Recipe Sticky?

[Kazz]

Baked pears with spiced honey

4 conference pears, 4 tbsp honey,300ml unsweetened apple juice, 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 4 cardamom pods, 1 star anise.

Heat your oven to gas mark 6 or 200C in elec oven, peel the pears and trim the base so they stand level.
Arrange on baking dish.
In a saucepan, heat together the honey and apple juice. Boil for a couple of minutes and pour over the pears. Add the cinnamon stick- broken up, plus the cloves, cardamom pods and star anise.
Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for an hour or until tender (depends on the size of your pears) turning the pears over in the spiced apple and honey syrup from time to time. Remove the pears from the syrup and keep warm.
Transfer the syrup to a saucepan and boil for 2-3 minutes until its reduced and thickened, at which point take it off the heat and drizzle it over the pears which you have stood up on their end in the dish you will serve them in.
Serve the pears either on their own or with natural yogurt (or ice cream or even custard)

Tip these are also delicious served cold, sliced up and can be kept for 2-3 days in a Tupperware container in the fridge.

[Mags]

Thanks Kazz, I'll definitely give that a go!

[Mags]

Cherry & Almond Tart

Ingredients

500g/18oz ready-made sweet shortcrust pastry

250g/9oz unsalted butter, softened

250g/9oz caster sugar

25g/1oz plain flour

250g/9oz ground almonds

4 medium eggs, at room temperature

600g/5oz tin of pitted black cherries, drained

3-4 tbsp apricot jam

Prep time : 10 mins
Cooking time: approx 45 mins
Serves 8

Method

1) Use the pastry to line a 25cm/10in flan ring, trim the edges and bake blind.
Reduce the oven temperature to 160C/325F/gas mark 3.

2) To make the almond mixture, cream the butter and sugar together in a large
mixing bowl until very pale and thick. Mix in the flour and a quarter of the
almonds until smooth. Then beat in the eggs one at a time, until each one is
absorbed. If you do this gradually (and all the ingredients are at room temperature) there is less chance of the mixture curdling, which could make the baked sponge heavy and greasy

3) Carefully fold in the remaining ground almonds.

4) Spread the almond mixture in the tart case and smooth the surface. Dot the cherries over the mix. (There's no need to press them in as they'll sink as the tart bakes). Put the tart in the oven and bake for 45 mins, or until risen and golden brown.

5) Gently press the mixture near the edge, it should feel springy. Move closer to the centre pressing gently. If cooked, the tart will have the same springiness all the way across.

6) Put the apricot jam into a small saucepan and leave to melt over a low heat. Add a little water if it's very thick. Push it through a sieve to remove any lumps and then brush it liberally over the top of the tart to glaze.

Serve the tart warm with cold custard.

You can swap the tinned cherries for raspberries, blackberries, apricots or pears.

It can also be served with double cream or ice cream.

[CathyW]

havnt gone through the whole thread, but anyone got a nice recipe for suffolk cheesey rusks, everytime im in suffolk i buy them and they are sooooo tasty with cheese spead.
thanx

[Mags]

Suffolk Rusks

Ingredients

• 8oz Self Raising Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 1oz Sugar
• ½ oz yeast
• 1oz Butter
• ¼ pint of warmed milk

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 230°C: 450°F: Gas 8
2. Sift the sugar and flour into a bowl.
3. Melt the butter and mix it with the warmed milk.
4. Add the liquid to the flour mixture along with the yeast.
5. Beat the eggs and whisk into the mixture to form a soft dough.
6. Cover the bowl with a clean tea-towel and leave in a warm place for 1½ hours.
7. Knead slightly and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1 inch, cut into 2½ inch rounds.
8. Place on a greased tray and bake for around 10 minutes.
9. Pull in half and return to the oven, cut side upwards for another 10 minutes to crisp.
10. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve with butter and jam or as a savoury with cheese or toppings. Suffolk Rusks store well in a tin.

[dinahsmum]

Poulet Basquaise

1 Chicken - jointed or pieces. I think it's better as we had it in SW France, which is small joints or large bone-in pieces. However you do it, all the chick gets into the pot, so you get the flavour & 'goodness' from the carcasse.
2 shallots/1onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 and a half red and half a green pepper, deseeded and chopped
large tomato, skinned, quartered and deseeded
375ml chicken stock
125 ml dry white wine
75gm tomato paste
2 tsp paprika (smoked, plain or a mixture, to taste)
50ml olive oil
50gm pitted black olives
sprig of thyme/bay leaf/s&p if desired

Heat oven to 200C

Fry the chicken pieces in the olive oil and put them in the casserole
Gently cook shallots, garlic, peppers, to soften slightly. Add paprika, thyme, bay leaf, and wine and bubble down to half volume. Pour into casserole
Put tomato, tomato paste and chicken stock into the pan, bring to the boil and skim off any scum.
Pour into the casserole, add the olives, cover and cook in the oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour.

