Cream Crackers !

Every wonder why a cream cracker is a "cream" cracker, well its because it contains cream, real diary cream. Hubby likes experimenting so he located a recipe, which is very easy and produces some tasty little crackers which would be great for serving with cheese, dips or a drinks nibble. You can sprinkle with extra sea salt, herbs or parmesan cheese, its up to you.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup double cream
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2tsp salt

Method

• Sieve flour and salt into a bowl, mix.
• Add the cream and mix with your hand until you have a sort of dough.
• Now tip onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth dough.
• Wrap your ball of dough in cling wrap and let it rest at room temperature for about an hour.
• Now roll out very thinly , ideally between two pieces of baking paper, cut into your desired shape
• Bake at 170C for approx 15 mins maybe a little longer until lightly golden and the crackers are crispy.

Store in an airtight tin, if you can resist the temptation to eat them all at once.

Callooh! Callay! - Funky tea shop Clitheroe

Callooh Callay is funky little tea shop in the lovely Lancashire market town of Clitheroe, for those in the know its smack bang in the centre of all things foodie, the area is well blessed with fabulous growers, farmers, producers and talented chefs and cooks who make use of all this great grub to produce some of the best food in the country.

Callooh Callay sits on the charming traditional high street, so is very handy to bob into for a drink or a light meal whilst you are enjoying the delights of Clitheroe. Based on the theme of the mad hatters tea party, this quirky little tea shop draws you in. the decor is great, all chintzy retro, with lots of recycled and reused crockery, fabrics and furniture. The flooring however is amazing and its worth paying a visit for this alone, its an old map blown up of  Clitheroe and then made in vinyl, amazing !

The menu is relatively short, but thats not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion and is a range of soup, sandwiches, toasties and  homemade cakes. The tea menu however is longer after all this is an ode to all things "Jabberwocky" after all, lots of custom blends specially made for the tea shop. They also serve "Hot Vimto", a classic winter warmer. 

Service was attentive and our food arrived in a reasonably time, so it was freshly prepared, both the sandwich and toastie that we ordered were well flavoured and accompanied by vegetable crips and homemade coleslaw and some dressed salad. So all in all a great little tea room.

Valentine Treats - Hotel Chocolat

Its that time of year when everyone's thoughts turn to LOVE, if like me you find it difficult to know what to buy as a treat for your loved one or even just a treat for yourself, then Hotel Chocolat can give you a helping hand without breaking the bank. 

Hotel Chocolat have a great selection of gifts which can be delivered direct to the door of your loved one, this modern funky artisan cocoa grower and chocolatier has a gift for all budgets. I found it really easy to search for my selection by using the search function on their website. 

My choice The Sleekster LOVE selection, a large mixed selection of  luscious truffles,silky pralines and hand finished hearts comes packaged in a glossy long  funkily decorated box of 260 grammes. Inside carefully packaged, smooth, seductive and utterly devoted to love chocolates nestle.

The box contained 2 of each chocolate, Cherry Bombe, Bison Grass Vodka, Praline Oyster, Caramel Sweetheart, Chilli Sweetheart, Champagne truffle, Blackcurrant truffle, Vanilla truffle, Raspberry Rupture, Strawberry & black pepper, Bucks Fizz, Soft Chilli Caramel and Sweet Lips.

The chocolate was delicious in all its forms, especially the praline oyster, champagne truffle and Blackcurrant truffle.

So go on take all the stress out of Valentines day and order your gift now from Hotel Chocolat

Have Your Cake and Eat it too ! Sally Bee's new book !

As regular readers of my blog will know I really admire the work and personal courage of Sally Bee. I have been really lucky to be given the opportunity to review her latest book "Have your cake and eat it too !", her ethos being that life is too short to miss out on cake and puddings just because you are trying to eat healthy. Along side her common sense advice of positive thinking and living an active life, she has re worked all your favourite cake and dessert  recipes to be more heart healthy.

