General Chat

Helen
If you google their are dozens of different cakes and menus that should give you everything you need. both meals and cakes sounded very nice indeed.
Let us know how you get on.

Good news today relating to why I do not have much time on here. Will keep you all informed as to when I shall statr posting more recipies.

Bridget in Spain where it is stiflingly HOT.

Goodness me, I am first on a new page !

I hope that I have not posted this before!

Green Beans with Bacon Recipe

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Not all green beans are alike. The longer the bean was on the vine, the tougher it can be. Fresh, young beans should be able to cook up perfectly well in less than 6 minutes. Tough old beans, you'll have to cook a lot longer to get them tender. Look for beans that easily snap in half when you bend them.
Ingredients

1 pound fresh green beans, ends snipped off and discarded, extra long beans, cut in half if you want
Salt
2-3 slices of bacon
Black pepper
1 Tbsp lemon juice or cider or red wine vinegar

Method

1 Heat a pot of salted water to a rolling boil (1 Tbsp salt for 2 quarts of water). Add the green beans and boil them for 4-5 minutes, until just tender enough to eat (you may have to cook longer depending on the particular green beans you have). Drain and set aside.

2 While the water is heating up to boil the beans, slowly cook the bacon until crispy in a large sauté pan set over medium-low heat. Use a slotted spoon or a fork to remove the bacon from the pan. Set the bacon on paper towels to sop up the excess fat. You should have about one tablespoon of fat left in the pan. Pour off any fat beyond 1 tablespoon. (Do not pour the fat down the drain or you'll stop up your drain.) If you have much less fat than a tablespoon left in the pan, add a little olive oil or butter to the pan.

3 Once the green beans are cooked, sauté them over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes in the bacon fat. Dice the bacon and add to the pan and sauté another minute. Put the beans and bacon into a large serving bowl and sprinkle generously with freshly ground black pepper. Toss with lemon juice or vinegar and serve at once.

Yield: Serves 4 as a side dish.

Bridget in Spain

Last night, I decded to use up a jar of Bacon Cabonara simmer sauce. It has been in the cupboard for so long, I couldn't find a 'use by' date on it.

I boilded some pasta until 'al dente', drained it, then added the sauce and heated it through - and voila! Scrumptious.

(Only problem - my diet calls for ONE small portion of pasta, OR potato, OR rice per week. This was very filling and left enough for to-day's lunch too).
Oh well, back to the diet tomorrow!

I fry cut up bacon and add it with crumbled feta to cooked beans... in fact I do it with pumpkin as well. The other night I had a roast of beef with potatoes cooking in the oven and then I added campari vine tomatoes near the end of cooking. On the stove top I did small pieces of carrot and added beans ( if I had had courgettes (zucchinis) I would have put them in) then added crumbled feta and when that blended with the juice of the vine tomatoes on the plate and it was really scrummy.
If I cook loose corn with beans I will add breadcrumbs, butter and garlic after I have drained the water off... put it back on a low heat and give it a quick stir for the butter to melt... or use garlic butter.
The other thing I quite often add is creme fraiche or cream cheese or parmesan.... etc.

I add bacon or pancetta to pork mince when making a meatloaf, burgers etc it just seems to bring out the flavour


Will post again later this week

Regards Jan, Norfolk UK

Just to say thanks go everyone for posting whilst I have not been on here or adding very much. My worries have significantly reduced thank goodness.

I will be in full swing by the weekend,

Bridget in Spain

Two quick recipes


if you have a glut of raspberries then why not make a liquer. You need a large coffee jar, fill it with raspberries, then granulated sugar shake the jar so the sugar goes down, then top up with either cheap gin or vodka. put on lid. Shake jar gently each day for two weeks, until sugar dissolved, then put in the dark for three months. Even if you do not like gin or vodka, I promise it tastes nothing like them. But makes a great Christmas gift or drink.

Similarly with sloes what I have done is freeze the fresh sloes and then defrost that breaks the skins, and saves having to prick every one, then follow what I have said above....

Jan

Jan,
I am would like to do the Gin recipe but cannot find Raspberries here can I use any other fruit??

Thinking that after the end of this month we will be thinking of Christmas....lots more recipes I hope.

How time passes so quickly.

Bridget

Yes you can use strawberries or blackberries basically any fruit similar


Hope you enjoy


Jan

I haven't tried this one yet but it has just come up on the Delia newletter and looks interesting.

Ingredients

140 g butter

120 g brown sugar & 2 tblsp brown sugar

25 ml amaretto

2 tblsp sultana

2 tblsp lemon marmalade

3 tblsp chopped almonds

6 kiwis

150 g flour

120 g powdered almonds
Method

While preheating your oven to 210°C (gas mark 7), grease an oven dish wish 20 g butter and add 2 tblsp brown sugar.