You can vary the smokiness by adjusting the paprika. Use plain or smoked, as you fancy. There is a particular local spice which is supposed to be the definitive, but I haven't been able to find it. I tend to add a few drops of Tabasco too - not to make it hot, just add a little kick.

[dandysmom]

Radish and Fennel Salad


Radish, Fennel & Endive Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

"I'll bring a salad". And this is what she brought: a crunchy treat that comes from the distinctly fresh flavors of its two main ingredients, both unrivaled by most other root vegetables.

Serves 6

3 Tbls. Dijon mustard
2 Tbls. red vinegar
2 tsp Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 Tbls. olive oil
24 radishes, trimmed and very thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
4 fennel bulbs, trimmed and very thinly sliced crosswise (about 4 cups)
1 Belgian endive, thinly sliced crosswise
2 Tbls. fresh Italian parsley, minced

In a blender or food processor, combine mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper. With motor running, add oil by tablespoon-fulls until it is well blended.In a salad bowl, toss together radishes, fennel, endive, parsley, and vinaigrette. Enjoy!

[Mags]

Dandysmom's recipe for ......

Cabbage and Noodles

http://www.catsey.com/showpost.php?p=524430&postcount=1

[dandysmom]

Zuppa de Pesce (Italian Fish Stew)

olive oil
clove of garlic
small onion
rib of celery
small green pepper (or half large)
mushrooms - a couple
tomatoes + juice
tsp oregano
about 2 cups fish stock (can use chicken broth)
tabasco (to your taste)
some wine (red or white)
firm white fleshed fish cut in abut 1 inch cubes

Add enough olive oil to saute the garlic, onions, pepper celery, and mushrooms. Add to the chicken broth, and simmer for 5 - 6 minutes, add the coarsely chopped tomatoes with some juice (depends how soupy you want it) and a dash of wine, the fish and the oregano, plus whatever amount of tabasco you'd like. Simmer about 6 more minutes until fish is done.

This smells heavenly, and is delicious. The original recipe didn't call for mushrooms but I had some on hand so added them. Garlic bread goes nicely with this, also a glass of vino.. think next time I make it will add a few shrimp also.

Forgot to say I used swordfish.

[angieh]

Ultimate chocolate cake

This is meant to be EASY! Cuts into 14 slices. Prep 30 - 40 mins. Cook 1 hour - 1 hr 30 mins (I found it took longer)

Ingredients
200g good quality dark chocolate about 60% cocoa solids. (I used 85% because I like dark chocolate)
200g butter cut in pieces
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
85g self-raising flour
85 g plain flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g light muscovado sugar
200g golden caster sugar
25g cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
75 ml buttermilk (5 tbsp)
grated chocolate or curls to decorate

For the Ganache
200g good quality chocolate (as above)
284 ml carton double cream (pouring type)
2 tbsp golden caster sugar

1. Butter a 20cm round cake tin (7.5 cm deep) and line the base. Preheat oven to fan 140C/conventional 160C/gas3. Break the chocolate in pieces into a medium heavy-based pan. Tip in the butter, then mix the coffee granules into 125ml or 4 fl oz cold water and pour into the pan. Warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted - don't overheat. Or melt in the microwave on medium for about 5 minutes, stirring half way through.

2. While the chocolate is melting mix the two flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and cocoa in a big bowl, mixing with your fingers to get rid of any lumps. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and stir in the buttermilk.

3. Now pour the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency. Pour this into the tin and bake for 1 hour 25 - 1 hour 30 minutes if you push a skewer in the centre it should come out clean and the top should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit). Leave to cool in the tin (don't worry if it dips slightly) then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

4. When the cake is cold cut it horizontally into three. Make the ganache - chop the chocolate into small pieces and tip into a bowl. Pour the cream into a pan and add the sugar and heat until it is about to boil. Take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

5. Sandwich the layers together with just a little of the ganache. Pour the rest over the cake letting it fall down the sides and smoothing to cover with a palette knife. Decorate with grated chocolate or chocolate curls (or mini chocolate eggs!) The cake keeps moist and gooey for 3-4 days.

The making of the cake and the ganache is actually easy. It is cutting the cake and the presentation I found hard, especially as I don't have a palette knife!

This is a BBC Good Food recipe.