The book is presented with a sensible wipe clean cover for the busy cook and is well illustrated, the recipes are laid out in different sections to cover all the options for a sweet treat, Large cakes, small cakes, cookies, puddings, ices, etc. Each recipe is easy to follow and the instruction are comprehensive and feature healthy ingredients which should be easily sourced at your local supermarket, recipes are also provided for healthy toppings and frostings for your delicious creations.

This book makes a great addition to any cooks bookshelf, whether a beginner or a more experienced baker, and is available from Amazon or your local book shop. I can  so recommend the Blueberry Muffins !! 

Lancashire Nuts

Intrigued by a class on the schedule for the county WI show for "Lancashire Nuts", I set about finding out what they were ? Now I consider myself to be pretty well informed when it comes to all things foodie but this is one local delicacy I wasn't aware of and had never baked. I located two recipes on the internet and one in a recipe booklet I have in my archive, all slightly different. I haven't been able to find any history as to why they are called Nuts even though they don't contain nuts or anything about them looks like a nut, so if anyone can let me know their origins I would be grateful.

One of my fellow baking enthusiasts @Janemorecakepls, also a fellow WI member thinks they are a bit like a Lancashire version of a whoopie pie, and given the results when I baked the recipe I would tend to agree. You can apparently fill them with jam, lemon curd or butter-cream and they are a nice cross between a cake and a biscuit. 

Ingredients

• 4oz Quality Margarine
• 4 oz sugar
• 4oz cornflour
• 4 oz self raising flour
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt

Method

• Cream your margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy
• Add all the ingredients and mix well, your mix will be firmer than a normal cake mix
• Spoon onto a greased baking tray using a teaspoon
• Flatten your dollops with the back of your teaspoon slightly
• Bake in a pre heated oven at 150-160c for approx 20 minutes until firm and lightly golden
• Cool on a wire tray and sandwich two together with your desired filling

Homemade butter and Spelt Soda Bread

I fondly recall making butter when I was about 7 at school with Mrs Bolan, if I remember rightly it involved a yoghurt pot and lots of jiggling as we passed the carton round the class, at the end we did get butter. This week Tom and Henry Herbert ( The Fabulous Baker Bros) refreshed my memory on how easy it is to make butter at home. 

Double Cream and my trusty Kitchen aid mixer were all it took to produce so delicious butter and buttermilk for use in the Soda bread. You just mix until the butter forms on the spiral whisk and buttermilk is left in the bowl, you then rinse the butter in clean cold water to remove any buttermilk left in the butter.

Soda bread is equally as simple, I just followed the recipe in this Saturday's Times -Weekend from those fabulous baking bros again, the recipe uses spelt flour. 

Ingredients

• 300g spelt flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 230ml buttermilk, if you haven't got enough from your buttermaking top up with milk

Preheat your oven to 230c and put your tray into to pre heat

Method

• Mix all your dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the buttermilk
• Mix with your hands until you have a sticky dough
• Turn out onto a floured surface and shape to a round
• Place on your tray and quickly slash deeply into the classic four
• Bake for 15 - 20 mins 

Cinnamon Spelt Cake

Spelt , is a species of the wheat family and has been in use since the Bronze age. The grain is grown in Britain and is reputed to be easier to digest that other strains of wheat, I have been using the flour in some of my baking for a while. Its pretty easy to get hold of in a quality supermarket and most health food stores will stock Spelt in various forms.

This recipe was one of the first I made using Spelt flour and you will find that the flour gives a pleasant nutty yeasty twang to the cake, recipes in most cases need to be adapted slightly to spelt flour. The topping is also a little unusual but go with it as it works to provide a nice crunchy top to the cake.

