s'mores tart .

Before moving to America, I'd never heard of a "s'more" , so the first summer we were here,  there was much hilarity from friends who realised we did not know what they were talking  about around the camp fire........ It was our duty ,of course ,to get acquainted with such a summer staple...and now we can't have a fire with out the marshmallows and chocolate coming out!! However ,there are some summer days when the weather does not live up to expectations......so when I saw this recipe, it had to be tried, in honor of the summer.

First I made a Graham cracker crust...these a bit like English digestives, but a little drier. Mix 11/4 cups crushed crackers with 1/4 cup  melted butter, and press into the bottom and up the sides of a pie plate. Bake at 350 for about 5 mins until just pale golden brown.
Next ,melt 1 cup of whipping cream with 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, then add a beaten egg and a pinch of salt, and mix until smooth.

Bake this for about 20 minutes, until its softly set, but still wobbles slightly in the middle,.

When its done, pile 2 cups of mini marshmallows over the chocolate, and broil for a few minutes, you need to watch it like a hawk, as  it colors really quickly... How pretty is that!!!
  Thats it...no camp fire to worry about... but still that tradtional summer feel of a s'more....just one that you cut into slices....

The teenager went into ecstasies about this one..... rapidly becoming American I think.....what will Grannie think.....

Royal chocolate biscuit cake

There was a wedding last week. Some of you may have watched it. I most certainly did, along with a group of local ladies who dressed to the nines and drank Champagne with me whilst ooing and ahhing over the dress, the hats......  I laid on the full English spread, cucumber sarnies, clotted cream scones, Corination chicken, the works....it was ,however ,the chocolate biscuit cake that stole the show.

Here it is in all its wickedness......

  Actually its really simple to make...just need a few English (or ethnic !!!) ingredients and Bob's your Uncle.


6 oz butter
2 tbsp Golden Syrup
9 oz dark chocolate
10 oz digestive biscuits
3 oz raisins

Lightly grease a 9 inch tin.

 Melt the butter ,golden syrup and chocolate together in a heavy pan,and stir until smooth.

I've found this locally in Fred Meyer and even Albertons.....

These were a little more difficult to track down, but Fred Meyer and Lady Di's came up trumps...tr

Crush the biscuits with a rolling pin, leaving some decent chunks,and add the chocolate and raisins, stirring well.   Pour into your tin and refrigerate until its firm.....cut into what ever size  portions you can decently get away with.

Easy.

 Here a few pics of the other goodies we enjoyed....

A right British knees up!!!!

An interview with McVitie's: The Royal Wedding reception cake

ganache stuffed chocolate chip cookes

This is one heavenly sandwich cookie .....and I need them like I need a whole in  the head....but the weather is miserable on Portland Oregon and we all need a little cheering up....!!

Cookies.
1 cup plus 2 tbsp plain flour.
1 teasp baking soda
1/4 teasp salt
1 stick butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teasp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips

Ganache.
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
5 tbsp heavy cream
2 1/2 tbsp light corn syrup

To make the cookies,  first preheat your oven to 375. Cream the butter and sugars in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle, for about a minute.
    Beat in the egg ,then add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate chips.

Spoon level tbsps of the dough onto an ungreased baking sheet and refridgerate for about 20 mins until firm

Meanwhile make the ganache.  Put the chopped chocolate in a bowl. In a saucepan,bring the cream and corn syrup to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Put this into the fridge too and leave until its thick and spreadable, about an hour.

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, until golden, let cool on the baking sheet for 2 mins ,then transfer to a rack to cool completely .

Sandwich the cookies with the ganache ,and kiss goodbye to wearing a bikini this summer.....!!

Sticky toffee banana pudding

The English Sticky toffee pudding has to be my most favorite dessert of all time......I will always order that over anything else on a menu. Always.  We visited the English village of Cartmel a few times where a very delicious S T P is made....they even present half marathon finishers with a pudding in that town. Maybe I could be persuaded to run???  In fact Travelling man made one for me once, and that's a big feat for him. This is a variant on the theme, and was enjoyed by us all......

For the toffee sauce
11/4 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1/4 cup unsalted butter

For the cake
2 cups flour
11/2 teasp baking powder
11/2 sticks butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 large very ripe bananas
11/2 teasp vanilla extract


For the toffee sauce, bring the cream,brown sugar

corn syrup,butter and 1/8 teasp salt to the boil in a pan,stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat and continue to cook until the sauce has thickened and reduced a bit. This can be made ahead...if you dare.....

For the cake...
  Oven at 350. Grease an 8 x 8 metal baking tin.  Whisk the flour,1/2 teasp salt and the baking powder together. In a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until well blended,then add the eggs, one at a time. Add the mashed bananas and vanilla, then add the dry ingredients slowly.

Spread the batter into the tin and bake for 30 minutes or until a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Spread 1 cup toffee sauce evenly over the cake and continue to bake for another 5 minutes,when the sauce will be bubbling thickly.  

And there it is. The rest of the toffee sauce can be served along side.   Even more decadence would be achieved by also serving some sliced bananas on top.

    I know this the first day of Lent, so bad timing on my part for some, but try this one when you can!!

