Mushroom and Chestnut Puds with Red wine sauce

A very interesting vegetarian version of traditional suet pudding. The earthy and nutty taste from the mushroom and sweetness from the chestnut makes the pudding taste meaty. An absolute veggie food but even committed canivores will also love it.

I know the picture on your left is not exactly appetizing, I looks more like halloween food, but honestly, it looks greatin real and taste even better. Trust me.

Mushroom and Chestnut Puds with Red wine sauce

Ingredients:
For the filling
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
250g pack portabellini mushrooms, quartered (or mixed mushroom, like chestnut, oyster, shiitake)
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ x 200g pack Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts Roasted & Ready To Use
1 tbsp tomato purée
100ml red wine


For the suet crust:
150g self-raising flour
75g Atora Light Shredded Vegetable Suet


Method:
1.Lightly grease 2 x 300ml pudding basins with a little oil and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and add the mushrooms. Fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until they start to turn golden. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir often to avoid catching at the bottom. Fry the mushroom until the liquid from itself is absorbed. Stir in the chestnuts, tomato purée and red wine. Season, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce is reduced by half. Check and adjust the seasoning if necessary, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.


2.To make the pastry, sift the flour and a good pinch of salt into a bowl. Stir in the suet, add 100-150ml cold water and mix to a stiff dough. Reserve a quarter of the dough. Cut the rest of the dough in half. On a floured surface, roll each piece into a circle large enough to line each pudding basin, leaving a little overhang. Once the basins are lined, spoon in the cooled chestnut and mushroom filling.


3.Cut the reserved pastry in half and roll out each half into a circle to cover the tops of the puddings. Brush the edges with a little water and lay over the filling, pressing the dampened edges onto the overhanging pastry to seal. Trim away any excess. Cover with a piece of oiled kitchen foil and secure with string. Place the puddings in a bain-marie, make sure the water is above half way of your pudding bowl. Cover the bain-marie with 2 layers of foil to avoid browning the top. Bake in a 180C/ gas mark 4 oven for 1 hour.

Apple, Walnut and Celery Salad with Camembert Dressing

The opening of a grand dinner without meat......

Apple, Walnut and Celery Salad with Camembert Dressing
Serves 6 for starter or 2 for lunch

Ingredients
Dressing:
250g round, ripe camembert
2 tbsp crème fraîche

Salad:
110g Cox’s apple, sliced
2 Hearts of Romaine
2 celery sticks

Garlic croutons:
50g bread, cut into small cube
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cloves of garlic, crushed

Methods
1.Preheat an gas mark 4, 180oC oven.

2.Place the bread into a mix bowl, together with olive oil and garlic. Stir them around so that they get an even coating.

3.Arrange them onto a baking tray, bake them for 10 minutes or until they are crispy and golden. You may need to turn them around to get all sides crispy. Don’t go away from them, it is only 10 minutes, stay near the oven, otherwise you will forget.

4.Allow them to cool and leave them on one side until they are needed.

5.Then prepare the dressing. You can either peel the camembert skin carefully so you won’t waste too much, but I have found another method to do the trick. Put the whole cheese, with skin and everything (not the plastic wrap and the wooden case of course) into the microwave oven. Heat it at high heat for 2 minutes. The inside of the cheese will be melted, but still holding shape by the skin. Now, cut a circle at the top, then scrap the melted cheese into a sauce pan, and try to resist the smelly temptation.

6.Put the crème fraîche into the cheese, if you have dry cider at home, dash 1 tablespoon into it, so that the sauce would be less thick.

7.Now the salad, prepare them just before serving, tear the hearts of Romaine leaves into manageable pieces. Arrange them onto the serving plates, then the apple slice, and celery and then the walnut.

8.Scatter the croutons onto the salad and dress it with melted camembert. The dressing might start solidify at this point, re-warm the dressing under low heat until it is thin enough to serve.

Les Trois Mousquetaires and fondant fancies

I have been busy for a good few days. Regardless that I have taken the last few days off work, I have had no rest practically.

It is all because my beloved hunky boyfriend, Z kept me busy every night. No, I don’t mean like that. It was annual panto presented by Woolton Drama Group. I’m no actor in the group, but my culinary skills do make me lots of friends. Last year’s King Arthur brought bucket load of laughter to us, so we decided to portrait another monarch, however, this year the background is set in France....The Three Musketeers.

Z is the director of the panto. As the ‘woman’ behind the successful man, there are lots of background work needed to be done and iron out. Even with my busy schedule of work, gym, family and being pretty, I did my best to lift some of the stress from my loved one. As always, I was stressed through the last week, busy on making tabards for the musketeers and fondant fancy for the interval refreshments. I have been thinking hundred of time that I will not do all these again, it is always stressful and frustrated if the product didn’t turn out well. However, the compliment from the audience about my confectionary was rewarding, especially from those who don’t know me at all. One of the actress’ mum went to see the show, the first thing she said to her daughter after the performance was not about her appearance on stage, it was about my fondant fancies. They absolutely loved it. After all the hard work and time I put in, and then I heard that, it gives me a heart-warming feeling and passion for next creation.

