Holiday biscuits with the kids - 'Safe as houses chocolate digestives'

If you were to look at  a poll of Britain's favourite biscuits I'm sure Chocolate digestives would be somewhere in the top ten. They are without doubt my daughter's favourite and she especially loves one with a nice cuppa in the afternoon when she gets home from school!

Kate Shirazi

I suggested to her a couple of days ago that if she fancied doing some baking why not try making the homemade variety of her favourite biscuit, especially as I'd had my eye on a recipe by the fabulous Kate Shirazi for quite some time! I've got two Kate Shirazi books: Chocolate Magic (2010) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chocolate-Magic-Kate-Shirazi/dp/1862058814/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345410719&sr=8-2 and Baking Magic (2010) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Baking-Magic-Kate-Shirazi/dp/186205889X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345410800&sr=1-1 and every time I flick through and read the recipes, she makes me smile with her wit and slightly nonchalant and irreverent tone. For Kate it's about what suits you and she's not afraid of the odd 'kitsch' cake or 'kooky' biscuits. I've tried several of her recipes and my favourites in Chocolate Magic are the Chocolate fondants on page 39, these are very well behaved with a lovely gooey centre, can also be prepared a couple of days ahead; and the Chocolate peanut butter cups on page21 (who needs Reeses Peanut butter cups when you can make your own at home to serve as delightful petit fours?!) Overall, Kate's recipes are generally clear and she also specifies weights and measurements using American terms (cups etc) as well as in metric and imperial.

The following recipe proved to be straightforward and an enjoyable experience for my daughter:

Safe as houses chocolate digestives (Copyright Kate Shirazi, 2010)

Makes about 14 biscuits
100g wholemeal flour
40g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp oats
120g butter, softened
100g soft light brown sugar
4tbsp milk
200g milk or plain chocolate

Checking the ingredients

Measuring the flours

Creaming the butter and sugar

Quickly kneading the dough

Cutting out the biscuits

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees and line two baking sheets.
2. Mix together the flours, baking powder and oats in a large bowl.
3. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then add the flour mixture to this.
4. Add the milk a little at a time, until you have a thick dough.
5. Turn dough out onto floured surface and give it a quick knead until its smooth, then roll out to about 3mm thick and cut into discs. Place discs onto baking sheets, prick all over with a fork and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.
6. Transfer biscuits to a wire rack to cool. When cold, melt the chocolate and spread onto one side of the biscuit.

Cooling biscuits

Spreading on chocolate

A plate full of yumminess. We did half plain chocolate and half milk chocolate.

We loved these biscuits! Particularly as we made sure that they had thick layers of chocolate on them! One word of caution though, add the milk a bit at a time. We only used three tablespoons and the dough was quite sticky, four tablespoons would have made it very difficult to work with. Also personally, I prefer plain chocolate digestives, milk digestives are a bit too sweet for me and as Kate Shirazi says herself:

"I would add, though, that there is a very good reason you don't get white chocolate digestives in the shops. Nasty." Page 93

At some stage I've promised my son we'd do his favourite biscuits, Custard Creams.

Saturday lunch treat - Slow-Roasted Duck with Cabbage and Gooseberry Jam

Picking the last of the season's gooseberries in the garden

A bit overgrown!

My rosemary bush

Having bought a couple of duck legs the other day I assumed I'd do my favoutite confit of duck recipe courtesy of Barney Desmazery http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2085/barneys-confit-of-duck. This is a simple and effective way of cooking the duck which always impresses dinner party guests when I serve it with a celeriac and walnut gratin. Obviously though I had to make use of another of my recipe books and decided on a recipe in The Masterchef Cookbook, 2010. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Masterchef-Cookbook-DK/dp/1405351705/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344880079&sr=8-1

I must confess I have only ever tried one other recipe from this book on page 330, Chocolate Cappuccino cups, and they were a very rich and decadent affair after Sunday lunch a few months ago. The book is very extensive with thorough instructions such as how to extract the meat from a fresh lobster, stuffing a chicken breast, making meringues or creating the perfect crumble. It's not a book just for the confident book but one that can appeal to all abilities. Again I've got my eye on quite a few recipes to try at a later date such as Wild Mushroom Risotto with Truffle Brie (P.116), Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with Walnut Pesto and a cream and Basil Sauce (P114), Pear, Apple and Pistachio Tart with Clotted Cream Ice Cream (P.366), Thai Fish Cakes with Sweet Chilli Sauce (P.74) .... the list could go on!

