Stacked banana and blueberry pancakes with smoked streaky bacon and lashings of maple syrup

Oh my god what a pancake day it has been!

I love pancakes. Since I was a child I would flip pancakes for everyone on Shrove Tuesday and sometimes even get them stuck to the ceiling or make a huge mess of it.

It’s such a fun day which can be spent with all the family.

Usually in Britain and Europe the flat style crepe pancakes are more popular but the American style thick mix is coming back and is proving really popular. Many breakfast clubs are having pancake challenges stacking up as many as 12 pancakes challenging you to eat them in under 12 minutes and raising money for charity. Personally I couldn’t do it but my husband would be partial to a pancake or 12!

Let me start by telling you this recipe is fool proof and works every time.

I will add step by step pictures at the bottom.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 bananas (soft is better)
1 egg
1 large mug of self raising flour
1 large mug of milk
Pack of blueberries (optional)
12 Smoked streaky bacon rashers
Maple syrup
Icing sugar (optional)

Method:
Peel the bananas and place in a bowl and mash up until smooth. There may be a few lumps if the bananas are harder but not to worry.
Add to the bowl the flour, milk and egg and whisk until you get a batter like consistency. Don’t worry about the small lumps the bananas are causing this.
Leave to rest. At this point you can place in the fridge and use when needed.

Meanwhile..
Put a non stick pan on a medium heat and add the bacon rashers turning until crispy. Remove from the pan and keep warm.

Reserve the bacon oil as you will be using it soon.

Wipe out the pan removing any bacon grit.

Turn the heat to low pour in a teaspoon of bacon oil.

Using a ladle pour in the batter making three portions and whilst that is slowly cooking drop in some blueberries to each pancake. You may also use raspberries or strawberries at this point.

Once the batter starts to have holes appearing flip over and leave it still for a couple of minutes. Feel the pancakes with your fingers just for sponginess.
Remove from heat and stack up onto a plate or keep warm until ready to eat.

Repeat this 3 more times and there you have 12 fluffy pancakes.

Stack these up onto plates and carefully place the crispy rashers on top and cover with loads of maple syrup and icing sugar.

Enjoy!!

Baked figs with goats cheese and pistachio.

This is a really lovely recipe and can be varied to personal preference.

It can be a starter or dessert whichever tickles your taste buds and can be made sweet or savoury.

Serves 2
Ingredients:
4 ripe figs
100g soft goats cheese
10g shelled pistachios chopped
20g Light brown sugar
Runny honey to drizzle.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C/350F/Gas Mark 5

Slice the tops of the figs into quarters and fill each fig with 25g goats cheese or enough that it fills each fig as they do vary in size.

Sprinkle the figs with the chopped pistachio and some sugar.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden keeping an eye on it not to burn.

Serve with runny honey. I used pistachio flavoured honey but can be any honey you desire.

If you prefer savoury- skip the sugar and wrap the figs in prosciutto slices and bake. Serve with Melba toasts or rocket salad, drizzled with extra Virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

These are so simple and easy to make and the flavours are just so lush. My mouth is watering already.

The best Sourdough starter and bread

Sourdough is such a lovely bread but you have to be patient! This bread has no active yeast in it. It is made from the natural occurring yeasts in the flour which ferments overtime. Unlike other breads which are made quickly with active yeast, it has a sour taste because of the lactic acid produced.

This next part needs to be prepared up to a week before. To start you need a large jar, bread flour, water and some grapes. By mixing in these ingredients together you create a 'starter'. The starter is the base to your bread and will live with you forever if you feed it regularly. By feeding I mean adding more flour and water every couple of days to keep it alive. It's like a living thing. It bubbles away once you feed it and it can die if you don't. It sounds odd but if you want to have a lovely fresh loaf of sourdough every day then follow these instructions.

 

My starter has been alive now for around 6 months and it just sits on the shelf and we feed it everyday.

 

Ingredients for starter:

5-7 seedless green grapes

250g strong white flour

250ml tepid water

To feed:

100g strong white flour

110ml tepid water

 

 

Slice the grapes in half and mix well with the flour and water together in a large jar.

Leave it for 2-3 days do not open it.

After 3 days empty half of the mixture out and feed it with the flour and water.

After 24 hours the starter will be ready to use it should be very bubbly and have a weird smell like beer. If its not bubbling then leave it for another day. It should look like a thick batter.

Each time you use some for the dough then you need to feed it after.

When you aren't using the starter then keep it at room temperature.

 

For the bread!!

 

You will need the following ingredients:

375g strong white flour

250g of your sourdough starter

8g salt

140-170ml tepid water

Olive oil for kneading

 

Combine the starter, flour and salt in a bowl and slowly add the water. You might not need all the water so pour slowly and just see how it goes until you reach a soft dough.

Pour some olive oil onto your work surface and tip the dough onto it and start to knead the bread for a minimum of 15 minutes until is stretchy.

Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film or a carrier bag. Leave it for a minimum of 8 hours. The longer you leave it the better so if you could leave it overnight depends on the different flavours you can get out of your bread.