Ingredients

• 100g softened butter or quality vegetable margarine
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 3 eggs - free range 
• 100g demerara sugar
• 150g spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 50g ground almonds

Method

• Cream the margarine / butter with the soft brown sugar, then beat in 2 of your eggs
• Add the spelt flour,baking powder and 1tsp of cinnamon
• Mix well and then turn into an oiled cake tin, either a loose bottomed or springform works best.
• Mix together your demerara sugar, ground almonds and the remaining tsp of cinnamon and the egg to a grainy paste, spread this over the top of the cake mix in the tin.
• Bake in a pre heated oven @ 180c for approx 30 minutes until well risen and cooked through.
• Cool in the tin

White Allium Soup

I was kindly sent a sample recently of some veal stock powder from Essential Cuisine, a company that specialising in stock both for the food service industry and the home chef. I needed a recipe that showcased the stock yet didn't actually need veal, as veal meat is very hard to get hold of in my area without pre-ordering. I have fond memories of onion soup as a child, a white onion soup as apposed to a dark french onion style one. So here is the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients

• 2 large white onions, peeled and very finely sliced
• 1 large leek, finely sliced, white part only
• 1 clove garlic - very finely chopped
• Essential cuisine veal stock, you could also use chicken stock
• Thyme
• Cream (optional)
• Slaked cornflour
• chives - optional garnish
• Butter

Method

• Melt your butter in a large saucepan
• Add your finely sliced onions, leeks and garlic and cooked without colouring over a low heat 
• Add a sprinkle of finely chopped thyme
• Add your stock and simmer until the onion mixture is very soft
• Add your slaked cornflour and stir whilst over the heat to  thicken your soup
• Season and add cream and chives if using
• Serve

Roast Roots and mushroom stew with parsley dumplings

What's better than a stew or casserole on a cold winter evening, nothing, well may be a  hot chocolate by a roaring  log fire comes close. Mildly inspired by the recent series "River Cottage" Veg a vegetable only stew was in order. This has all the flavour of a roast dinner but none of the meat , intensely satisfying and comforting. The recipe serves 3 -4 persons when accompanied with a green vegetable such as cabbage, use whatever root vegetables you have to hand , swede and turnips are just as suitable.

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Onion - large , peeled, chopped in to large segments
• 3 carrots - peeled and chunky chopped
• 3 parsnips - peeled and chopped into chunky pieces
• 1 large sweet potato - peeled and chopped in to chunks
• 1/2 a medium celeriac - peeled and chunky chopped or swede or similar
• 4 cloves of garlic - whole and unpeeled
• Cornflour - 1tbsp
• 4 large mushrooms - chopped
• Vegetable stock - about 400ml
• Dried porcini - soaked 

You could also use butternut squash or pumpkin as some of your vegetables if you wish.

Method

• Preheat your oven to 200c
• Place your vegetables (except the mushrooms) on a baking tray, drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil
• Roast for approx 30 mins until tender and golden
• Transfer to a large casserole dish and cover with your stock, reduce the oven to 180c and bake covered for 30 mins.
• Fry the mushrooms (drain the porcini and chop if large) in a little olive, now add the cornflour and some of the porcini soaking stock, stir and then add the whole pan to the casserole dish, stir and return to oven. 
• Prepare your dumplings (check out my earlier recipe) and bake the stew with the added dumplings for a further 15 mins until your dumplings are cooked and fluffy and your stock has thicken.
• Serve sprinkled with fresh herbs.

Eves Pudding

Don't know about anyone else but after the festive season I always seem to have some fruit in the fruit bowl which is getting a little long in the tooth, I hate to waste food and try wherever possible to use them in some recipe or another. Eves Pudding is a great recipe to have in the arsenal and is delightfully comforting, it smells wonderful when baking and the lemony zesty aroma is a great pick me up. The Eve in the name refers to the fact that apples are used in the recipe.

