I made some ginger Pepparkakor biscuits a week ago.

INGREDIENTS

• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 tablespoon baking soda
• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 31/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

• Place butter in a large, heatproof bowl. In a medium saucepan, heat brown sugar, molasses and spices just to boiling point. Add baking soda and stir in. Pour this mixture over the butter and stir until it melts.
• Beat egg and mix in; add flour, a cup at a time, and blend thoroughly. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead 1-2 minutes. Wrap in waxed paper and chill until firm (about an hour).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).
• Roll out to approximately 1/8 inch thickness on a lightly floured board and cut into desired shapes. Place on greased baking sheets and bake for 8 - 10 minutes.
• Remove from sheets and cool on racks; may be decorated with piped icing or whatever else you like!

Took them in to work to share with my colleagues. As you do. But, I put in too much ginger…. doh ! They were way over spicy and no one ate them ! *laughs*

Had a gorgeous spaghetti puttanesca the other day. Perfect with garlic bread and a glass of red. Loved it so much I took a box in to work for lunch. The spicy combination of anchovies, capers and olives is divine.

Easy to make. Here’s how.

2 Big tins Whole Peeled Italian Plum Tomatoes
1 jar anchovy fillets
1 small jar capers
1 small jar black olives, pitted and sliced
Mushrooms
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 medium sized Onion, minced
1 tbsp dried chilli pepper flakes
2 tbsp fresh basil (1 tbsp if dried)
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Heat extra-virgin olive oil and sautè garlic and onion. Add the anchovy, capers, mushroom, and olives and cook. Add the dried herbs. Pour in the tomatoes and macerate with a wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Add the fresh basil prior to serving.

Try this. It’s soooo easy to make and totally gorgeous. It’s tiramisu. Had it for Easter lunch today, and it’s fab…

5 eggs, separated
3/4 cup (5oz/150g) superfine caster sugar
2 cups (1lb/500g) mascarpone cheese
dash of salt
about 30 ladyfingers (preferably savoiards)
1 cup (8fl oz/250ml) strong cool coffee
7 squares (7oz/200g) semi-sweet (dark) chocolate, grated
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa (cocoa powder)

Serves 6, prep. 20 mins. chill at least 3 hrs or make the day before.

Whisk the egg yolks and superfine sugar until pale and creamy. Carefully fold in the mascarpone. Beat the egg whites with the salt until very stiff and fold them into the mixture. Spread a thin layer over the bottom of a large oval serving dish.

Soak the ladyfingers briefly in the coffee and place a layer over the mixture on the bottom of the dish. Cover with another layer of the mixture and sprinkle with a little chocolate. Continue in this way until all the ingredients are in the dish. Finish with a layer of cream and chocolate, and sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa.

Serve and eat.

I’ve made my first batch of sausages. Yipppeeeeee!

Have wanted to get into sausage making for a while. Eventually got round to buying the kit and now I’ve churned out my first batch.

Decided on a kilo of traditional cumberland and a kilo of spicy cajun. It takes longer than you think to grind, mix and fill the hog casings, but it’s well worth it. You’ve gotta get the right fat content too, otherwise you end up with a dried out, tough old banger.

I think I may have put too much rusk in, but otherwise they are fab. Got a sausage making cook book for Christmas and am hoping to perfect the art before the barbecue season comes around.

The idea of tasty homemade sausages sizzling on the grill on a hot summer’s day is awesome. Roll on June…

Wow ! I’ve just got my hands on a fantastic recipe for carrot cake. Baked one the other day and shit it was good. Thought I’d share…

Carrot Cake

3/4 cup of oil (I use Flora)
1 cup of sugar
11/2 cups of grated carrot
1/2 tspoon salt
1 cup of plain flour (I use wholemeal)
2 eggs
1 tspoon cinnamon
1 tspoon baking Soda

Beat together the oil, sugar and eggs. Add the dry ingredients. Fold in the grated carrots.

Grease and line a square cake tin. Bake in a regular oven at 180 for 35mins.

When cool cover with butter icing:

2oz softened butter
4 oz icing sugar

Beat together and add a few drops of warm water to make it easier to spread.

Crumble a Cadbury’s flake on top and eat.

Went to a fabulous Korean restaurant the other day. We removed our shoes and stepped onto a raised platform to take our places. Each table is set in a recess in the floor. You sit on a cushion and slide your feet neatly into the space below. We soon noticed the floor was heated, giving a wonderful warm sensation.

The tables are shielded by a little wooden screen and have a large circular hole in the centre. We ordered the famous Korean barbecue with spicy seafood and rice. Within minutes a bucket of glowing charcoal was slotted into the hole in the table. We could feel the heat on our faces.

A plate of finely shredded meat arrived and was placed on a grill over the coals to cook before us. Numerous side dishes followed with spicy vegetables, beansprouts, lettuce, onion, pickled radish, dipping sauces, wasabi, ginger, garlic, kimchi and a fiery fish paste.