Squash casserole

This is yummy.....I could eat this just by its self without anything else.....in fact I did. And its simple ......and smells fantastic when its cooking.

1 whole garlic bulb
2 tbsp olive oil divided
1 medium butternut squash ,cut into 1 inch pieces
2 red peppers cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large red onion cut into wedges
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
3 tbsps minced fresh parsley
1 1/2 teasp chopped fresh rosemary
 1 teasp salt
1/2 teasp pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Remove papery outer skin from the garlic clove - do not peel or separate the cloves - cut the top off and brush with 1/2 teasp oil. Wrap the bulb in foil and bake at 425 for 30 - 35 mins or until softened. Reduce heat to 400. Cool garlic for 10 minutes. Squeeze softened garlic into a bowl and mash.
   Meanwhile, in a large skillet ,saute squash in a tbsp oil until golden brown.....took about 15 minutes, transfer to a large bowl.

In the same skillet, saute the peppers and onion in the remaining oil until crisp-tender. Add to squash.

Stir in the tomatoes ,garlic ,bread crumbs,parsley ,rosemary and salt and pepper. Transfer to a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish,sprinkle with cheese and bake ,uncovered for 30 - 40 mins or until the squash in tender.

Thai mussaman beef curry

I have a great cookery book that I  bought over with me from England  called Rick Stein's far eastern odyssey....it has recipes from Cambodia ,Thailand ,Malaysia, Bali , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It really is right up my street as Travelling man and I love to eat hot spicy exotic sounding dishes...Admittedly they are time consuming to make and everything is from scratch - no shop bought pastes - and the ingredients can be hard to find sometimes....but I consider that to be a challenge, and really enjoy wandering round the ethnic markets searching for unusual ingredients to create with !!







You have to make the Thai mussaman paste first....
10 dried red chillies, roughly chopped
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 teasp cardamon seeds, from about 20 green pods
1 tbsp cumin seeds
16 whole cloves
5 cm piece cinnamon stick
3 tbsp veg oil
200 g shallots, roughly chopped
25 g garlic ,chopped
1 tsp shrimp paste
25 g peeled fresh ginger, chopped
2 fat lemongrass stalks,core chopped
8 tbsp coconut milk

Heat a dry frying pan over a medium heat and add the dried chillies for a minute or two until lightly toasted, then tip into a spice grinder or mini food processor.Return the pan to the heat and add the coriander,cumin , cloves , cardamon seeds and cinnamon, shake them around for a few seconds until they start to smell aromatic, and add them to the spice grinder. Grind to a fine powder.

Heat the oil in the same pan and fry the onion and garlic ,for about 20 minutes, until richly browned.

Add the shrimp paste and ground spices,and cook it all together for 2-3 mins more Tip the mixture into a mini food processor ,add the remaining ingredients and blend into a smooth paste.

Thats most of the hard work done,and it can be made in advance.....

1.5 kg stewing beef,cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cans coconut milk, 800 mls
6 cardamon pods
10 cm piece cinnamon
300 g potatoes ,peeled and cut into inch pieces
8 shallots
1 quantity Thai  mussaman paste
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
75 g roasted peanuts

Put the beef into a large pan with 350 mls coconut milk and the same quantity of water, the cardamon pods,cinnamon and 1 teasp salt. Bring to simmering point ,put the lid on with just a fraction uncovered to let the steam out, and simmer for 2 hours, until tender, stirring from time to time.

  Meanwhile ,peel and halve the shallots. Uncover the curry and remove the cinnamon and cardamon ,stir in the rest of the coconut milk ,potatoes,shallots,curry paste fish sauce ,tamarind paste and sugar ,and simmer for another 30 minutes,or until everything is tender. Stir in the peanuts and serve.


I do have to admit that this curry is not for the faint of heart....its certainly hot and spicy ,but Travelling man and I are made of stern stuff and we managed it just fine!!

 Check out the book , I LOVE it!!

Smoked salmon,goat cheese and artichoke quiche

I have a story about making making quiches . It was the first thing I learnt to make during my horrendous cookery lessons at boarding school. I was bad at cooking back then.  I used to dread the lessons as something always used to go terribly wrong with what ever I was making , and the teacher would get so cross with me.... My quiche leaked all over the bottom of the oven,making a nice burnt patch to clean off....and whilst everyone else got to take their offerings back to the dorm to supplement whatever  was for tea that night....I came away empty handed and thoroughly scolded. Anyway I vowed I wouldn't do that again....and since that day my quiches have never leaked...hoorahhh

So here is a new quiche to try....the book club girls gave it the thumbs up ...and....it didn't leak all over the bottom of my oven.

Crust.
2 cups flour
2 teasp granulated sugar
1 teasp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
4 - 6 tbsp cold water

For the filling.
1 oz butter
1 red onion thinly sliced
24 artichoke hearts, I got mine from a jar
4 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp chopped dill
salt and pepper
6 oz smoked salmon, skin removed and broken into small pieces
4 oz goats cheese,crumbled.