Ingredients

• 450g or so Apples - peeled, cored and chopped into small chunks (ideally bakers but whatever you have)
• 75g Demerara sugar
• Lemon zest - 1 whole lemon
• 75g Margarine
• 75g Caster sugar
• Egg - free range
• 150g self raising flour
• Milk - about 1tbsp

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180c
• Grease your baking dish
• Place your apples in the dish and sprinkle with the demerara sugar and lemon zest
• Mix your sponge in the normal manner, use the milk to achieve a dropping consistency
• Spoon over your apples and smooth to cover
• Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes until the apples are soft and the sponge is golden

Serve hot, warm or cold, either on its own or with cream, custard or ice cream. Delicious

Banana Crumble slices

And now for something completely different, after all the Christmas baking and spices here's a recipe to ring the changes and also to use any overripe bananas you are bound to have in the fruit bowl in the bargain. I haven't made this recipe in a while, its another one from my scrap book and can't remember why I don't make it more often. Enjoy.

Ingredients

• 175g sugar
• 175g Vegetable margarine
• 225g self raising flour
• 100g porridge oats
• 2 medium bananas - mashed
• 25g sultanas or raisins
• Caster sugar to sprinkle

Method

• Pre -heat your oven to 180c fan / 200c non fan
• Cream the sugar, margarine together
• Add the flour and oats and mix to a crumble mixture
• Lightly oil or spray your baking tin - which is approx 8 by 12 inches
• Sprinkle half your crumble mixture in the baking tin, press down lightly.
• Spread over the mashed bananas and sprinkle on the dried fruit
• Sprinkle over rest of mixture and cover banana, press down lightly
• Bake for 25-30 mins until golden
• Sprinkle with caster sugar 
• Cool in tin and cut into chunks.

Mincemeat and Sultana Muffins

Another lovely recipe to use your homemade mincemeat, these muffins are delicious and well flavoured, a real tea time treat and a great substitute to the traditional mince pie that is normally left out for Father Christmas on Christmas eve.

It's basically an all in muffin recipe and you can use any dried fruit you fancy, apricots, cranberries, I think raisins would all work really well but I chose sultanas this time round. I  used my homemade sloe vodka mincemeat from an earlier post but you could use ready made. 

Ingredients

• 80g Sultanas or other dried fruit ( if you use apricots chop into small pieces)
• 280g Plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarb
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 90ml sunflower oil
• 350g mincemeat , good half of a large jar
• 1 egg - free range beaten
• 240ml milk
• 85g caster sugar

12 -14 large muffin cases, muffin tray

Method

Preheat your oven to 180c fan, 190c normal oven. 
Sift all you dry ingredients in to your  bowl, 
Add all the other ingredients (except the dried fruit element), 
Mix very gingerly until incorporated and then add the dried fruit, 
Quickly fold this in until all the flour is just incorporated ( do not over mix) 
Spoon into your cases and bake for approximately 20 -25 minutes, tested with a cocktail stick. Cool on a wire tray and sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

Caramelised Onion Sausage Rolls

For my recent WI Christmas party , this is  the savoury recipe I decided to cook, its an easy twist on the classic sausage roll. Instead of using the traditional puff pastry I used shortcrust to ring the changes and if you are short of time you could use ready made to save time. Ideally if you can get hold of sausage meat then great but often as not I use a high meat content sausages and remove the skins. You could also serve them at a drinks party or even on a picnic.

Ingredients

• Shortcrust pastry
• Caramelised onion chutney
• Sausage meat
• Herb of your choice ( sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley)
• Egg
• Poppy seeds or sesame seeds

Method

Firstly mix your sausage meat in a bowl with your chosen herb, use your hands to squeeze and fold the mixture together and put to one side. 
Roll out your pastry into an oblong approx 12 inches long by 8 inches wide.
Now half and half again to give you 4 pieces 12 inches long by 2 inches wide.
Half the sausage meat  and form each into a long sausage approx 12 inches long.
Spread 1 tbsp of caramelised onion chutney centrally along the length of one of the strip.
Place your sausage snake on top of the chutney.
Place your other matching strip of pastry on top.
Seal the edges with a little beaten egg, and crimp both edges. 
Repeat until you have 2 sausage snakes.
Place on a baking tray and cover with cling film.
Chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight if you want to pre-prepare.

