edible

Falafel and Chilli bread

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 19:11:55 +0100

Chilli bread and falafel

A Saturday afternoon spent baking bread is my favourite as it's the only at the weekend that you have the time to kneed and let the dough rise for an hour or so. I tried making falafel for the second time, I’m not convinced I’ll follow this falafel recipe again but it was a healthy tasty dinner.

For the falafel

1 15-19 oz can chickpeas, drained
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Simple as can be, chuck it all in the food processor and turn it into a brown paste that’s wet and sticky to touch.
Shape into patties and place on a baking tray that’s lined with baking parchment.
Cook in an oven at 180 degrees for 12 minutes then turn over and cook for a further 12 minutes.

I cheated and used a pre-made white bread packet which you just have to add water and olive oil to, but I did add dry chilli flakes to the mix before I started kneading the dough.

I served my falafel on the chilli bread rolls with mayonnaise, salsa and spinach for a super healthy and filling dinner.

Follow @AnnaMolly2012

Vegetable Dhansak Recipe

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:58:31 +0100

This was one of my favourite recipes whilst at uni during the winter months when it was more than a touch cold. This curry is really filling, reasonably cheap and very warming! Prompted to make it again by a serious case of woman flu, I decided to give this a go as it gives you a great hit of vegetables (following this recipe to the letter will provide you with all of your five a day) and the chilli and spices help clear congestion and colds.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe I found in the back of Glamour magazine a couple of years ago now, but it has served me well.

There are a lot of ingredients in this recipe but chances are they will all be kicking about in your store cupboard and you don’t have to include every ingredient if you don’t fancy it. I tend to leave out the sultanas and fresh tomatoes because they’re not my favourite ingredients so feel free to chop and change the recipe and it will generally be ok as long as you keep your stock levels right with the lentils and have a generous portion of a stodgy vegetable such as the sweet potatoes and carrots to absorb the liquid.

Vegetable Dhansak

Makes four portions, allow an hour for prep and cooking time.

Ingredients
100g red lentils
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1tsp peeled and grated root ginger
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced into about 2cm cubes
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
Large handful sultanas
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
500ml hot vegetable stock
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 large tomatoes, each cut into 8
100g green beans, halved
1 tsp garam masala
Small bunch coriander, chopped

Method:

1. Soak the lentils in cold water for three minutes to rinse them and then drain.

2. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan, fry the onion, garlic, chillies and ginger until the onion softens.

3. Add the carrots, sweet potato and pepper and fry for a further five minutes.

4. Add the sultanas, turmeric and cumin and coriander and cook for one minute.

5. Stir in the lentils, stock, tomato puree and tomatoes. Cover with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring twice.

6. Add the beans and garam masala. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

7. Scatter with coriander, season and serve.

Oat and Raisin Cookie Recipe

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:54:39 +0100

Oat and Raisin Cookies are my absolute favourite flavour of cookie and after many disappointing visits to Millie’s Cookies and trying their version, I’d much rather make my own batch. I also like to kid myself that this is a little healthier then a chocolate chip cookie but I’m not going to market it as ‘diet’. Perfect for a quick recipe when your craving something sweet on a rainy afternoon. This recipe is quick, simple and doesn’t require too many ingredients.

Ingredients:

50g Salted Butter

50g Brown Sugar (gives it a caramel taste)

100g Self-raising flour

1 Tsp baking powder

Handful of raisins

1Tsp Cinnamon Powder

1Tsp Vanilla Essence

Handful of Oats

Splash of milk (to loosen mixture)

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.

3. Add all other dry ingredients and combine well.

4. Add a splash of milk to make the mixture sticky, it should hold together on a spoon and not slip off.

5. Take tablespoon size dollops and place on a baking tray leaving plenty of room around the edge for expansion.

6. Cook for 10 minutes, the cookies will still be gooey and look a little raw when you take them out but leave them on the side for a minute to harden up before eating so that they’re still chewy in the middle with a little crunch on the outside.

Enjoy!

Sloe Gin - How to

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:56:36 +0100

Olivia guides you through the enjoyable yet patience testing art of making your own Sloe Gin.

At the close of summer you probably notice (you country folk) some purplish blue berries in the hedgerows, if you've ever given these a munch to see what they taste like then you will have quickly discovered that they are incredibly sour and leave a furry feeling across your teeth. This is less than ideal, to fully exploit this free nature’s bounty you can create a fruity tipple by collecting a tub full of sloes and following this recipe to create Sloe Gin which tastes delicious with tonic water or lemonade for a sweet summer treat drink. This is my recipe to make Sloe Gin, bon chance!

Sloe gin is fairly simple to make but does require some patience.

