutes to soften
6. add the stock, rice wine and star anise. season.
7. bring it to the boil, and boil it for a minute or so
8. add the meat to it, and stick it in the oven for 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES

serve with rice.

(APPARENTLY THIS IS GOOD LEFT TO COOL AND REHEATED THE NEXT DAY)

happy food & beer in brussels