This particular recipe (Slow-Roasted Duck with Cabbage and Gooseberry Jam) was cooked by comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli in the 2007 Celebrity final of Masterchef.

Slow-Roasted Duck with Cabbage and Gooseberry Jam (copyright 2010 Dorling  Kindersley)

4 duck legs

Steaming the cabbage

few sprigs of rosemary
few peppercorns
For the Gooseberry Jam
200g gooseberries, topped and tailed
100g demerara sugar
To serve
1 Savoy cabbage, roughly chopped
knob of butter
freshly ground black pepper

The prepared duck legs

The duck legs after roasting for 30 minutes

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Place the duck legs in a roasting tin and tuck in a few sprigs of rosemary and some peppercorns. Roast for 30 minutes and then turn the oven down to 150 degrees and cover with foil, Cook the duck for another 1hour 30 minutes, basting occasionally. Leave to rest.
2. Put the gooseberries and sugar in a saucepan with 2 tbsp water. Bring to the boil slowly. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove lid for the last 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The gooseberries will form a sticky, sweet jam
3. Steam or cook the cabbage for a few minutes until tender. Drain and toss in butter and pepper.
4. To serve: pile a spoonful of buttered cabbage in the centre of the plates and place the duck on top, with a spoonful of the rosemary-flavoured pan juices and a generous spoonful of the gooseberry jam on the side.

Preparing the gooseberry jam

Lunch is served!

The duck was very tender and fell off the bone! The gooseberry jam was a lovely contrast to the duck and Savoy cabbage. If anything, because my gooseberries were very ripe, I'd be inclined to add less sugar next time. My husband really enjoyed this meal  but I must confess, and the pictures don't show this, I did prepare some saute potatoes to go with it! However, this is a wonderful dinner party dish as most of it can be left to its own devices- I'd prepare the gooseberry jam ahead and just reheat -  and  the whole dish would be fine served with a number of other courses (or maybe we're just a bit greedy!)


Next time: I've promised my daughter and son that we'd make homemade versions of their favourite biscuits, so as they say watch this space!

Summer soup and satisfying bread

Summer holidays for us teachers are supposed to be for relaxing and switching off but these holidays have been manic! So after my visits to the impressive Olympic Park in Stratford, East London I'm hoping to get back on track with my cooking now.

Thinking along seasonal lines I thought what could I make use of in the garden? Well every time I've been in the garden this summer I've inspected my herbs and thought I need to use them more often in my cooking. So whilst deciding what to cook next, low and behold I stumbled upon this appealing recipe in Galton Blackiston's A Return to Real Cooking, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Return-Real-Cooking-Galton-Blackiston/dp/1903872197/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344460222&sr=8-1Parsley and Bacon Soup page 56, it's particularly suitable if you do have an abundance of the herb. The book itself has an array of tempting dishes and for the first time since I've started this mission, it's one I have never cooked from before! Recipes that have caught my eye and ones I will seriously try are: Tomato and Roquefort bread, Smoked Salmon Mousse, Buttered Samphire, Financiers with Chocolate Orange Centres, Garden Mint Ice Cream..... too many gorgeous recipes to list! And reading through them, the instructions appear straightforward and all are accompanied with beautiful photography.