To make the crust,
  In a food processor,combine the flour,butter,sugar and salt,and mix until the butter is the size of small peas. Add the water, one tbsp at a time,until the dough starts to come together ,you may not need all the water. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll out to fit a 9 inch spring form tin. The pastry will be about 1/4 inch thick.  I had left overs so I made some jam tarts too.....

A few sneaky jam tarts.....
The pastry should cover the base and sides of your pregreased tin, and then it needs to go into the freezer for 20 minutes before baking.  Preheat the oven to 350 ,and once the pastry has rested in the freezer for 20 minutes, line with some parchment paper and fill with baking beads ,and bake 20 minutes. Then remove the paper and beads and continue to bake for another 10 minutes,so the pastry begins to brown.

Whilst all this freezing and baking blind is going on you can start to make the filling. Melt the butter in a large saute pan and cook the onion for 10 minutes until softened. Then add the drained artichoke hearts and cook for another 5 minutes.

Break the eggs into a bowl and add the cream,milk,dill and seasoning.   Whisk until combined.  When the pastry shell comes out of the oven,increase the over temperature to 400. Pour half of the egg mixture into the case and bake again until it is just starting to set,about 15 minutes.

Scatter half of the onion/artichoke mixture over the partially set egg mixture,then distribute half of the salmon and goat cheese on top. Pour on the remaining egg mixture ,then add the other onion mix and salmon/ goat cheese. Bake until the center is just set, mine took 50 minutes. I used a small knife to cut into the middle to see if it was done. If the crust starts to brown too much, you can cover it with some strips of foil. Remove the quiche from the spring form tin and serve warm, or at room temperature.

Its much thicker than any quiche I've made before,so I should think it would serve about 10 people.

Sweet potato and black bean chili

I wanted to make a chili for a long weekend we had planned on Mount Hood. I was thinking of a roaring fire,snow falling gently outside, a glass of chilled white wine......you get the picture .  I also wanted to try one without meat ....and incidentally I LOVE  sweet potatoes, so it had to be made.  And yes..... it was tasty,tangy and hot, and  I had no complaints about the lack of meat from the 5 hungry teenagers I was feeding, fresh from the slopes.

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large sweet potato,peeled and diced
1 large onion,diced
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp chili powder
4 teasp ground cumin
1/2 teasp ground chipotle chile
1/4 teasp salt
2 1/2 cups water
2 15 oz cans black beans,drained
1 14 0z can diced tomatoes
4 teasp lime juice
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil in a large casserole dish ,and add the sweet potato and onion. Cook until the onion is beginning to soften,about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, chile powder,cumin,chipotle and salt and cook ,stirring constantly for 30 seconds.

Add the water and bring to a simmer. Cover and reduce heat to low,then cook for a further 10 minutes,or until the sweet potato is tender. Add the beans,tomatoes and lime juice and carry on cooking for another 5 minutes,or until it is slightly reduced. Stir in the cilantro just before serving.

I wasn't able to get a shot of the dish as I served it.......it was as if a swarm of locusts had entered the room .....desecrating everything in site. You can never ,ever, cook too much food for teenagers who've spent all day skiing,sledding and having after dark snowball fights. Lesson learnt.
  We had the roaring fire ,and of course the glass of something chilled - goes without saying- but alas no falling snow.  However our chili hit the spot....

Lemon turkey meatballs

The sun came out today.Whilst you may think that is not too out of the ordinary, here in Oregon  - where we are all preparing to build Arks, and are developing trench foot from the incessant rain and gloom , it is a really big deal.  People start to emerge from their homes,squinting at the big yellow thing in the sky,and don the national clothing of Oregon....shorts...!!!! Well my way of greeting our long lost friend was to pick a light spring like dish ,flavored with lemon and rosemary, smelt fab as it was being prepared!!

1 medium onion, cut into chunks
2 large cloves of garlic,smashed and peeled
2 teasp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 lb ground turkey
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
3/4 teasp salt, divided
1/4 teasp pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 teasp olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1 14 oz can chicken stock
4 teasp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter

Put the onion,garlic,lemon zest and 1 tbsp rosemary in a food processor and pilse until finely chopped ,but not mushy.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and mix in the turkey,breadcrumbs,parmesan,1/2 teasp salt and pepper,and stir until combined.

Use a generous 2 tbsps each to shape into 12 meatballs,about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place the flour in a shallow dish and roll the meatballs in it to lightly coat ....reserve the remaining flour.
   Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the meatballs, turning once until brown, perhaps 5 minutes each side. Transfer to a plate.

Add the wine to the pan,scraping up any browned bits,until almost evaporated, 1-3 minutes. Add  the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer,and return the meatballs to the pan. Cover and cook with the remaining 1 tbsp rosemary ,until the meatballs are cooked through. Takes about 10 minutes. Remove the meatballs at this point and place in a serving dish.

Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce it down to 1 cup. Whisk in the lemon juice and 1 tbsp of the reserved flour, and cook until smooth. Add the butter and season to taste. When its thickened, sieve the sauce and pour over the meatballs.

There are the little beauties. Light,lucious and spring like. Now if the rain would only stay away and we could have some more of this gorgeous sunshine...........