Viennese fingers

This recipe was mostly from Mary Berry’s baking bible - I say mostly, because when I’d done what Mary suggested it did not remotely resemble something that could be piped out, and so I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the mix in order to get it more into a dough.  This is the first time I’ve ever used a piping bag and it’s fair to say that it hasn’t gone brilliantly!  I just didn’t get it!  I’m sure it’s a practice making perfect thing so I will keep trying.  There is no uniformity whatsoever to these biscuits so I don’t doubt that Mary would give me no points for presentation. However, these went down a treat here and I was surprised at how much they did taste like a Viennese finger, so I’m glad I gave it a go.

Pear crumble

More correctly this should be pear and ginger crumble.  Not sure which book it’s from but it is a Jamie Oliver recipe. Once again, Jamie never fails on his flavours and the ginger element of this crumble, both in the topping and the fruit itself,  along with the juice and zest of a lime make the dish absolutely sing.  A total winner - thanks Jamie.

Chocolate and Pear Tart

My friend has gifted me a bag of pears straight from her allotment and so I went looking for something to make as pudding for my fortnightly Sunday dinner for my family.   I got this recipe from the Silver Spoon cookbook so I knew it would turn out great as everything does in this book.  This didn’t disappoint- it looked and tasted great and my mum even had some which is a rarity after dinner.  We had it with home made white chocolate ice cream.

Peanut butter and salted caramel ice cream

Behold, the king of ice cream!  It’s so up my strasse it’s coming back again.  I made an egg custard ice cream (the recipe for that is from Nigella Summer) and then added peanut butter and some salted caramel sauce I had in.  And it worked.  Oh, how it worked.

Treacle sponge pudding

This beauty, a comfort food classic, is from Paul Hollywood’s British Baking.  I didn’t trust Paul’s timings after the last cake I made from this book and carried on steaming for 40 minutes longer than he suggested, mainly as all those other puddings I’ve made have taken longer and I also once read that you can’t overcook them.  All this aside, this was a stunner - it looked stunning and tasted stunning.  Today I had it with homemade white chocolate ice cream but would go with custard in the winter

White chocolate ice cream. Vanilla shortbread. Meringues

The ice cream and the shortbread is from Nigella Summer and the meringues from Delia’s complete cookery course.  This ice cream is the absolute bomb and by far the best I’ve done so far- my boyf’s son thinks that caramel pieces might just finish it off  so I’ll give that a go next week.  So, this is a kind of Eton mess - a Manchester mess if you will.  The shortbread is very short and nice with a coffee but I doubt I’ll make them again and certainly not for having with ice cream as Nigella suggests.

Rum and raisin ice cream

Again, getting my mum to eat pudding has become harder and whilst we have been tucking in to the amazing puddings I’ve been making recently she just sits there and watches so I thought this would entice her and it did!  It feels to me like taking a trip back to the 1970s but the flavour of the real ice cream sans chemicals and preservatives is just great, the rum really coming through and making its presence felt without overpowering it.  Also, making this and with my 2 previous attempts at ice cream not being as successful as they could have been, this was bob on proper ice cream, so now I know how to do it properly- nothing is going to stop me now!

Fish tray-bake, jersey royals, simple spinach salad

Had my fish loving mum over for dinner tonight and as her dementia gets worse so does her appetite and she just doesn’t get through a Sunday dinner like she used to - it’s also hot today, too hot for a roast, so I gave this from Jamie’s 30 minute meals a go.  I supplemented it with aubergine stuffed with feta and mint (from Nigella Summer) and the whole thing worked really well.  The tray bake which had just 10 minutes under a hot grill was really lovely - better than I imagined it would.  That’s the thing about Jamie that I have come to see over the years - his flavours are fantastic.  I added a monkfish tail to his recipe (only because it was on offer in Morrissons) but it would have also been great without.

Peach and raspberry ripple ice cream

Having treated myself to a kitchenaid ice cream maker and a ‘I ❤️ my ice cream maker’ book recently I’ve set straight to work and here we have my first new ice cream recipe (I made dime bar ice cream last week but have done that before).  Unfortunately I had issues with the bowl being too frozen which messed up the churning and which ultimately meant that the raspberry in this is not a ripple but an infusion! I know I’ll get to grips with it eventually.  Anyway, the flavour is lovely and fruity so overall a summery success.

