Vanilla sugar has been a staple in my kitchen for a long time. I first came across the idea many moons ago on a Jamie O programme and decided rather than paying a hefty amount for shop bought vanilla sugar I would make my own.
Vanilla Sugar
500ml Kilner jar (or similar)
500g caster sugar
2 vanilla pods slit down the length
Pour sugar in jar then add vanilla pods. When ever you use a vanilla pod and have removed the seeds put the in the jar and add to your vanilla pod collection!
I use it in the majority of baking I do and it's a great way to use up expensive vanilla pods that have had the seeds removed. I used it to make Lemon Drizzle Cake a few days ago. I have to admit the second time round for making the cake I got a bit cocky and used 2 small lemons and a lime, well they did need using up. Although the cake was still nice, it wasn't a good as the original cake from a few weeks back. It was almost too tart.
Tonight's dinner was another recipe from my sister. Essentially I dipped a pork steak in egg then coated in dry stuffing mix then baked for 25 min at 180oc. It was lovely but the photo I took looked like it was straight out of a 1960's cookbook so I won't be sharing that with you!
Friday, March 07, 2008
Vanilla Sugar
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Rice Pudding
Although the past few days have been unusually warm for this time of year the nights have been bitterly cold. While the weather is still cold, I crave comfort food. This months edition of delicious has a whole section devoted to British puddings, heaven! Tonight I cooked a rack of lamb with port & cranberry jus and for the last month or so it's become a tradition to cook a pudding with sunday dinner.
Tonight was the turn of rice pudding. I always have a bag of pudding rice languishing at the back of the cupboard, to be honest I don't know why supermarkets sell such big bags of pudding rice as you only need a tiny amount to make a pudding...anyway it's a gorgeous comforting pudding. Be warned it takes a long, long time to cook, but it's worth it. It tastes far better than any tinned rice pudding.
Rice Pudding (from River Cottage Family Cookbook)
Serves 2
50g pudding rice
25g unsalted butter
500ml whole milk
25g caster sugar (I use my vanilla sugar)
pinch of salt
vanilla pod, slit down the middle
1) Preheat to 150oc. Lightly butter ovenproof dish. Wash rice then mix all ingredients in the dish.
2) Bake for 45 min, remove from oven and stir. Bake for a further 30 min, by this point a skin will have begun to form. Stir again to stop the rice sticking to the bottom of the bowl.
3) Return the dish to the oven yet again and bake for a further 1 - 1.5 hours. If you don't want a skin cover dish with lid/foil. If it begins to dry out stir in more milk.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Granola
I love my breakfasts, especially granola, but I often find the shop brought versions too sweet and expensive so I decided to make my own as inspired by a recipe in this months GFM. Ok, it's not the lowest in calorie cereal, but it's jam packed with good stuff and certainly keeps me filled up till lunch.
It is meant to have dried apricots in it, but when I got the packet out of the cupboard I noticed they were past their sell by date and had begun to ferment! The recipe is really flexible and you can literally put what ever you want in it. This time I've put in mixed fruit and dates. Next time I may try dried cranberries.
Granola
Makes about 1kg and will fill a 4 litre container.
125ml/4fl oz sunflower oil
100ml/3.5 fl oz malt extract (The only place I can get this is Julien Graves)
100ml/3.5 fl oz clear honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
500g/18oz jumbo oats
25g/1oz desiccated coconut
100g/4oz Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame seed mix (you can buy this mix in Morrisons)
150g/6oz dried fruit (use what ever you want)
1) Preheat oven to 170oc (fan). Heat oil, honey, vanilla extract and malt extract in a large pan until malt extract has turned runny and combined with the oil, honey and vanilla. Take off the heat and add all the ingredients apart from the dried fruit. Stir until evenly covered.
2) Tip mix into the largest baking tin you can find. Spread out in an even layer and bake for around 25 min. Stir occasionally until the mix is golden. Leave to cool then separate the mix into chunks and stir in the fruit. Store in an airtight container for up to a month.
Even hubby love this, though rather than eating it like a cereal he has just been eating handfuls of it! This was the first time I've baked in our new oven and it did catch me out as it is far more efficient than our old cooker!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Raspberry and Vanilla Baked Custard