Well, enough lollygagging, let’s get down to business. So, what is fondant fancy?

Fondant fancy is basically sponge cake, cut into square, brushed with jam all sides, with a dollop of butter cream on top, and then cover with fondant icing. Each fondant has to be iced individually, and coated all side. It was highly labour-intensive, a pair of hand is not enough to make ‘industrial’ quantity, even with Z’s helping hands. Therefore, I changed it into Victoria sponge with a twist.

Victorian Fancies (about 12 portions)

Sponge
3 eggs
6 oz caster sugar
6 oz spreadable butter
½ tsp lemon extract
6 oz self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder

Butter cream
175g icing sugar
75g butter

Rosé lime and lemon marmalade

Icing
1 Lemons, zest and juice
2 drops of natural yellow food colouring
250g-350g icing sugar

1.Preheat a 180oC/gas mark 4 oven.

2.Whisk the eggs and sugar together. Then mix in the butter and beat until fluffy.

3.Lemon extract goes in, and then sieve the flour and baking powder into the mix.

4.Fold the flour into the butter mix until lumps of flour disappeared.

5.Line a 12”x8”x1”deep baking tray with greaseproof/ non-stick baking paper.

6.Pour the mix into the tray and bake for 20 minutes.

7.Meanwhile, beat the butter and icing sugar to pale and fluffy, put a few drops of water if the mix is to stiff to work with.

Tips: You can test the sponge by pressing the top of it. If it bounced back and left no finger print, that’s done.

8.Cool down the cake at room temperature, it takes a few hours, but I usually cool it down over night. You should have a sponge about an inch thick.

9.Slice the sponge into two half-inch thick layers. Spread one layer with butter cream and then spread marmalade on top. Cover it with the second layer, then cut the cake into 12 squares, about 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches.

10.To make the icing, mix the lemon juice and zest and food colouring together.
Mix in the icing sugar gradually, beat until it reaches a cream-like consistency, add more icing sugar if it’s needed. Use it immediately.

11.Put the cake squares onto a griddle, put a tray underneath to catch dropped icing. Pour the icing on top of the cakes, let the icing flow over the edges and cover the sides. Don’t move it until it sets.

Starter : Beetroot Cured Salmon with Horseradish Sour Cream

Hi everyone, Christmas is getting close, where are you going to have your favourite Chirstmas Dinner? Posh Restaurant? Friend's House Party? for me, a wholesome home-made Chirstmas Dinner is unbeatable. The following dish that I have served on my birthday dinner as a starter also fit well in Christmas. The dark red beetroot taints the edge of salmon slice in red and leaves the middle orange pink. Horseradish gives it an extra dimension on the fish, you definietly can 'Taste the Difference'. With horseradish cream and Irish soda bread, this dish is the perfect starter for a lot more to come.

For the Salmon:

2 skin-on salmon fillets (about 1.3kg/3lb in total)

200g caster sugar

140g sea salt flakes

85g grated horseradish from a jar

3 medium raw beetroot (about 250g/9oz), coarsely grated (no need to peel)

1 bunch dill , chopped

For the Sour Cream:

200ml tub sour cream

juice 1 lemon

2 tbsp grated horseradish from the jar

handful dill fronds, roughly chopped

Soda Bread (I chose Paul Rankin’s) for serving

1. Lay the salmon fillets, skin side down, on a board and brush your hand along it. If you feel any little pin bones pinch them out with your fingers or tweezers. In a bowl, mix all of the other ingredients for the salmon together to make the cure.

2. Stretch two large sheets of cling film over a work surface and spoon over some of the cure. Lay one of the fillets, skin side down, on the cure, then pack over most of the cure, and sandwich with the remaining fillet, skin side up. Top with the last of the cure and wrap both fillets together tightly with lots of cling film. Place in a container with sides, like a large roasting tray, put a smaller tray on top and weigh it down with a couple of tins. Leave in the fridge for at least three days or up to a week. Don't be alarmed by the amount of liquid that leaks out, this is normal. Once a day, pour away the liquid, turn the salmon and re-apply the weights.

3. To serve, unwrap the salmon from the cling film and brush off the marinade. Slice the salmon into thin slivers. Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together with some salt and pepper, and pour them into small ramekins, one for each guest. Serve each guest with a few slices of salmon, few slices of soda bread and the dressing at the side. Once made the salmon will sit happily in the fridge for up to a week and can be used just like smoked salmon.