Recipe swap shop

My contributions.

Cheesy Nom Nom Stars
I originally made these cheesy scones for feasting purposes and have been asked to make them whenever people meet up since. I double or triple this recipe's quantities, and we're lucky if we have two or three left over for the following morning. They never, ever, especially when served warm, seem to last! It's a really lovely, simple recipe, but I'm inclined to think the addition of cheese makes the scones that much moister - and tastier of course!

I took this recipe from Delia Smith and tweaked it:-

Ingredients
225g self-raising flour
40g butter
150ml milk (1/4 pint)
1 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar
pinch salt
flour for rolling out

Method
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7, 425 degrees F (220 degrees C)

Have ready a baking sheet, greased

First of all, sift the flour into a bowl and rub the butter into it rapidly, using your fingertips. Next stir in the sugar and salt, then take a knife and use it to mix in the milk little by little. Now flour your hands a little and knead the mixture to a soft dough - adding a drop more milk if it feels at all dry.

Then turn the dough out onto a floured pastry board and roll it out to a thickness of not less than 3/4 inch (2 cm) using a lightly floured rolling pin. Take a 1 1/2 or 2 inch (4 or 5 cm) pastry cutter (either fluted or plain) and place it on the dough, then tap it sharply so that it goes straight through the dough - don't twist it or the scones will turn a peculiar shape! After you have cut out as many scone shapes as you can like that, knead the dough trimmings together again and repeat until you have used it all.

Then place the scones on the greased baking sheet, dust each one with a little extra flour and bake near the top of the oven for 12-15 minutes. When cooked the scones will have turned a crisp golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and eat them slightly warm, still crisp on the outside and soft and light inside.

My tweaks: I added a generous amount of mustard, black pepper and rosemary or sage (I prefer sage these days), mixed in cold butter, not warm, and grated enough mature vegetarian Cheddar cheese into it to give it a slightly crumby texture. I also use a star-shaped cutter to make these all the time now as the husband reckons they've got a better edge texture that way and besides, I think they're fun! I'm also planning a savoury cream tea with these, soft cheese and quince jelly sometime in the summer......



This recipe is one I decided to make at the last minute as part of my contribution to a feast after a very long and beautiful day.

Strawberry, rocket and garlic salad

Two punnets of good strawberrries
Garlic (I used 1 1/2 bulbs of mild garlic)
Two bags rocket
1 bag baby spinach
Olive oil
Chocolate balsamic vinegar (I got mine from the Oil and Vinegar franchise in Cardiff but there are recipes to make your own out there too)
Black pepper to taste.

Chop up strawberries, roast the garlic briefly - I did mine with olive oil drizzled over it, unpeeled, then snipped the ends off with scissors to squeeze the garlic out. Add garlic to strawberries and let the flavours infuse. I made the dressing and let it sit overnight, but may try putting it together fresh sometime, the texture of the strawberries will be better for it. Add the oil and vinegar, roughly about one third vinegar to two thirds oil (or to taste). Season with black pepper and toss strawberries and garlic with the rocket and spinach and serve. I may also try this sometime on ciabbatta, as an alternative light summer bruschetta style starter. May also be an idea to serve with a wedge of lemon to cut through the sweetness, so people can flavour to taste.

And finally

Mint tea (per cup) - make fresh weakish normal black tea, add three or four crushed fresh mint leaves and one or two spoonfuls of sugar to taste. Leave the leaves in to steep when serving.

Decadent strawberries method 1.
Whip cream with ras al hanout spice to taste - the spicier the better, I find - and honey. Serve with ripe and tasty strawberries and no inhibitions.

Decadent strawberries method 2 (aka giggly strawberries)
Heat up some average red wine (why waste the good stuff?) with sugar to taste, then add as many washed, hulled and halved strawberries as you can fit in the pan and let cool. Best left to soak overnight. Can be served in glasses or dishes, but beware, it's potent.