Spotted Dick

A special request this from my boyf who has been asking for it for a while.  Flushed with success from the previous 2 steam puddings I gave it a go.  I’ve never eaten a spotted dick before and so had no idea what a good one would look like even so I went to The Guardian and their ‘how to make the perfect ...’ series.  It was a success with the company it was served to but not to my taste I’m afraid, so I won’t be making this again.

Steamed syrup sponge pudding

This is from Nigella’s ‘how to be a domestic goddess’ which I’ve always found to be reliable and it didn’t disappoint. I had an appreciative audience tonight but it would be hard not to appreciate this as it for me it is the essence of comfort and joy.  A complete winner.   I had it with salted caramel ice cream - the stuff of dreams!

Chocolate Orange Steamed Pud

This one is from Jamie’s Great Britain, a book that I’ve made so many great things from and keeps on giving so gave it a go for my fortnightly Sunday dinner making for my family.  This looked so impressive when it came out of the pudding basin that I forgot to take a photo! It went down a storm and the flavour was fantastic, with the orange really coming through.  Like most of Jamie’s recipes the flavours were great and it was really easy to make so definitely one for the repertoire and would be great for a dinner party.

Farmhouse walnut cake

This is from Paul Hollywood’s British Baking and is the first recipe I’ve made from it. I don’t think the timing for this was correct in the book, as my oven usually take less than the recommended time to cook anything but I needed to add on about 15 minutes so that this wasn’t raw in the middle.  I did think that 20-25 minutes at 180c didn’t sound right and so it was proved.  I then had further issues when I tried to turn the cake over and it fell apart.  But, I iced over it and you couldn’t tell.  That’s all my moaning out of the way - now onto the taste.  I loved the flavour of this cake, particularly the buttercream topping  and it looks really appealing too despite the earlier calamity, so yes, one to make again.

Chicken legs in red wine

Using only what I have in (and particularly making an effort to use food from and therefore  empty the freezer) has become my new way of deciding what to cook and so here we are.  This from my trusty Silver Spoon where everything is so simple to make yet full of flavour - those clever Italians!  The smell was amazing whilst this was cooking, the porcini mushrooms really adding a deep flavour to this simple dish.

Pork with apricots

More correctly this should be called ‘pork roulades with apricots’ and it is from Silver Spoon, a book that will forever be in my top 5 cookbooks as the recipes are classic and simple to make. The roulade in the book is made from pork loin slices whereas I had pork loin steaks, so I skipped the roulade and concentrated on the flavour.  I love this kind of thing, the sweetness of the fruit set against the saltiness of the pancetta (or in this case streaky bacon) which really adds interest to something that without it could be quite bland.  A winner.

Sicilian vinegar chicken

From Nigella Summer comes this tasty delight, which appealed to me as I had everything necessary ‘in’.  Seemingly not the most mouth watering of titles or the prettiest thing I’ve ever made but this really packed a flavour punch. Everything was right with this, which I had this time with lemon rice, and I can see me having this again and again

Crunchy top lime cake

I’ve improvised this one which was originally lemon cake and is in Mary Berry’s Baking Bible, because I wanted to make a cake from what I had in and so lime it was. Unfortunately I also didn’t have enough caster sugar in to make the topping as crunchy as Mary says but I got the basic idea.  The cake itself is beautifully light and delicately flavoured.

Gingery Duck with red onion and orange salad

This is Nigella’s take on duck a l’orange from Nigella Summer and I can confirm that this is the stuff of dreams.  If I’d had this in a restaurant (I’m thinking a smaller version as a starter) I would not be disappointed.  The coming together of the the raw red onion with the orange and the duck was something really special.  Certainly one to add to the repertoire.

Chocolate fudge cake

This is from Mary Berry’s baking bible - I’ve only made a couple of things from it but everything turns out well.  I did this for a (nother) bake off at work and it went down well.    I’ll make it again for sure as it was extremely easy to make and was a good solid cake.