Farmersgirl Kitchen

Monday, 10 June 2013

Milk and Cookies!

I didn't set out to make cookies. It happened like this, I had made far too much buttercream for the Vanilla and Coconut Cake, there it was in the bowl, really quite a lot of butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract. What was I going to do with it? I knew if I put it in the fridge or freezer for "another time" I would end up throwing it out in a month or so. Hmmm... (scratches head) butter, sugar, vanilla- Eureka! I could make cookies.

I headed to the bookshelf and picked out a few baking books, thinking "oats would work well with vanilla". Rachel Allen came up trumps with a simple Oatmeal and Raisin Cookie recipe. The recipe has caster and light brown sugar, rather than icing sugar, and I think this would make a crisper cookie than the ones I made, referred to by my husband as 'buns'!

I'm not going to post the recipe as it is copyright, I had a search online to see whether it had been published for one of Rachel's TV programmes, so I could link to it, it has not. However, if you search 'Rachel Allen Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies' you will find it has been published on some other blogs.

So if you are ever left with some extra buttercream, you will know what to do!

Posted with Blogsy

Labels: buttercream, cookies, oatmeal and raisin cookies, oatmeal cookies, Rachel Allen, raisins

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

How Blondie became Barbie!

The 'We should Cocoa' challenge for the last couple of months has been nice and easy, chocolate and strawberries - tick, chocolate and apricots - tick (I even managed to make that one low fat!

But when I read the August challenge I was horrified, Chocolate and ROSE, what on earth was I going to make with rose, where (in the depths of south west Scotland) was I going to get rose water or rose flavouring of some kind?

I've been pondering the challenge for a few weeks now and considered all sorts, I managed to find a bottle of Thorncroft Rose Hip Cordial at a deli in Kirkcudbright.

As I am on holiday at home this week, I started to look seriously at some of my cake recipes to see if I could incorporate the rose flavour into one of them.

What I came up with was a recipe for Peanut Butter & White Chocolate Blondies from Rachel Allen's Bake. It called for a teaspoon of vanilla essence which I replaced with a teaspoon of the Rosehip Cordial. I also added half a teaspoon of red food colouring to 'rose' it up a bit!

Ooh look, pink blondie mix. And that's when Blondie became 'Barbie'

I melted the rest of the white chocolate and topped the 'Barbies' with the melted choc then sprinkled it with pink sugar, now totally Barbie. I even had time for a bit of photo dressing with some rose petals and a little rose - awww pretty! OMG they are delicious, I'm not saying you can taste much in the way of rose in there, and this is certainly NOT the low fat option - but then, it is my birthday this week, I think I'm allowed.

Peanut Butter and White Chocolate 'Barbies'

125g (4.5oz) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g (3.5oz) butter, softened

150g (5oz) crunchy peanut butter

175g (6oz) soft light brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1tsp rosehip cordial

1/2 tsp red food colouring

75g (3oz) white, chocolate, chopped

20 x 20cm (8x8") square cake tin

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (325F) Gas Mark 3. Butter the sides of the cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a small bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, creamthe butter and peanut butter together until very soft. Add the sugar, egg and rosehip cordial and beat until combined. Add the flour, baking powder and the chopped chocolate to form a dough.

4. Place the dough in prepared tin and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown an almost firm in the centre.

5. Allow to cool in the tin, before removing and cutting into squares.

Optional

Melt 75g (3oz) white chocolate with a knob of butter in a bowl over a pan of hot water, spread over cooled cake and sprinkle with pink Barbie sugar before the chocolate sets. Cut into small squares.

Labels: blondies, brownies, chocolate, Rachel Allen, rosehip cordial, We should Cocoa, white chocolate

Monday, 25 April 2011

Hollandaise

I was away on a course on Thursday and Friday and stayed overnight at the Carrick Lodge Hotel . I can highly recommend it, both my room and my colleague's room were of a high standard and the food was excellent. I hadn't taken my camera so can't share my meal with you. However, on the menu at breakfast there was 'Eggs Benedict', not something I would normally choose, but I just couldn't resist. It was my Dad's favourite and is now one of my favourites too.

So, where is all this leading? I have never made Hollandaise sauce and after my Eggs Benedict, I thought it was probably about time I had a go. I know it has a reputation as being tricky but the recipe looked simple and I had everything I needed to make it. We were having salmon fillets for dinner and some sauce would lift them to a real treat.

I could have chosen a recipe from any number of my collection of cookbooks but decided to have a look and see if Rachel Allen had one - and she did! Right there at the back of Home Cooking in a chapter entitled Basics.

Hollandaise Sauce

makes about 150ml (5fl oz)

Vegetarian

2 egg yolks

110g (4oz) butter, diced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Squeeze of lemon juice

1. Place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water on a medium heat. Add the egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of cold water and whisk together. Gradually add the butter, bit by bit until each addition has melted and emulsified as it is whisked in, before adding the next.

2. Once all the butter has been added, cook for a few minutes more, stirring regularly until the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Taste and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

3. Remove from the heat and keep warm if necessary, by covering with clingfilm and leaving to sit over the warm water, until you're ready to serve.

Confession No. 1: The sauce made perfectly, until I put in the lemon juice and then the d**n thing split! So on the basis that it is just hot mayonnaise, I got another egg yolk and a clean bowl and gradually whisked the split sauce into the egg yolk over the simmering water. It worked a treat!

Confession No. 2: I served this to Mr Farmer, he tasted it and said what a nice CHEESE sauce it was, I don't know why I bother sometimes - ha ha ha!

