Saturday, 8 February 2014

Fruit and Vegetable Tagine recipe from Penny

Fruit and Vegetable Tagine

INGREDIENTS

1 onion (I use two or three large shallots)
2 tbsp olive oil (I use as much as I seem to need)
2 garlic cloves
1 heaped teaspoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of ground saffron (this is what the recipe says, but I used
a few strands of saffron)
400g can of chopped tomatoes
4000 ml good vegetable stock
400g sweet potato, peeled and diced
8 baby carrots
8 green olives - pitted
8 dried apricots
1 tbsp of chilli sauce
1 tbsp of runny honey
2 cinnamon sticks
400g courgettes, sliced
8 medjool dates - pitted.  (I took the stones out myself as I couldn't
seem to find stoneless ones)
Sea salt and pepper

Chop and slice onion or shallots finely.  Heat the olive oil in the
frying pan and gently cook the oven for ten minutes, stirring well. Add
the tomatoes, stock, sweet potato, carrots, olives, apricots, chilli
sauce,honey, seat salt, pepper, and two cinammon sticks stirring until
starting to 'bubble'.  Cover the pan and simmer for twenty minutes.

Add courgettes (sliced) and dates and simmer for a further twenty minutes.

Serve hot with couscous.

I did freeze mine after the initial cooking, but afterwards wished that
I had kept the dates and apricots to put in before reheating.

The ingredients above are sufficient for six people.  I did add
everything by half as much again for eight

two brilliant blueberry recipes from ALEX

Blueberry Muffins


Ingredients:
(Grouped into order of method and mixtures)

200 g Wholemeal Flour
170 g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1.5 tsp Cinnamon

1 mashed Banana
100 g mashed Blueberries 
1 egg
80 g melted butter
Light Brown Sugar
Demerara Sugar
70 g Non-Fat Vanilla Yoghurt
180 ml Skimmed Milk
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 Lemon juice
1/2 tsp Salt 

125 g frozen blueberries (lightly floured)


Method:

  • Pre-heat oven to 190-200 °C
  • Get out a muffin tin and line with parchment paper (if you can fold the edges around a glass to get the deli look)
  • Sift flours into large mixing bowl
  • Whisk in baking soda, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon
  • Make sure there are no lumps and the mixture is even

  • Mash bananas and blueberries until fairly smooth
  • Put mashed banana and blueberries into mixing bowl
  • Mix the egg into the mashed fruit with a fork until consistent (should’t take long)
  • Add the melted butter (not hot, just liquid) and mix again until consistent
  • Add the sugars one at a time and mix in until consistent
  • Add the yoghurt and milk then mix again
  • Finally, add the vanilla extract, salt and lemon juice then mix
You now have the two mixtures

  • Pour the liquid mix into a well in the dry mix
  • Gently fold the mixtures together until no flour air pockets remain - Be careful not to over mix as this will make the muffins dense!
  • Once fully combined, spoon mixture into lined muffin tin 
  • Placing a spoonful of mix followed by a few frozen blueberries and repeat until the mix is to the edge of the tin
  • Place a couple more blueberries on the top to make them appealing
  • Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
  • Remove from tin and let to cool for 5-10 minutes
  • Put on a plate and cut in half to see how amazing they are!
  • Devour 


American Pancakes

Makes about 10
45g butter (melted but not hot)
115g plain flour
115g fine cornmeal
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar (possible other sugars like icing sugar)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
300ml buttermilk
100ml whole milk
(Optional blueberries mashed up slight and put some in mix and some to serve on top)
(Optional vanilla extract and cinnamon)

1. Put the oven on low to keep the pancakes warm, and cook or otherwise prepare any bacon or other accompaniments. Melt the butter and leave to cool slightly.

2. Put the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl.

3. Put the egg, buttermilk and milk into a smaller bowl and whisk to combine, then stir in 2 tbsp melted butter. Then add the contents of the bowl to the dry ingredients and mix briefly until just combined.

4. Put a heavy-based frying pan on a medium heat and brush the base with melted butter. Use a large spoon to dollop pancakes into the pan (you'll probably need to do this in at least 2 batches) and cook until they begin to look dry and bubbly on top: depending on the heat of your pan, this should take about 2 minutes. Flip over and cook the other side and cook for another couple of minutes until golden. Put into the oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining pancakes, unless you have customers ready and waiting.
5. Serve and devour immediately, while they're still hot.