Those of you that are familiar with Norfolk will know that Galton Blackiston is the owner of the delightful Morston Hall in north Norfolk, a Michelin-starred establishment that will wow you with innovative and seasonal dishes, I should know, as my husband treated me to a weekend stay a few years ago.I can say I was not disappointed! Soups at Morsten are more often served as an appetiser as part of their tasting menu so as not to spoil your appetite. Indeed his book has a chapter on soups and sauces, as Blackiston adds

"Soup is something that registers strongly in the British psyche -years ago, large houses with big kitchens would always have a stock or soup pot on the go" (p.47)

To me, serving soup without bread is unthinkable, so it was only logical that I should also take this opportunity to bake a new bread recipe. I thought I'd partner the soup with some garlic-type bread with a vague notion that maybe the parsley soup would counter the garlic (a bit tenuous, I know!).After having a look through my bread cookbooks I chose the Potato bread with Roasted Garlic from The Complete Bread Machine Book by Marjie Lambert.http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Complete-Bread-Machine-Book/dp/1840923822/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344459942&sr=8-1 This book is full of unusual and varied recipes for bread, about 200 in total; whether it's basic breads, fruit breads, sourdough breads or rye breads. It's a book I haven't had long so have only tried a couple of recipes but was very pleased with the results: Hamburger buns and Hot Dog rolls (P.127) - very soft and pleasingly squidgy and the Portuguese Sweet Bread (P.198) - a light textured sweet bread, a real treat at breakfast.

Down to business with the recipes. Luckily on Sunday I had cooked a roast chicken, so quickly made up some fresh chicken stock using the carcass. I literally plonk the carcass in a large saucepan with enough water to cover along with an onion, black peppercorns, salt, carrot, fresh parsley and thyme (or whatever else you've got in the fridge/cupboard) See photo below! Let it all simmer for a couple of hours and then strain and hey presto you've got some lovely chicken stock! Obviously if you're short of time a few stock cubes will do but I think you don't benefit from that richness and depth of flavour you get from fresh chicken stock.

Cooking up a simple but fresh stock

Parsley and Bacon Soup (copyright  Galton and Tracy Blackiston)

55ml olive oil
3 onions finely sliced
110g parsley stalks and leaves separated
850ml chicken stock
1 medium potato sliced
12 thin rashers of smoked streaky bacon
50g spinach
75ml double cream
25g butter
salt and pepper
parsley and crispy bacon to serve

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onions and parsley stalks so they can sweat.
2. When onions softened and translucent, add stock, potato and bacon and simmer until potato cooked.
3. Add the parsley leaves, spinach and cream, cooking for around three minutes.
4. Remove from heat, liquidise and pass through a sieve.
5. When serving, reheat soup, adding butter in small knobs and stirring. Check seasoning and serve with parsley and a strip of crispy bacon.

Separating stalks and leaves

Chopped onion, a red onion has sneaked in there!

Chopped bacon

Cooking parsley stalks, bacon and potato

Adding cream and parsley leaves

Serve with a slice of crispy bacon and chopped fresh parsley

Potato Bread with Roasted Garlic (copyright 2000 Quintet publishing Limited)

To make a 450g/1lb loaf

8-10 garlic cloves

Roasted garlic

1 tsp olive oil

2 tbsp milk

60 ml water

115g mashed potatoes (nothing added)

2 tbsp butter

1tbsp sugar

25g grated Parmesan

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

270g bread flour

2 tsp yeast

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place garlic cloves into a small square of foil, brush with olive oil and wrap up and bake for 30 minutes.
2. Cool, then squeeze out the garlic from the cloves.
3. Put the garlic and all the other ingredients in bread tin according to your bread machine manual. Set for white bread, normal crust and press start!

Ingredients added to the bread tin

The finished loaf

Both recipes were relatively simple and yet delivered satisfying flavours. The bacon and parsley complemented each other very well and the bread was a welcome addition to a meal that filled us all up! If anything, next time I might add more garlic to the bread recipe as this was rather subtle; the Parmesan was just right and the mashed potato added to the depths of flavour. I would particularly recommend serving this bread straight from the tin, nice and warm.

I'm hoping to get another recipe tried and tested in the next few days. I bought a couple of duck legs so am scouring the books for something different to my normal confit of duck leg recipe I like to cook.