Category: Recipes

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Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
  • 4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 (4-1/2- to 5-pound) boneless or bone-in pork shoulder (also known as pork butt), twine or netting removed
  • 2 cups barbecue sauce (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Place the onions and garlic in an even layer in the slow cooker and pour in the stock or broth. Combine the sugar, chili powder, measured salt, cumin, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Pat the pork dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork and place the meat on top of the onions and garlic. Cover and cook until the pork is fork tender, about 6 to 8 hours on high or 8 to 10 hours on low.
  2. Turn off the slow cooker and remove the pork to a cutting board. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a medium heatproof bowl. Pour the onion mixture from the slow cooker through the strainer and return the solids to the slow cooker. Set the strained liquid aside.
  3. If the pork has a bone, remove and discard it. Using 2 forks, shred the meat into bite-sized pieces, discarding any large pieces of fat. Return the shredded meat to the slow cooker, add the barbecue sauce, if using, and mix to combine. If you’re not using barbecue sauce, use a spoon to skim and discard the fat from the surface of the strained cooking liquid, and then add 1/4 cup of the liquid at a time to the slow cooker until the pork is just moistened. Taste and season with salt as needed.
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Black Cherry Cheesecake

Serves: 10

Takes: 1.5 hours + chilling

For the base:

  • 150g (5oz) digestive biscuits
  • 75g (3oz) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1tbsp caster sugar

For the filling:

  • 800g (1 ¾lb) cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 150g (5oz) caster sugar
  • 3 medium eggs, lightly whisked
  • 1 x 142ml tub double cream
  • zest and juice of 1 lemon

For the topping:

  • 2 x 125g punnets black cherry, stones removed (or use 1 can of black cherry in light syrup)
  • 3tbsp caster sugar
  • 1tsp cornflour

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 160 degree C (gas mark 3).
  2. Crush biscuits, put in a bowl. Stir in butter and sugar. Tip into a 22.5cm (9 inch) springform tin and press firmly. Chill until set.
  3. Beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth. gradually beat in the egges. Stir in cream and lemon and pour onto base.
  4. Bake for an hour, until set. Cover and leave to cool on a wire rack, then refrigerate for at least five hours or overnight.
  5. Heat topping ingredients until black cherry soften. Pour over cheesecake and chill until set, or spoon over just before serving.

N.B. Blueberry as topping is delicious too. 🙂

*** Lemon Jelly topping***

  • 4 sheets gelatine
  • 250ml cold water
  • 180g caster sugar
  • 1 lemon – both juice & zest

Dissolve gelatine in 100 ml of water. Put 150ml of water in a pan with sugar, lemon juice and zest and heat until sugar dissolved. Take off the heat then add gelatine. Pour over cheesecake and chill until set.

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Key Lime Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust

  • 30 chocolate wafers (enough to make 1 1/2 cups of chocolate crumbs)
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Coulis / Syrup

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 key limes, juiced (can use limes to substitute)
  • Candied hibiscus flowers, or dried cranberries

Filling

  • 5 egg yolks
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup key lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon key lime zest
  • 2 cups whipped cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup mascarpone cheese

Meringues

  • 5 egg whites
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F).

To make the crust: Put all the chocolate wafers in a resealable bag and then crush them into fine crumbs. Pour the crumbs into a medium mixing bowl and add the melted unsalted butter, then mix to incorporate. Mould the crumb crust into the bottom of a springform pan, about 1/4-inch thick. Bring it up the sides a little bit, about a 1/2-inch. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and cool on counter.

To make the coulis /syrup: Heat a pot over medium heat. Pour in the water, sugar and bring to a boil. Add the key lime juice and candied hibiscus flowers, stir. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, until slightly reduced.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).

To make the cheesecake filling: In a large bowl add the egg yolks, brown sugar, key lime juice, lime zest, and whisk together. Add the cream cheese and mascarpone then mix with electric beater for another 15 seconds. Set aside.

To make the meringue: Whip the egg whites together with 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and white vinegar. Delicately fold this meringue into the cheesecake mixture. Pour evenly into the springform cake tin over the chocolate crust.

Place 2 layers of wide aluminum foil into a large roasting pan. Put the cake in the middle of the foil. Bring the foil up the sides to create a seal, do not cover cake. Pour water into the roasting pan, half way up the sides of the cake tin. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes depending on your oven. Allow the cake to cool completely on the countertop, then refrigerate overnight. Serve each slice of this cheesecake drizzled with a tablespoon or 2 of key lime and hibiscus coulis/syrup.

*source: Nadia G.’s Bitchin’ Kitchen.