When you are ready to bake -
Cut into pieces approx 1 inch in size.
Glaze with beaten egg.
Sprinkle with seeds.
Bake in an oven on baking parchment on a baking tray. 
Your oven should be at approximately  180 -200c
Bake until golden, this will be approx 15 - 20 minutes.

Family Teatime

Need an idea for a great Christmas gift for a friend or family ? Then look no further, Family Teatime is a lovely book which has some great cake, biscuit and tea time treat recipes. The book is beautifully illustrated with Vintage images and postcards and filled with tips and anecdotes on the origins of afternoon tea.

This delightful book has a practical wipe clean cover and has an illustration for each recipe featured. The recipes are for all the traditional teatime favourites and one or two surprises, each recipe is detailed and easy to follow. The book would be ideal for all the family to bake together and having fun experiencing a traditional afternoon tea.

I have enjoyed making a number of the recipes from the book, scotch pancakes, almond and cherry cupcakes and lemon bars  which all turned out well.

I have kindly been sent the book to review by Flame Tree Publishing, the book is available to purchase on Amazon.

Wholemeal mincemeat slices

In one of my earlier posts I made mincemeat ready for Christmas, its been maturing for a few weeks and is now ready to use in some lovely baking. I like traditional mince pies but feel that any of the commercial avlaible ones are overly sweet, therefore I enjoy making my own when time allows. This is a recipe I have made for the last few years and is the ideal vehicle for my lovely homemade mincemeat. The pastry is lovely and crumbly and is somewhere between a flapjack, biscuit and shortcrust pastry. The slices were very popular at my WI Christmas party.

Ingredients

• 150g butter or quality margarine
• 75g soft brown sugar
• 225g plain wholemeal flour
• 110g porridge oats
• Approx 225g mincemeat, about 1/2 a large jar

Method

You'll need a 11 x 7 inch shallow baking tin, butter well

Melt the butter and sugar in a pan, 
Once melted allow to cool slightly, then add your oats and flour.
Stir and mix thoroughly. 
Press half of this mixture firmly in the base of the tin, the firmer you press the better. 
Spread your mincemeat on top of the base coat smooth with a spoon.
Pour on the top and gain level across the tin and press down firmly. 
Bake in a pre heated oven  at 200C for approx 20 minutes or the top is browned slightly. 
Cut into desired pieces whilst still in the tin.
Cool in the tin fully and serve sprinkled with icing sugar. Store in an airtight tin.

Shortbread for Christmas

Things are starting to get festive in our household, I have always loved shortbread and I hadn't baked any for a few years so I thought I would bake some in the run up to Christmas. The buttery short sweet crumbly biscuit is lovely as a gift or great served as a afternoon treat with tea. To save time I mix mine in my trusty magimix food processor, Its important to use a quality butter in your mix to give the best results.There is just one problem it disappears very quickly !

Ingredients

• 200g plain flour
• 50g cornflour
• 175g butter(unsalted) - softened
• 75g caster sugar

Method

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until just coming together, tip out onto floured surface and form a ball of dough, shape and roll to desired shapes, place on baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven @ 160c fan / 180c no fan until lightly golden ( about 15-30 mins depends on thickness), remove from oven and sprinkle with caster sugar and cut whilst warm into desired pieces. Cool then eat, delicious. Store in an airtight tin.

Bailey's Tipsy Cake

Baileys Tipsy Cake, other Irish whisky cream liqueurs are available!

For our most recent Clandestine Cake club outing the theme was secret Santa, so basically it’s a mystery until we all turn up to the meeting, hoping that everyone doesn’t turn up with the same cake. I decided to bake a tipsy cake, easy but slightly different and definitely Christmassy in spirit, well at least rich in spirit – hick!

Tipsy cakes are basically sponge cakes soaked in alcoholic syrup, then served in dainty slices to your guests, from my research on the internet this seems to be another idea from the USA. My recipe is based on one by Thane Prince published in the Saturday Telegraph at least a decade ago, which survives as a clipping in my recipe scrapbook. Yes, I know very anal and OCD ish but it does mean I can find some fabulous recipe inspiration when I need it. It’s a great recipe and terribly easy.