Pour ~25 ml amaretto, 2 tblsp sultanas, 2 tblsp lemon marmalade and 3 tblsp of chopped almonds into a bowl and mix together. Then peel and dice 6 kiwis then place them in a cake pan. Pour the mixture over the kiwis.

Then, to make the pastry, mix together 150 g flour, 120 g powdered almonds, 120 g brown sugar and 120 g butter in a large bowl, until it reaches a rough, breadcrumb-like consistency. When ready, add this mixture to the cake pan.

Place the dish into the oven and bake for 30 min, then serve with vanilla ice cream.

Hello SpanishEyes again, I have just realised that I had already done a post further down, thank you for your welcome. Yes, I shall have to find a good recipe to share. I've been making various liqueurs recently so am busy turning and shaking, they all have an assortment of gin, brandy or vodka with the addition of Lakelands bottled vanilla extract, orange, lemon slices, blackberries, plums, sugar etc. (not all together!) I haven't made any before and am teetotal, I shall have to trust others judgement!

Lavender,

I eagerly await your recipes for the liqueurs, please add them on here. I am going to the UK at the end of September and would like to have a bit more info as to the Lakeland extracts and or another items anyone has bought from this outlet that you would not be without. In November my dear stepson and family are visiting us again. They live in Holland and will be driving here and will be bringing my new cooker. I am really looking forward to having an oven which is reliable.....

In October I hope that more people start to join us for Christmas and New year festivities and we have some good ideas.

To hot to do much cocking at the moment. Mostly salads each day, with lots of fresh fruit, and good wine! I think I have now tried most of the chicken recipies, and the salads. Will be getting a written copy of a new rice dish from my visitors before they leave, and I will add that on here.

Enjoy your day everyone


Best wishes to you all

Bridget

For those who have a surplus of tomatoes...James Martin MMMMMMMMM
did a good recipe yesterday on Saturday Kitchen for a soup, which I intend trying, so if you want it too google saturday Kitchen for 17.9.2011 and its there, it looked delicious.

Look forward to some more interesting receipes over the autumn, winter

Greenfingers I shall certainly look at thatbsite, I enjoy a good tomato soup.
I will be in the UK in Attleborough from Friday night next week for almost two weeks, so my find some more recipies whilst there. I did find the food there very good when I staed there for two years, so if anyone lives there or nearby maybe we could meet for a coffee?!

Will try to get a favourite recipe from daughter in law.

Bridget

Looking forward to some new recipies or twists on old recipies when I get home in a week or so.
Have been gathering som new recipies whilst here in Norfolk.

Would be good to get this thread going again.
What about it ladies and gentlemen???

Bridget in sunny Attleborough

Sorry that I didn't reply earlier as I only just found your post to me. You must be reallly looking forward to your cooker arriving, it is so frustrating when a cook doesn't have the right equipment. I use an aga in the winter months with a backup electric stove but the thermostat doesn't work correctly which is frustrating. However, like you there is promise of a new one next year!

I have already bottled the plum liqueur. It only steeped for 21 days in the recipe but I was away so it did sit there for longer. I don't like alcohol, its taste more resembled cough mixture than liqueur. I shall report back on the recipe next year after it has had time to mature.

I have made a large quantity of sloe gin so it will be interesting to see how that one turns out too.

Having eaten french beans on a daily basis all summer, I am about to pull them up and tidy the raised, vegetable beds. There is so much work in our large garden after a holiday. And the weather is sooo hot that the lawn, having been scarified, had already had seeds applied, so that needs a little sprinkle too. I'm off to join you in the sunshine. ps I was very pleased with both the almond and vanilla extracts from Lake L., although they are somewhat pricey. Kind regards.

I am making Beetroot Chutney tomorrow in the Slow Cooker, if it goes well, will post on how long it took and the recipe....so watch this space.

Glad you are having a nice time Bridget

Looking forward to seeing how that goes, it certainly sounds delish!

Thanks Lavender/...it smells delicious !!

Took longer than I thought and had to adjust recipe, but is good
here goes

Beetroot Chutney

900g beetroot I precooked, skinned and diced small
450g chopped onions, 675 cooking apples, peeled,cored and roughly chopped, 450g raisins, 3 tbsp ground giner,2 tsps dried chillies,900g granulated sugar, juice of 1 lemon,40g salt and 1/2 litre malt vinegar.

Put all ingreds in a pan and stir until sugar is dissolved and simmer for about 2 hours uncovered, or until well reduced and quite thick, then let it cool and put into warm jars...made about 5 jars, but would depend on your jars. I did try it in the slow cooker, but would recommend not to and use the stove top instead.

Hope you all enjoy....my sister in law has just brought me some more beetroot so I will do a different lot next time !!

Jan