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Home Made Green Pesto

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup packed fresh basil leavesHome made pesto
  • 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 1 small clove garlic
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • Salt & ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Methods:

  1. In a food processor, blend together all the above ingredients except the extra virgin olive oil.
  2. While blending, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Blend until smooth.
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Quick and Easy Home Made Hoisin Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons thick sweet soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons garlic black bean sauce
  • 1 tablespoon honey or molasses or brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons white vinegar (optional)
  • 2 teaspoon sesame oil
  • Few drops of chilli sauce (optional)
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Method:

Simply mix together.

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Shiny Heavy Machine!

Test drove my shiny heavy machine today. (Yay! New toy! 🙂 )

Made two cakes and some Chelsea buns. Machine is great, unfortunately the cook is not so fab 🙁 . I thought that I am reasonably tidy when it comes to cooking, but today I was a very messy baker – flour, sugar, butter everywhere. Chelsea bun dough didn’t risen as much as I would like which is disappointing… 🙁 . Was it because of my heavy handed approach or not enough yeast being used I wonder?

Need more practice I think.

 

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BBQ Tandoori Chicken with Onion Bhajis

Saw these being cooked on Food Network channel the other day and keen to try them out myself.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large free range chicken
  • Handful of salt

For the tandoori paste:

  • 4 tbsp tandoori spice mix
  • 2 tsp garam masala powder
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 500ml natural yoghurt
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon tomato puree

For the Raita:

  • 480ml natural yoghurt
  • Cucumber, de-seeded and grated or finely chopped
  • Large handful mint leaves, chopped
  • Large pinch salt
  • 1 green chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

For the Onion Bhajis:

  • 4 large onions
  • 4 large Bombay onions
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 10 cardamom pods
  • 6 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 5 teaspoons coriander ground
  • 2 teaspoons chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoons turmeric
  • Bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
  • 180-200g gram flour (chickpea flour)
  • 1 iceberg lettuce thinly sliced
  • 2 lemons for garnish

Method:

How to make BBQ Tandoori Chicken with Onion Bhajis

For the chicken, spatchcock the chicken and peel off the skin as best you can. With a sharp knife cut incisions into the chicken so the marinade can really absorb. Season chicken with salt.

In a bowl, mix all the tandoori mix together and then massage into the chicken. Leave for at least 24 hours.

Heat the grill to its highest setting. Preheat a griddled tray lined with foil and place the chicken under the grill or barbeque and cook for 45-50 minutes until cooked through. If flesh begins to burn turn heat down a little.

Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

For the onion bhaji, heat the fryer to 165°C.

Slice onions, then salt lightly and leave for 5 minutes until the onions begin to bleed. In a pestle and mortar place the cardamom pods and grind, then add the remaining spices. Add the spices, gram flour and chopped coriander to the onions, mix well until you have a dropping consistency. Shape into handful size flat discs or to whatever size you prefer then deep fry for around 7-8 minutes (shorter time if smaller) until golden crispy brown. Repeat until mix is used up.

For the raita, mix together all the ingredients and serve chilled.

On a large serving dish lay the iceberg to create a bed. Place the chicken on top then arrange bhajis around chicken. Garnish lemon wedges and coriander. Serve raita in bowl and naan if required.

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Basic Buttercream

Enough to fill 1 medium size sponge or 12 fairy cakes.

Ingredients

  • 140g/5oz butter, softened
  • 280g/10oz icing sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp milk
  • few drops food colouring

Preparation method

  1. Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
  2. Add the remaining icing sugar and one tablespoon of the milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Beat in the milk, if necessary, to loosen the mixture.
  3. Stir in the food colouring until well combined.
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Easy Victoria Sponge

Simplest sponge cake recipe 🙂

Ingredients

Preparation method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
  2. Grease and line 2 x 18cm/7in cake tins with baking paper.
  3. Cream the butter and the sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
  4. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, and stir in the vanilla extract
  5. Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little extra milk if necessary, to create a batter with a soft dropping consistency.
  6. Divide the mixture between the cake tins and gently spread out with a spatula.
  7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  8. Remove from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes, then remove from the tin and peel off the paper. Place onto a wire rack.
  9. Sandwich the cakes together with jam, lemon curd or whipped cream and berries or just enjoy on its own.
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My Rustic Pineapple Cakes

Made a few pineapples cakes from scratch today, and they are not difficult to make as I thought. 🙂 Well…. apart from not having the right size moulds to make them look perfect.

I have adjusted the dough and filling quantities on the recipe, hopefully when I come to make them again, they will turn out just right.