I messed with your Strawberry, Rocket and Garlic Salad last year.

For the Dressing I used Sloe Gin out if the bottle with a little Olive Oil, there's a shop in York that sells Sloe and Damson Gin from Ampleforth Monastary. Funny how abstinent men living together make good food and booze

To keep the chocolate taste I just added the little chocolate chips normally added to baking - was good.

As an alternative for the tea, get a big teapot, add a normal tea bag (need to experiment to taste here - depending on size of teapot you may need more than one). Bruise a big bunch of mint and stick in the teapot. Add boiling water. Finally add honey to taste half a jar is not unknown.

That sounds amazing - hadn't thought of sloe gin. And I think we have some....I have to agree with you about monks producing great food and drink!

Oh, and while I remember, I made the chocolate and honey cake as detailed below. And it's truly phenomenal. It's incredibly moist and moreish, but too rich to have too much! Although true to me playing in the kitchen, I added ras al hanout to the cake mix itself, and a whole heap more to the glaze, so that it had a slight burn - I tasted it as I went along, oh hardship....Rather than fartarse about making bees, I had a jar of edible rose petals in the kitchen (doesn't everyone?!) and scattered some of those on top instead. Still had loads of glaze left over which was fantastic heated up and poured over vanilla ice-cream at a later date.

http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=214

WoW, i think i may make that choc cake now!! looks lush! Might try the sloe gin idea too, really really love that stuff!

I'd like to contribute my favourite sweet Muffin recipe. Nothing fancy, but it's fast, easy and always a winner.

Actually, it's a basic recipe which may be varied endlessly - depending on what's on hand.

For a 12 Muffin Pan, normal sized

- 250 g flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
- 100 g sugar
- 100 g butter or margarine, softened
- 1 Egg
- 250 ml (2,5 dl) milk

preheat oven to 200° C

Mix together the flour, salt and baking soda. Beat the sugar together with the butter, add the egg, beat some more. Add milk, mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix everything swiftly until well blended, but not too long. Add - insert desired addition - and mix with the dough. Fill into the greased Muffinpan (or put paper muffin cups into the indentations), bake for approx. 20-25 minutes. Check after 20 minutes if they're done.

Now, as to the variations - I always got chocolate chips and frozen mixed berries at home. A favourite is the mixed berries muffins. Add frozen berries to taste to the dough plus a little bit of vanilla flavour.

Or just classic chocolate chip muffins.

Pear (cut in little cubes) plus chocolate chips works really well, too.

Whatever strikes your fancy - add it to the dough, bake and enjoy! :-)

Ooh, that sounds gorgeous! I'm a big fan of fast and easy recipes! Will have to try these at the weekend.

I was playing around with the rocket and strawberry salad this weekend. I added some fried bacon cubes and buffalo mozzarella and for lack of chocolate balsamico I used fig balsamico. It was great! The buffalo mozzarella goes really well with the strawberries.

And, following this recipe, I came up with something else last night. I had some leftover rocket, which was too limp for my taste to eat as salad, but I didn't want to throw it away. What to do? Pesto! So, just add the rocket to a food processor, add some olive oil, freshly grated parmesan and blend. You could also add some pine nuts, I simply didn't have them on hand.

So last nights dinner was tortellini with grilled zucchini, grilled cherry tomatoes and rocket pesto with freshly grated parmesan. I can only recommend it, the veggies look so pretty and colourful on the pasta. And it tastes great.

Oh that sounds gorgeous! I love rocket though, so we're very lucky if we ever have any left over! Definitely going to try your ideas now.

I've been making the never-ending salad again. Basically I fill up a big glass bowl with cut raw cabbage, raw mushrooms, grated carrot, raw peppers, sometimes cucumber, sometimes tomatoes (cherry for preference), a tin of sweetcorn, lettuce or a bag of mixed salad, a block of halloumi, sliced up and then torn into it, and perhaps some olives to which I add an unhealthy glug of good olive oil and some black pepper (no salt, the halloumi and olives normally have enough to flavour it) - and then top up with whatever as it goes down. Colt loves it, and he doesn't do "healthy" food that much!