You will need to prick all of your sloes with a knife to make sure they release their full flavour, once this has been done you will need:

An empty glass bottle which you can seal (ideally a screw tap wine or spirits bottle)

1) Fill the bottle with 1/3 Gin

2) 1/3 Sloe Berries

3) 1/3 Caster Sugar

4) Give the bottle a good old shake up, you should have a syrupy mixture remaining.

Leave the bottle in a cool, dark place. Shaking occasionally but leave to brew for at least three months until you enjoy the fruits of your labour.

When you get confident with your own Sloe Gin making you can play about with the ratio of fruit to alcohol to sugar but a third each is a good basic principle. This recipe also works with Damsons and with Vodka - enjoy and have fun!

Enjoy Sloe Gin with tonic water, lemonade, over crushed ice or make my favourite summer cocktail which I had for the first time in a cocktail bar in Sydney, Australia called the Argyle and which I'm going to give full credit to the Argyle for.

Argyle Cocktail:

50ml Sloe Gin

25ml Gin (Hendricks preferably)

25ml Lemoncello

Crushed mint

Sugar syrup

Shake together and serve over crushed ice in a tall glass for the most glorious summer cocktail.

Follow @AnnaMolly2012

Fitzbillies

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 12:02:06 +0100

Having lived in Cambridgeshire for over two decades it shames me to say that only on the 24 August 2012, whilst wandering around the backstreets of Cambridge, did I come across the famous 90 year old institution which is Fitzbillies bakery and had my first famous Fitzbillies Chelsea bun.

Fitzbillies is one of the institutions of Cambridge as much as the colleges and the punts, after a trialling time in early 2011 where the tea shop was forced into closure, a significant tweet by Stephen Fry changed the fate of Fitzbillies.

"Feb 09 2011 @stephenfry No! No! Say it ain't so - not Fitzbillies? Why I tweeted a pic of one of their peerless Chelsea buns but a six month ago"

The bakery has been saved by Tim Hayward, food writer turned tea shop owner and the bakery is again the happy welcoming tea shop with its signature Chelsea buns open seven days a week for lunch, tea, coffee and cakes and Fridays and Saturdays for dinner.

So how did I feel eating my first Fitzbillies Chelsea bun? The rich sticky mess of a Chelsea bun was like no Chelsea bun I’d eaten before, embarrassed for it to be my first time visiting Fitzbillies I took my bun to go and then wandered across the river and through the back streets of Cambridge between the colleges munching on a sickly sweet Chelsea bun. Licking syrup from my hands, (I realised precisely how disgusting I looked) but I felt very satisfied, maybe ever so slightly nauseous but very, very happy.

http://www.fitzbillies.com/

Visiting Cambridge? Go to Fitzbillies, 52 Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 1RG; 01223 352 500

Home Made Oreo Cookies Recipe

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:50:55 +0100

The World is falling to ruin and Cheshire's off his Tea

We had a casual little tea party in our student house and one of the biscuits in the collection were these little beauties: Home-made Oreo cookies which also look kinda like American Whoopie cakes but I'm going with Oreo cookies.

They were such a success, so tasty and satisfying and so much fun to make, that I thought I'd share how to make them and post the recipe.

I spent the morning making the chocolate biscuits and then whilst they were cooling down I made the vanilla icing and sat down to watch Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (thus the Cheshire cat reference) while I assembled the cookies.

The tea party was brilliant and needless to say I ate far too much cake, but it was definitely worth it.

Oreo Cookies recipe:

Ingredients for the cookies:

1 1/4 cups Plain Flour

1/2 cup Cocoa Powder

1 1/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp Butter

1 Egg, beaten

For the filling:

1/2 tsp Vanilla essence

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1 cup Icing Sugar

1-2 tbsp Milk

(To make around 16-20 cookies)

(Adjust the amount of salt in your cookies, I like mine quite salty like the real biscuit but that's not to everybody's taste)

Method:

Combine all of the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
Add the butter, you may need to rub the ingredients together using your fingers to begin with and then mix thoroughly together with a spoon.
Last add in the beaten egg until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined, you should have a mixture which is a more solid consistency then cake batter and which holds its shape.
Take small balls of the mixture, about the size of a 50 pence piece and place them on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, flattening the cookie dough slightly with the palm of your hand.
Cook at 180 for 9 minutes, your cookies will still be soft when you remove them from the oven but leave to solidify and cool down.
Mix together your ingredients for the icing whilst the cookies are cooling.
When both of your seperate elements are made, begin assembling your oreos with a generous dollop of icing between two biscuits.
Serve with a glass of milk

Enjoy!

Follow @annamolly2012