We barbecued the meat and ate it wrapped in lettuce leaves. Working our way through the side dishes, sampling each and creating tasty combinations.

The charcoal was removed and a small gas stove placed on the table. The waitress appeared with a bubbling pot of spicy seafood. She added a raw squid and carefully adjusted the flame, cooking it before our eyes.

Within minutes we were enjoying a seafood feast. Giant prawns, tender mussels, chunks of fish and perfectly cooked squid.

I love this kind of thing. I had no idea what was coming, or what half the dishes were. The novelty and culinary adventure was fantastic. One of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.

I’m thinking of getting a Remoska. They’re neat little electric cookers from the Czech Republic. Apparently, they were the staple cooking appliance of the Czech kitchen in the Cold War. They are totally versatile, so easy to clean, fantastically economical and you can roast, fry, bake, grill and much more. The secret is the lid does the cooking ! Think of it as a large saucepan with a 500W element in the cover.

My oven is shite and I hate cleaning it. What I want is an easy to clean pot I can tip the ingredients in and leave them to cook. Hopefully, I’ll never use the damn oven again…

I’m going through an experimenting with food phase. I love cooking, food and general gastronomic ambience.

I’d love to run a restaurant or informal kitchen somewhere. Serving up good, tasty food in a congenial friendly atmosphere. A large house full of people with a big kitchen and communal atmosphere. New dishes and exotic fare served up with good wine and real ale. People, food, fun and the hubbub of conversation as we eat and enjoy ourselves. One day maybe…

I’ve recently been shopping in China Town’s supermarkets for oriental ingredients, rice, noodles and spices. You can get some great stuff. Toasted sesame oil, hot peppery pastes, sweet chilli sauce and kilos of fragrant Thai rice for just a few pounds. Sometimes I’ve no idea what I’ve bought, but have a go anyway. It’s better value and much more fun than traipsing round an oversized supermarket picking through the ready meals and three for two offers.

Some of the French markets have been quite good too with tasty produce, crepes, fresh bread, more cheeses than you could imagine and baskets full of smoked sausage and jars of olives. The French do fresh food so well.

So my current food fad has led me to Eastern Europe. I bought a recipe book a while back and yesterday, turned my hand to Pirozhki,

Here’s how…

Makes 35
225g/8oz/2 cups strong white flour
2.5ml/1/2 tsp salt
2.5ml/1/z tsp caster sugar
5ml/1 tsp easy-blend dried yeast
25g/1oz/2 tbsp butter, softened
1 egg, beaten, plus a little extra
90ml/6 tbsp warm milk

For the filling
1 small onion, finely chopped
175g/6oz minced chicken ( I used pork)
15ml/ 1 tbsp sunflower oil,
75ml/5 tbsp chicken stock
30ml/2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
pinch of grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Stir in the dried yeast, then make a well in the centre.

Add the butter, egg and milk and mix to a soft dough. Turn on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.

Put the dough in a clean bowl, cover with clear film and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. (I cheated and used my bread machine - How domestic am I…!?)

Meanwhile, fry the onion and chicken in the oil for 10 minutes. Add the stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/ Gas 7. Knead the dough, then roll out until 3mm/1/s in thick. Stamp out rounds with a 7.5cm/3in cutter.

Brush the edges with beaten egg. Put a little filling in the middle, then press the edges together. Leave to rise on oiled baking sheets, covered with oiled clear film, for 15 minutes. Brush with a little more egg. Bake for 5 minutes, then for 10 minutes at 190°C/375°F/ Gas 5, until well risen.

Try it, it’s worth it….

made a seriously yummy banana cake with frosted chocolate topping the other day. mmmmmm. here’s how….

125g/4oz butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
185g/6oz caster sugar
2 eggs
185g/6oz flour, siflted
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3 small ripe bananas

Cream butter and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add sugar gradually, beating well after each addition.

Beat in eggs one at a time and fold in. Add mashed bananas and combine flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and fold into butter and egg mixture. Spoon mixture into greased and lined 11 x 21cm loaf tin. Bake at 180°C, 350°F, Gas 5 for 1 hour. Stand for 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack.

Chocolate Icing

90g/3oz butter
250g/8oz icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon cocoa powder, sifted
2 tablespoons cream

Beat butter in a bowl until creamy. Add icing sugar, cocoa powder and cream. Beat until frosting is of spreadable consistency.

Just made me some fantastic Ben & Jerry’s Cappuccino Ice Cream… mmmmm, delicious ! Got me an ice cream maker a while ago - kitchen gadgets are good !!

For anyone interested, here’s how… (via joycesfinecooking.com)

Ben & Jerry’s Cappuccino Ice Cream

2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream, or whipping cream
1 cup milk
3 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee, good quality, freeze-dried
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more.

Pour in the cream and milk, and whisk to blend. Add 2-1/2 tablespoons of the coffee and cinnamon, and whisk to blend again. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s directions.

After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the remaining 1 tablespoon coffee, then continue freezing until done. Makes 1 quart. (I added broken up bits of dark chocolate for that little bit extra!)