Friday 24 May 2013

Easy Peasy Ginger Beer - via Jamie Oliver


(Jamie Oliver) - Ginger beer is one of my favourite things in the world, especially blooming good in the summer when it's getting hot. I can't think of anything more sexy than having a big jug of iced ginger beer on the table with a barbecue on a hot day. The classic real ginger beers use a starter, and these are fantastic but slow, so here's my shortcut for getting amazing results taking hardly any time.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

140 g fresh ginger
4 tablespoons muscovado sugar
2-3 lemons
1 litre soda water or sparkling mineral water
a few sprigs of fresh mint


Method

First of all you need to grate your ginger on a coarse cheese grater – you can leave the skin on if you like. Put the ginger with its pulpy juice into a bowl and sprinkle in your muscovado sugar. Remove the rind from 2 of your lemons with a vegetable peeler, add to the bowl, and slightly bash and squash with something heavy like a pestle or a rolling-pin. Just do this for 10 seconds, to mix up all the flavours. Squeeze the juice from all 3 lemons and add most of it to the bowl. Pour in your fizzy water or soda water. 

Allow to sit for 10 minutes and then taste. You may feel that the lemons are slightly too sour, therefore add a little more sugar; if it's slightly too sweet, add a little more lemon juice. To be honest, these amounts are always a little variable so just follow your own taste. Pass the ginger beer through a coarse sieve into a large jug and add lots of ice and some sprigs of mint.


Friday 17 August 2012

Baked French Breakfast Donuts...


5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup milk (I used whole milk)
~
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas Mark 4). Coat donut pan generously with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg; mix well.

(In a seperate bowl) Sift flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk.

Fill donut tins half full. Bake 15-20 minutes. Take out of pan immediately and swirl tops into melted butter, then sugar and cinnamon mixture. 

Makes 6-7 big donuts.

*Note:  These work just as well in a muffin tin, too!

Thursday 16 August 2012

American Blueberry Pancakes...

Makes 10 pancakes

Preparation and cooking times
Cook 35 mins

 Low-fat


Ingredients
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
300ml milk
knob butter
150g pack blueberries
sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
golden or maple syrup

Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg with the milk, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter. 

Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in half the blueberries.

Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. 

Make three or four pancakes at a time. 

Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden. 

Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter. Serve with golden syrup and the rest of the blueberries.

Nutrition per Serving:
108 kcalories, protein 4g, carbohydrate 18g, fat 3 g, saturated fat 1g, fibre 1g, salt 0.41 g

Saturday 18 February 2012

Roasted Parmesan Green Beans...

Tender crisp green beans roasted to perfection, topped with shredded parmesan cheese.
 This is the easiest way to prepare the best tasting green beans, picky kid approved!


Tuesday 4 October 2011

Homemade Cherry Pie Filling...


INGREDIENTS:
5 to 6 cups fresh pitted cherries, about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds ( I used Bing)
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

DIRECTIONS:
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine cherries, water, lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes. Stir in almond extract. Cool slightly before using as a topping.

NOTES:
- If using sour cherries, you will need to adjust the amount of sugar. I’d recommend starting about ¾ cup and working your way up if more sweetness is needed.
- Refrigerate leftover fresh cherry pie filling in a sealed container for up to 2 days.
- I have not tried freezing this cherry pie filling, but if you do, please let me know.
- Recipe adapted from about.com.

How to Make Homemade Caramel Sauce...

Fundamental Safety:
- Give your undivided attention to the caramel sauce while you are preparing it.
-Caramel is HOT! Be careful. For reference- Water boils at 212°F, we are taking this sugar mixture to 380°F, so it’s incredibly hot.
-When you add the heavy cream to the pot of molten sugar, it will bubble violently and steam will escape. Stand back and keep your face away from the pot!
-Avoid a caramel catastrophe by making sure your heavy bottomed pot is large enough. Trust me; you do not want this caramel sauce to boil over onto your stove. It will bring you to tears. When you’re done, be sure to soak your pot and tools with hot water to help the cleaning process.
-Make sure your stirring utensil is heat proof. I typically use a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula.


Yield | 1 cup
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/4 liquid cup water
1/2 liquid cup heavy cream, heated until warm
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In a heavy saucepan (at least 5 cup capacity), stir together the sugar, syrup, and water until the sugar is completely moistened. Place your candy thermometer into the pot taking care that it is tip in immersed into the sugar mixture.
2. Heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is bubbling. Stop stirring completely and allow it to boil undisturbed until it turns a deep amber (like the color of Bass Ale) (380°F.). Immediately remove it from the heat and slowly and carefully pour the hot cream into the caramel. It will bubble up furiously.
3. Use a high-temperature heat-resistant rubber spatula or wooden spoon to stir the mixture until smooth, scraping up the thicker part that settles on the bottom. If any lumps develop, return the pan to the heat and stir until they dissolve. Stir in the butter and salt. The mixture will be streaky but become uniform after cooling slightly and stirring.

Allow the sauce to cool for 3 minutes. Gently stir in the vanilla extract.

Storage: 
Keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; refrigerated, about 3 months. To reheat, simply place in a microwave safe container and heat for about 45-60 seconds. Stir well.

Tempting Twist:
Use fresh vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract. Simply scrape the seeds from inside ½ vanilla bean. Place the seeds and pod into the cream while it’s warming. Remove pod from the cream before adding to the hot sugar mixture.


"Today is the beginning of a new recipe series I’m dubbing Fundamentals. I get a lot of emails from new bakers asking for basic recipes, tips, and product recommendations that will get them started with their newly acquired baking addiction.
     While I can’t guarantee rock star status, I can provide you with some practical tips and simple tested recipes that work for me in my kitchen. The first recipe I am going to try and demystify is caramel, more specifically homemade caramel sauce.
     I have a confession. Making caramel scares me. I love caramel, whether it’s by itself, sprinkled with sea salt, covered in peanuts, enrobed with nougat…well you get point. Although my love for caramel has been present for many, many years, I just recently started to make my own.
     There have been some serious failures along one of which required the disposal of a pan. Yep, I tried to clean that sucker for days, so I ended up chucking it into the trash. Bottom line, caramel is finicky, it goes from perfect to a burnt mess in the blink of eye, but when you nail it, the outcome is extraordinary. Plus, you’ll never have to buy that overly sweet jarred stuff again!" via mybakingaddiction.com

Fundamental Information:
-Caramel is essentially melted sugar.
-There are two basic ways to make caramel: the dry method and the wet method. The dry method involves slowly heating sugar until it melts and is deemed as a bit more difficult. The wet method is more common and is what you will find in today’s recipe.
-In the wet method, granulated sugar is dissolved in water and then boiled until the water starts to evaporate. As the water escapes, the mixture goes through a series of stages that indicates the ratio of water and sugar.

Fundamental Gear:
-heat safe spatula or wooden spoon
-heavy bottomed pot (non-stick is easier to clean)- If using non-stick, it may be difficult to know if your caramel has reached the desired shade of amber. Simply use a heat safe utensil to remove a few drops of caramel to a white plate.
-reliable candy thermometer- you will risk burning your sugar if you don’t have an absolutely accurate thermometer; cheapos from the supermarket typically don’t cut it


Uses for Homemade Caramel Sauce:
-eat it with a spoon
-spoon it over your favorite ice cream
-drizzle it over your favorite baked goods
-stir it into your morning latte to create a homemade caramel macchiato
-use it as a dip for fresh apple slices
-jar these up and pass along to friends and family; 
(just be sure to tell them it needs to be stored in the refrigerator)