Ingredients for the cake

• 110g soft butter or quality margarine
• 110g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 110g self raising flour
• 1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp of hot water

Ingredients for the syrup

• 150ml water
• 55g caster sugar
• 120ml Irish cream liqueur – baileys or Aldi’s version is good too and much cheaper!
• To finish Whipping or double cream, chocolate shavings, shards, and whatever else takes your fancy.

Method

Mix your sponge by the usual method adding the coffee mixture for the last mix, bake in a 6-7” ish loose bottomed  round cake tin, oiled and base lined, the oven is at about 160c for fan, 180c without fan. Bake until golden, well risen and cooked through when tested with a skewer, this is about 30-40 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for approx 10 mins in the tin, then turn on to a deep serving plate.

Now make your syrup, dissolve the sugar in the water and boil for approx 2 minutes until slightly reduced, allow to cool slightly and add you liqueur. Now make loads of holes in your cake and spoon your syrup, now allow to cool fully. Top with whipped cream and your decoration. 

Golden Lion at Wheelton

On a blustery wintery day we paid our first visit to the Golden Lion Pub in Wheelton, a small village near Chorley in Lancashire. The Golden Lion is a traditional pub at the heart of the village and its community, we were warmly welcomed by the owners and the log fire burning in the grate.The pub is traditionally decorated and even has a pool table if you fancy a game, but on to the food. 


The emphasis is on good quality locally produced pub grub, all the favourites are available and everything is reasonably priced, they also have specials and their steak nights apparently are very popular.

We ordered our choices from the menu at the well stocked bar, they had a great selection of real ales according to Mr B, and waited in anticipation of homemade pie and steak pudding (from a local butcher of repute).

 The food arrived piping hot with a selection of fresh vegetables ( always a good sign ) and hand cut chips, yummy ! So visit this nice local pub when you are in the area for traditional lovingly prepared pub grub,  oh and a good pint too !


The pub is dog and walker friendly and has a large car park behind complete with chickens and geese.

Nigella's Clementine Cake

I have to thank my boss at works for the inspiration for baking this recipe, she made this for the "Children in Need" bake sale last week. After digging about in my recipe book collection I located the recipe. The recipe is gluten free as it uses ground almonds instead of flour, so its a handy one to have in case of a ceoliac visitor. The recipe is easy and fairly foolproof, its not the most pretty of cakes but it more than makes up for this flavour stakes.

Ingredients 

• 4-5 clementines ( about 375g )
• 6 eggs
• 225g caster sugar
• 250g ground almonds
• 1 heaped tsp baking powder

Method

Put your clementines in a pan with just enough water to cover and bring to the boil, simmer for 2 hours until soft. Keep an eye on the pan ensuring it doesn't boil dry. Drain and cool, once cool split and check for pips, remove any you find. Pulp the clementines in a food processor(all of it), then add the other ingredients and whizz until you have a smooth mixture.

Pour into a greased and based lined springform tin, roughly 7 inches across. Bake in a preheated oven 180c for approximately an hour, as the cake quickly browns you should cover it with foil after the first 30 minutes. Test with a cocktail stick , so that it comes out clean when its done. Cool in the tin, dust with icing sugar.

Slow Cooked Brisket of Beef

I use my slow cooker a lot in the winter, its an easy way to have a scrummy no messing evening meal waiting for you when you come home from work. They take a little getting used to, but once you have learned that you need to hold back on the liquid compared with oven cooking they are easy to use. A favourite recipe in our household is brisket of beef, tender melting well flavoured meat that can be used to create some delicious meals. I get my brisket from Spout House Farm which is near me, but any good butcher should have this for you and in a size of piece suitable for your family.

Its easy to ring the changes with this recipe and use whatever you have to hand, the main rules being the quality of the brisket and the quality of the stock.