Labels: Hollandaise, Home Cooking, Rachel Allen

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Home Cooking

I know this isn't a new cook book, but it's one I didn't think I would ever buy. I'd read the blurb on Amazon and other reviews and it seemed to me that it was a book for families for children, people who were not experienced cooks and I didn't think I needed to know how to roast a chicken or make shepherd's pie.

I take it all back!

We get a mobile library van and normally my MIL gets my books but every now and then I'm home when it is due to come and last time, I saw Home Cooking on the shelves and thought: "I've nothing to lose". I had only had it in the house a couple of days when I decided that I had to own my own copy.

I made the sage and onion stuffing which I stuffed into a pork shoulder, it was superb. I've recently found a great farm shop with their own butchery and on Saturday past I stocked up on beef mince, cumberland sausages, a chicken, chicken breasts and a piece of brisket. I froze most of the meat but kept some mince back, I hadn't really thought about what I would make but as this book was on the table I flipped through and saw the recipe for Beefburgers with gherkin relish.

I didn't make the relish although I love gherkins, I will try it another time. Here is the Beefburger recipe:

4tbsp olive oil

1 medium-large onion, peeled and chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

800g (1 3/4lb) minced beef

4 tbsp chopped mixed herbs, such as tarragon, chives, thyme and parsley

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed or grated

1 large egg, beaten

50g (2oz) fresh white breadcrumbs

1. Pour half the olive oil into a saucepan on a low heat, add the onion, season with salt and pepper, cover and sweat on a low heat for 10 minutes or until completely cooked and very soft but not browned. Remove from the pan and allow to cool.

2. Put the cooled onion in a bowl and mix with the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into eight evenly sized burgers. The burgers can be made to this stage in advance and kept in the fridge for up to 24 hours or frozen and then defrosted until ready to use.

3. Pour the remaining olive oil into a large frying pan on a medium heat and fry the burgers( in batches if necessary) for 8-10 minutes on each side or until well browned and cooked through. Alternatively fry the burgers in an ovenproof pan for 304 minutes on each side until deep golden, then pop in the oven, preheated to 200C (400F) for 10 minutes until cooked.

Serve on a bun with mustard or relish and salad.

The burgers were just delicious, I will definitely make them like this again and the browning in the pan followed by finishing in the oven, meant the burgers were cooked properly all the way through without going hard on the outside.

More from Home Cooking coming soon...

Labels: Burgers, Home Cooking, Rachel Allen

Saturday, 26 September 2009

Spicy Chicken and Apple Cake

Harissa-spiced chicken with bulghar wheat from BBC Easy Cook Magazine

with tomatoes roasted in olive oil

We all enjoyed it, not too spicy, I haven't cooked bulghar wheat like this before, I usually just soak it and then have it in a Tabbouleh type salad. I would definitely use it again, it doesn't go as soggy as couscous.

Rachel Allen's Dutch Apple Cake from BAKE

2 eggs
175g (6oz) caster sugar plus 15g (1/2 oz) extra for sprinkling
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
75g (3oz) butter
75ml (2 1/2 fl oz) milk
125g (4 1/2oz) plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 small or 1 large cooking apples
75ml (2 1/2 fl oz) double cream, to serve

20cm x 20 cm (8 x 8 in) square cake tin

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (400F), Gas mark 6. Line the sides and base of the cake tin with parchment paper.
2. Using an electric whisk, whisk the eggs, 175g (6oz) caster sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl until the mixture is thick and mousse-like and the whisk leaves a figure of eight pattern (this will take about 5 minutes).
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan with themilk, then pour onto the eggs, whisking all the time. Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and fold carefully into the batter so that there are no lumps of flour. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.
4. Peel and core the apples and cut into thin slices, then arrange them over the batter. They will sink to the bottom(this is meant to happen). Sprinkle with the remianing sugar and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 180C, 350F, Gas mark 4 and bake for a further 20-25 minutes or until well risen and golden brown.
5. Allow to cool in the tin , cut into squares and serve warm.

It is delicious, I served it with greek yogurt, rather than cream and the apples didn't all sink into the batter, some stayed on top and were nicely caramelised with the sugar.

Labels: apples, Bake, Chicken, Rachel Allen

Monday, 7 September 2009

Baked Butternut Squash Risotto with Sage

I got this cookery book last week and as well as being full of lovely cakes and pies, it also has some savoury dishes in it and one that caught my eye was this Butternut Squash Risotto.

3tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely grated or crushed
375g (13oz) peeled butternut squash (weight when peeled) cut into 5 mm-1cm (1/4 - 1/2 in) cubes
325g (11 1/2 oz) risotto rice, such as Arborio or Carnaroli
125ml (4fl oz) white wine
900ml (1 1/2 pints) vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g (3 1/2 pz Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 tsp finely chopped sage

To serve
Some extra shavings of Parmesan cheese
25g (1oz) pumpkin seeds, toasted (in the oven for a few minutes, or in a pan over a medium heat)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F), Gas mark 4.
2. Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof saucepan or deep ovenproof frying pan set over a low-medium heat, ad the onion and garlic, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes until soft.
3. Add the cubed butternut squash and the rice and stir for 1 minute before adding the white win. Allow the wine to bubble, uncovered, for 1-2 minutes until it has evaporated, then add the stock and bring to the boil.
4. Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until the rice is just cooked, with the tiniest bit of bite (it should not be soft and mushy), and has absorbed the stock. Add the grated cheese and chopped sage and season to taste.

5. Serve on warmed plates or in warmed bowls sprinkled with shavings of cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds.

We had it for supper tonight and it was really delicious. You may have noticed that there are no shavings of parmesan or toasted pumpkin seeds, I'm sure they would add a little something to the dish, particularly in terms of presentation, but the dish stands up well without them.

Labels: Bake, butternut squash, Rachel Allen, rice

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