That salad sounds great! Ôdin wasn't much into "healthy" food either, before he met me. I always say it's a matter of preparation and presentation. I even got him to like zucchini, which he disliked before.

I wanted to share another recipe; the original idea I got from a gamer site who presented recipes for snacks for raiding. I tweaked it a bit and since I'm the queen of improvisation, I'm really bad at giving exact measurements and sometimes even exact ingredients because I go with what's at hand.

Stuffed Mushroom Caps

- a couple of nice, big mushrooms (I had 8 really big ones)
- cream cheese (any kind, flavoured or plain, doesn't matter)
- 1 medium onion
- bacon cubes
- various herbs (fresh or dried), salt, pepper

Clean the mushrooms, take out the stems but be careful to leave the caps whole. Cut the stems into small cubes, cube the onion as well. Fry the onion, bacon and mushroom stems.
In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, onion, bacon, mushroom stems and add herbs to taste. I added some frozen parsley and a dried mix of greek herbs. Italian works well, too. Whatever is on hand and tasty is fine in any case. Add some pepper, paprika and salt if needed. Once you're happy with the seasoning, fill the cream cheese mix into the mushroom caps. Put the caps into a casserolle, drizzle with olive oil, top with some grated parmesan and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes at 200 C.

Should work well wrapped in tinfoil and on a grill as well.

In any case, it's tasty and suitable for raiding.

That sounds absolutely delicious, and something I can make for Colt quite easily. I know what you mean, I always work with what I have at hand, I always joke that my cheese scones are never ever quite the same each time! But I guess that's the difference between cooking and following a recipe, that knowing what you put in will work, that fun element. I LOVE those "aha, THIS will work really well with THAT" moments.

...and we over here do not believe in zucchinis. We have courgettes instead

Isn't Courgette a French word for inability to grow a marrow?

Actually, yes.

Courgette means small courge; courge from gourd, originally from Latin cucurbita, prob related to cucumis meaning cucumber.
So, tiny cucumber. Very French.

Zucchini comes from a similar Latin root, but does not have the connotation of size.

Which means a Zucchini really ought to be the equivalent of a Marrow.

Marrow comes to English from a Proto-Indo-European language via old Norse and German and originally had the meaning of inner-most part and equally seemed to refer to brains, especially in Lithuania.

So
Courgette - small Latin cucumber
Zucchini - Latin cucumber
Marrow - Neolithic Lithuanian Brains

(Just in case your interested - Gherkin, Persian cucumber by way of the Greeks.)

Excellent. So we can now utilise the word courgette as an insult too! Thanks!

Thanks for the explanation!

However, why don't you call a Mushroom a Champignon then?

Let's not even talk about Eruca sativa, or arugula. Or coriander or cilantro....!!

Considering the hot temperature outside and hearing it will get even hotter this weekend, here's an idea for some yumminess to keep cool:

You need:
- frozen fruit of any kind, whatever you like. I used a tropical fruit mix.
- juice, whatever you like. I used Peach- and Bananajuice.
- a food processor or blender. I only got a handheld blender, which works fine.

Let the fruit defrost just a liiiiiittle bit, so you don't kill your blender when mixing. Add some juice, mix well and enjoy an ice-cold... hmmm... what to call it? Smoothie? Slushie? Sorbet?

Whatever you want to call it, it's extremely yummy.

I LOVE your avatar!

That sounds gorgeous. I've only got a little hand held one, so will have to try it with that - and I know what you mean! Colt managed to break a big blender when making a milkshake once. Fudge. It got a bit too cold, a bit too hard, shot out of the side of the blender and covered Colt and the kitchen. Dangerous stuff, fudge.