Ingredients

• Beef brisket - rolled
• Flour - seasoned
• Onions - chopped
• carrots
• bay leaves
• mixed herbs
• Beef stock / Beer / red wine
• salt and pepper
• Balsamic vinegar or fruit vinegar
• Dijon mustard
• Oil

Method 

Firstly make your seasoned flour, roughly 1 tablespoon of flour on a plate and add salt, freshly ground pepper and some mixed dried herbs. Roll your brisket in this mixture until well coated and don't forget the ends. Fry off your brisket to seal it in a little oil and to give a nice golden crust. Now place in your slow cooker ( if you don't have one then you can use a casserole dish and the oven instead but its a bit more hassle), next fry your onions and carrots in the same pan, scraping up any brown bits from the meat as this is were the flavour is, until the onions are slighty softened. Next add to the pan the stock / wine/ beer, balsamic, mustard and bay leaves and bring to a simmer, stirring ever so often to again loosen any sticky bits on the pan. Then pour this over your brisket in your slow cooker or casserole dish, put on the lid and if using a slow cooker cook for at least 4 hours on high, but I just leave it all day and it always turns out fine, if using an oven cook on 150c for at least 4  hours, but check every hour or so to see if needs more stock or water as it can dry out. Your brisket is ready when it falls a part when gently crushed with a fork, your gravy  will be well flavoured, thicken if necessary with slaked cornflour and serve with your favourite vegetables. Enjoy !

Smoked haddock and leek chowder

This is one of my favourite soup, so warming and comforting. Its loosely based on a recipe in "New Covent Garden Soup - Book of Soups" one of my extensive collection of cookery books. I first had their version off their stand that used to be on London Euston railway station, on a business trip. I make my version fairly regularly throughout the winter season, its easy to substitute the smoked haddock for salmon or prawns and the leek for onion, you could also add sweetcorn too.I used Leeks today as I had a fresh supply from the garden.

Ingredients

• Large knob of butter
• 2 large leeks - cleaned and chopped
• 2 large potatoes - peeled and chunky chopped
• 500ml fish stock - a stock cube is fine
• 1 largeish piece of smoked haddock, cooked, de-skinned and flaked and any bones removed
• Pepper
• Dill Weed

Method

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add 2/3rds of the chopped leeks and potatoes to the pan, cook gently without colouring for about 5 minutes, then add the stock and bring to a simmer, cook until the vegetables are just softened. Now allow your soup to cool and use a stick blender to liquidise until smooth. Now add the rest of the vegetables and bring back to simmer and cook until the vegetables are tender, if you need to add more water you can do, add the flaked fish and dill weed, taste and season. You probably won't need any salt as smoked haddock is fairly salty.

Serve garnished with parsley or a swirl of cream or both if you wish.

Cosmopolitan - Chorley

The last few months has seen the opening of a new restaurant in Chorley - Cosmopolitan is a Restaurant, wine and cocktail bar. The food is modern Mediterranean in style but they also have a tapas menu. Situated on  St Georges St, right in the heart of the town this is an ideal venue for a pre theatre meal. The building itself is an old stables conversion and is fronted by a courtyard seating area, inside it is cosy and rustically decorated.

We were warmly welcomed on a chilly evening and ordered from the early bird menu, which had plenty of choice for all and was very reasonably priced at 2 courses for £10.95. 

The portions were very generous and well presented, generally the food was very good, my first course was the homemade chicken liver pate which was nicely herby. Hubby's first course was a huge hummus, olives and oil and vinegar selection, with 2 types of bread. Ours main arrived quickly and were piping hot, my vegetable risotto was well flavoured and very filling. Hubbys steak was cooked as requested (rare) if a little stringy and was accompanied by a nice pepper sauce and  seasonal vegetables. We had no room for desserts so they will have to wait till our next visit. 

Cosmopolitan is nice addition to the dining venues in Chorley town centre.

Food Bloggers Unplugged

I have been tagged by Sue @Twitottee to take part in the fun of #foodbloggersunplugged, the idea being to tag another 5 foodie bloggers to keep the initative on a roll. Sounds like great fun to me and enables us all to understand more about our fellow foodies, so I am happy to take part.

