Cookies!

I'm gonna admit I've never baked cookies before. I'm a cookie virgin. But oh my word am I converted! I may never buy store bought cookies again! Ok that's a lie when double stuffed Oreos exist. They're just too good.
We used this waitrose recipe but left out the orange peel & used dark brown sugar instead of light. 
They were truly yummy. Not the traditional hard cookie texture I was expecting but still yum! Plus how excited am I that I have a roll of cookie dough in the fridge for tomorrow? Just a wee bit.

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Confit Duck with Garlic & Rosemary Roasties

Oh Aye, I went there. 

I'm not sure what was going through my mind when at 9:30pm on a friday night I decided to make Duck Confit. Especially as I was making it for Sunday lunch! But as I slathered the legs in garlic, salt & covered it in oil to put them in the oven and slowly braise for 3 hours I knew there was no going back. 

Once the 3 hours was I let the confit cool a bit before putting the dish straight in the fridge. Theoretically Confit can last up to a month in the fridge, I'm not that brave and only left it about a day & a half.. I simply roasted the legs in a tin foil parcel slightly open at the top to allow the skin to crisp up. It fell from the bone, I have an awful habit of panicking and pulling meat from the oven too soon, I resisted this instinct and the legs were really great!

I then roasted some par-boiled potatoes in the duck fat with rosemary & garlic. I covered the potatoes in flour before frying in the oil, this creates a beautiful crunch on the potatoes. Seriously good.

I'm going to be honest I didnt really take note of exact times and temperatures on this one. It was very much fluid & improvised, although I know that I started the oven off just below 190 and raised it above 210 at the end to crisp off the duck skin and the potatoes. The duck was in for about an hour and the roasties for 40 of that. I very much stuck with the "until golden brown" rule when came to the potatoes.

The gravy was a base of onions, garlic & rosemary (to tie in with the potatoes) with a mix of vegetable stock & chicken gravy granules. sounds wierd but it tasted awesome and needs very little seasoning thanks to the stock. I would love to have served some vegtables with this but I didn't have any. some frozen peas & carrots would be great if you're going the traditional Sunday Dinner route.

This two day meal is actually very simple & not labour intensive at all! You are reading the ramblings of a very happy full person right now.

Macaroni Cheat

What do you get when you take a few normal Macaroni Cheese ready meals, add in some sauteed Leeks & Bacon and smother it with Chedder & cubes of Brie? 

Well apart from a Lactose Intolerant's nightmare you get this! 

What a way to brighten up a boring convenience meal eh? If you do happen to be Lactose Intolerant like me, or in any way watching your diet, I'd advise small portions. This is not for the faint hearted or colesterol shy as I like to call them.

North African Inspired Oxtail Stew

What do you do when you come across some reduced oxtail during  your search for cheap food? You buy it and then raid your store cupboard for something to do with it! Because at £1.50 you really have no other choice. If you're me that is.

So I come home, raid my recipe books & google to find something that matches what we have and come across this now I had to improvise a little bit not having star anise or shallots readily available & not finding the cinnamon sticks until after i'd added Cinnamon powder but i'm really happy with the result and that i've broken my oxtail cooking virginity!

Oxtail Stew

600g oxtail pieces
2large onions 1 White 1 Red
2 leeks
3 cloves Garlic
3 large carrots
7 or 8 new potatoes
1 butternut Squash
Large Pinch of Cinnamon
Large Pinch of Thyme
Large Pinch of Rosemary
2 crushed cloves
1/2 glass of Red Wine
1 Pint Beef Stock
500g Passata
2 tblsp Balsamic Vinegar
Salt & Pepper

I largely diced the onions and sauteed them off with the leeks, garlic, carrots, halved the potatoes & added the seasoning. I then added the meat, the herbs & spices & started the braising process with the wine & vinegar. After about 10 - 15 minutes I added the stock & passata and then left to simmer with the lid on tight on the a low heat for a good hour. 

After an hour I took the oxtail out, left it to cool & added the squash. I probably should have lowered the heat to the lowest setting and given it another half hour but never having braised before I panicked a wee bit. Still, the meat was cooked but just needed a bit of effort when pulling it off the bone. You live and you learn with these things.when the oxtail was cool enough I stripped the bones & added it back into the stew where i left it again for 10 minutes whilst it reheated through, this time with the lid off.

 

And there you have it, an adaptation of an adaptation but truly yummy. It even got the seal of approval from my housemate who was, to say the least, skeptical when I told him I'd made Oxtail never mind that I'd combined it with a Squash! I think its safe to say this is another successful addition to our list of things to do with a butternut Squash. I'm wondering if this obsession will ever end!

 

Gluten Free Chocolate Layer Cake

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I took a whim the other day and decided to make my brother a birthday feast. It involved this cake. Undoubtedly the best cake I've ever made. And it was completely Gluten Free! I grew up watching my mum struggle with Celiac disease and believe me the range of food available is leaps better than it used to be. Still, it's hard to get stuff like cakes and bread right due the lack of stretchy goodness given by Gluten. However nowadays tescos do a great range of GF flours and as long as you remember to keep the batter a bit wetter than usual any cake recipe can be adapted to suit your needs. I used a basic chocolate sponge of 200g flour/butter/sugar & 3 eggs and 2 tblsp of cocoa powder for each cake layer. A wee bit of vanilla can be used to loosen up the batter if necessary and add an extra depth of flavour. These cakes don't tend to rise as much as normal sponges which is pretty much how we can get away with having 2 large sponges like that. I have to admit though I makes a pretty big cake once you add the butter cream and the frosting! And then we have the frosting. Pretty much the star of the show and my greatest nemesis. I never get frostings right. Disaster is the usual ending! But this time it was kismet. The butter & sugar creamed properly for the buttercream center. The ganâche (made with 500g plain Gluten Free chocolate & just short of 250ml soya cream) set perfectly and I was even able to a use small amount of it to flavour the butter cream for the middle of the cake! Bish bash bosh and with the help of some vegan Chocolate buttons & a few curls we have cake. Very chocolatey cake. Enjoy.

Christmas Cupcakes

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My most successful cupcakes yet!
The cake batter itself is my new favourite recipe and is going to become my standard recipe.
The butter cream taste is still not perfect quite perfect, maybe because I ran out of Vanilla, Maybe I need to lower the butter content. Was a little too buttery for some tasters. But still. Amazing.
The recipes can be found below on the Channel 4 food website but is actually from a Christmas cupcake book I've been eyeing up. May have to invest now!
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/seasonal/christmas/christmas-tree-cupca...

Christmas Cupcakes

See and download the full gallery on posterous

My most successful cupcakes yet!
The cake batter itself is my new favourite recipe and is going to become my standard recipe.
The butter cream taste is still not perfect quite perfect, maybe because I ran out of Vanilla, Maybe I need to lower the butter content. Was a little too buttery for some tasters. But still. Amazing.
The recipes can be found below on the Channel 4 food website but is actually from a Christmas cupcake book I've been eyeing up. May have to invest now!
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/seasonal/christmas/christmas-tree-cupca...