This recipe isn't anything fancy and probably more like a loose guide line than a recipe, but it's simple, quick, and very tasty. It also makes about a boatload.

• ~2 lbs of honey marinated chicken strips
  
• jar of premade chili sauce of your choice
  
• tin of coconut milk
  
• whatever spices seem like a good idea at the time. I personally use a cocktail of generic barbecue, garam masala and tandoori mixes.

Brown the chicken strips in a wok pan or a wide sauce pan and spice them to taste. Tip in the chili sauce and coconut milk, smooth into an even blend and let it heat up nicely. Serve with rice. It for the next four days.

Mars bar vodka:

4-5 mars bars
milk - just to top up / dilute as your head prefers.
1 70cl bottle of vodka.

Instructions:

Take bottle. Remove ~40% of the vodka. Options are saving it for later, drinking it, or drinking it quickly.
Take mars bars. Chop up finely enough to fit in neck of bottle. Munch any that don't make it.
Shove mars bits in bottle.
Top up with milk. At this point it looks mostly like sewer water with added floaters.

Seal bottle TIGHTLY. Put in dishwasher for a full cycle.
The heat and vibrations of this should change it from sewer water + lumps, to something that looks brown and smells quite nice.

Chuck it in the fridge overnight, and sample liberally in the morning. I made it up with 4 mars bars and it still packs quite a punch, could probably add more milk if you wanted something that was halfway drinkable rather than a more tasty shot

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=525946&id=549530331
Should be pictures if i've done that right

Okay, I made a teeny bit of a tactical error in cooking for friends last night. You see I'd planned on making a plum crumble. Now, following a very large plum harvest last year, in which we had plum crumble, pork with chilli and ginger plum glaze and more plums than I knew what to do with, I decided to wash the remaining good ones, prick them with a fork, place them in two large glass jars and cover them in alcohol, one vodka and one brandy and add sugar.

We drained them off this last month, mixed the two types together and bottle the results, label them and hand some out as presents. (We checked to make sure it was tasty, and oh boy, it was!)

We froze the plums that had steeped in the alcohol from late summer.

Last night I defrosted them, cooked them up with some brown sugar and cinnamon.....Oh, don't worry, said Colt, the alcohol will cook off. I believed him, covered the cooked fruit with crumble topping (also with brown sugar and cinnamon) and cooked a HUGE fruit crumble with it. And then we all had some. And ...well, the alcohol hadn't quite cooked off. In fact, it hadn't cooked off at all.

I've never before gotten drunk from eating plum crumble.......

That sounds like one very delicious mistake! In fact, mistake really isn't the right word at all - it was more a fantastic discovery...

Indeed it was - I'm now desperately hoping we have a good plum harvest this year too! I think there's something in the air with baking and alcohol though - today when I was whipping up a chocolate banana cake recipe and decided it needed a shot or so of rum in it.... I had no complaints!

Ok, so I guess most people alredy know how to make condensed milk fudge? However, I love this so much though I thought I'd post it

- 350g dark chocolate , chopped
- 1 x 397g can condensed milk
- 30g butter
- tiny pinch salt

Put it all in a heavy-based pan on a low heat, and melt, sitiring all the time. It should go glossy, then take it off the heat and keep stiring until it has a mat finish. Pour into a cling flim lined tray. It's quite rich, so I like to make this fudge quite thin, If you want, add your fav nuts between glossy and matt. I like to soak raisins in rum and add those. Leave to set in a cool place, for a good few hours - more hours the thicker the layer of fudge. If you are going to cut into chunks, use a sharp knife and wipe the blade with a soft damp cloth between each slicing (for neater chunks). Nigella does this with pistachio's. Finally eat it all your self and forget it was ever going to be a present.

Oooh, I'm liking you even more now! Believe it or not, I've never made fudge, and there's a tin of condensed milk in the kitchen! I may well have to try this one!