The questions we have to answer are as follows:-

1. What, or who inspired you to start a blog?

2. Who is your foodie inspiration?

3. Your greasiest, batter - splattered food/drink book is?

4. Tell us all about the best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was          it, what was it?

5. Another food bloggers table you'd like to eat at is?

6. What is the one kitchen gadget you would ask Santa for this year (money no object of course)?

7. Who taught you how to cook?

8. I'm coming to you for dinner what's your signature dish?

9. What is your guilty food pleasure? 

10. Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?

Finally...tag 5 other food bloggers with these questions...like a hot baked potato...pass it on!

Use this home made expensive Food Bloggers Unplugged  logo (below) on your blog and link up with the hashtag #foodbloggersunplugged on Twitter.

So here goes 

1.What, or who inspired you to start a blog ?

My hubby, he kept moaning about how I should be sharing all my makes with the world, I had a slow start but now really enjoy blogging all things foodie.

2.Who is your foodie inspiration ?

Got to be Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall,I have appreciated his work for years, just wish River Cottage was a bit nearer to Lancashire.

3.Your greasiest, batter-splattered food /drink book is ?

It's Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course, all the pages are falling out and its very tatty. 

4. Tell us about the best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it, what was it ?

That's a difficult one as I have eaten loads of lovely things in lots of different places. Think the best and most memorable was a fabulous meal in Dunworly, Southern Ireland at Otto's Creative Catering, a fabulous slow food, locally sourced/ produced organic venue. The food was amazing, all grown or produced on site and the meal was topped off by playing with dolphins on the nearby beach. Its now closed as Otto and his wife (Hilde) have retired. Darina Allen has visited too.

5. Another food bloggers table you'd like to eat at is ?

Carl Legge @CarlLegge on twitter, I love foraging and using different sustainable ingredients. I am also very interested in Permaculture and Carl is an expert in all of these things.

6. What would be the one kitchen gadget you would ask santa for this year ?

Another bowl for my beloved Kitchenaid mixer.

7. Who taught you have to cook ?

A combination of my Nanna, My Mum and my domestic science teacher at school.

8. I'm coming to you for dinner whats your signature dish ?

Tough one as I like to experiment and it changes, I am known however for my courgette recipes.

9. What is your guilty food pleasure ?

Peanut butter on plastic bread toast.

10. Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn ?

I used to be a member of a "blacked up" morris dancing group !

My bloggers I am tagging are (you must say this in a tension building manner)

1. Carmela Hayes - Carmela's Kitchen 
2. HonieMummy  - 
3. Carla - Orangemartini
4. Irwin Kraus - The Amateur peasant
5. What Kate Baked

If you have been tagged you will need to link to A little bit of heaven on a plate. 

Go on join in and have a bit of fun. 

Sultana slab - a great traybake

I am entering this tray bake in Ruth "The Pink Whisks" Traybake challenge, Ruth was a finalist in 2010 series of the "Great British Bake Off" and has gone on to host a fabulous baking blog. I made this bake for Children in Need.

Ingredients

• 450g sultanas
• 3 eggs - free range please
• 350g Sugar
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 225g butter
• 350g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Approx 8 by 12 inch roasting tin / tray bake tin

Method

Preheat your oven to 160c, grease / oil your tin, I use oil spray to make things easy. Place your sultanas in a large pan and cover with water, bring to the boil and gently simmer for approximately 15 minutes until your sultanas are plump and juicy. Meanwhile in another bowl mix the eggs, sugar and almond extract. 

Drain the sultanas and put them back in the pan along with the butter to melt with the residual heat, if they need any help just put on a low heat, until all the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and allow to col slightly. Now add the egg mixture and then the flour and baking powder, mix thoroughly. Pour into your prepared tin. Bake for approx 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Cool in the tin and when cool cut into slabs, hence the name. Keeps well and will also freeze.

http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/2011/11/tpw-november-challenge.html#more-1722