 

 

Once it has doubled on size tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knock out the air and roll it into a ball.

Tip into a banneton if you have one if not get a colander and cover with a tea towel. Flour it generously and then tip the dough into there and leave it to rise for 3 hours only.

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas 7 and place a metal dish into the bottom of the oven.

Tip the dough onto a lined baking tray and place into the oven. Add some cold water to the metal tray at the bottom of oven to create a steam and leave it to bake for 30 minutes. Then reduce temperature to 200C/400F/gas6 and bake for a further 15-20 minutes.

Cool on a cooling rack.

 

Serve with toppings of your choice

 

The crust is the best bit!!

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Easy, healthy and extremely tasty avocado and feta salad.

 

1 soft avocado, scooped out

1 pack of buffalo mozzarella, sliced

50g feta cheese, cubed

Bag of mixed salad

5 cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 red onion, finely sliced

1/2 red pepper, sliced

Toasted sesame, flaxseeds and sunflower seeds

Generous drizzle of Good quality extra virgin olive oil

A drizzle of balsamic vinegar

 

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and toss together with the oil and vinegar.

 

Transfer to a salad bowl and serve immediately with some toasted sourdough*

 

Leave the bowl in the sink so someone else can wash it up! You made the food!

 

 

*sourdough bread recipe coming soon.

 

Posted with Blogsy

The best paella!!!

 

Ingredients:

170g/6oz chorizo, cut into thin cubes

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 large onion, finely diced

1 red pepper,

¼ tsp dried red chilli flakes

300-400g Spanish paella rice

1 tsp paprika

125ml/4fl oz dry white wine

1.2 litres/2 pints chicken or fish stock, heated with ¼ tsp saffron strands

10-12 mussels washed

110g/4oz frozen peas

4 large tomatoes, diced

125ml/4fl oz good olive oil

4 jumbo raw prawns, in shells or 12 raw king prawns

200g squid, cleaned and chopped into bite-sized pieces

5 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley

2 large lemons

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

You may add chicken to this recipe if desired.

Preparation method:

Heat half the olive oil in a paella dish or heavy-based saucepan. Add the chorizo and fry until crisp. Add the garlic, onion and pepper and heat until softened. Add the chilli flakes and paella rice, and stir until all the grains of rice are coated.

Now add the paprika and dry white wine and once it starts to bubble add the tomatoes and pour in the hot chicken/fish stock. Let it cook for around 20-25 minutes. (If you are using chicken then now is the best time to add it. Make sure it's browned slightly before adding.)

Now place the squid into the dish. Sprinkle in the peas and chopped tomatoes and continue to cook gently for another 5 minutes.

Add the mussels and prawns on top of the paella and cover with lid for approximately 6-7 minutes. Make sure the prawns turn pink and the mussels have opened discarding any that have not.

Slice the lemons into wedges

Scatter the chopped parsley over the paella and serve immediately.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Beef stew with herby cheese topped dumplings!

One of my all time faves!!

 

For the stew:

3 tbsp plain flour

90ml/3fl oz vegetable oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

900g/2lb braising steak or shin

2 onions, sliced

2 carrots, cut into chunks

2 sticks celery, cut into 2cm/1in pieces

1 leek, washed and cut into thick rings

1 tbsp tomato purée

600ml/1 pint red wine

600ml/1 pint beef stock

25ml/1 shot bourbon (optional)

1 bay leaf

For the herby cheese topped dumplings:

245g/8½oz self-raising flour

pinch salt

1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

150g/5½oz cheddar cheese, grated

175ml/6fl oz full fat milk

1 free-range egg, beaten

extra flour for dusting

parsley, to garnish

Preparation method :

To make the stew, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

Season the flour with salt and pepper. Toss the steak in the flour so each piece is coated.

Heat half the oil in a casserole dish and fry the meat in batches until browned all over. Remove from the pan and set to one side.

Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and fry the onion, carrots, celery and leek until lightly browned. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for another two minutes.

Pour the wine into the pan and heat through. Using a wooden spoon, scrape any charred meat and vegetables from the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, bourbon (optional), bay leaf and return the beef to the pan.

Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 1½ hours in the preheated oven (alternatively cook on the hob over a very low heat for 1½ hours).

Meanwhile, make the cobbler topping. Mix the flours in a bowl. Add the salt, chopped rosemary and 100g/3½oz of the cheese. Slowly add the milk and bring the mixture together. You may not need all of the milk. Try not to overwork the mixture by mixing it too much as this will toughen the end result.

Tip the mixture onto a floured surface and bring together to form a soft dough. Form the dough into a rough circle keeping it quite thick, about 2.5cm/1in. Cut out eight scone-sized circles. Brush the tops of the dumplings with beaten egg and sprinkle over the remaining cheese.

Remove the stew from the oven and place the dumplings on top of the stew. Increase the oven temperature to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Return the stew to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes until the scones are golden-brown. Serve with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

 

Posted with Blogsy