Lamb and Lemon Stew

4 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 kg boned lamb shoulder
1 small onion
2 bay leaves
1 tsp rosemary
5 cloves garlic, 4 minced, 1 whole
1 tsp thyme
500ml hot chicken stock
150ml white wine
1 lemon, zested2 tsp parsley

Cut the lamb into large chunks and put into a large dish, stir in 2 tablespoon olive oil and bake at 220 degrees centigrade for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and gently cook the onions for 5 mibutes then add the minced garlic. Add the bay leaves, rosemary and thyme. Pour in the wine and stock, bring to a simmer then pour over the lamb. Cover well with foil and bake for 90 minutes at 140 degrees centigrade. Meanwhile crush the remaining garlic and mix with the lemon zest and parsley, add to the stew and stir well.

Pork Goulash and Knedlicky

Banana and Carrot Cake

3 medium eggs
175g soft brown sugar
175g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175ml vegetable oil
175g walnut pieces
2 ripe, medium bananas, mashed
175g grated carrot

Icing:
75g butter, softened
75g Philedephia
150g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat eggs and sugar together. Sift in flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well then add the oil and walnuts, mix and add the banana and carrot and mix again. Pour into a prepared cake tin. Bake for 80 minutes at 170 degrees centigrade. Cover with foil if it begins to brown too much. Cool on a rack. To make the icing, beat the butter and cream cheese, add the vanilla and icing sugar, mix well and spread onto the cake.




I also put some of the batter into cupcake holders as I was worried the main cake would overflow.

Liver and Bacon

400g lamb liver, sliced
4 rashers streaky bacon
1 pinch sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a small frying pan, cook the bacon until crispy. Put the liver, sugar and flour into a bowl, season well and mix. Heat oil in a large frying pan, add the liver and cook for two minutes on each side, add the balsamic vinegar, stir and serve with mash and/or veg.

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg1 large egg white
2 cups chocolate, cut into chunks

Beat the butter with the sugars, add the vanilla, egg and egg white, mix well. Sift in the flour and baking powder, mix well. Fold in the chocolate chunks. Drop tablespoons of batter onto prepared baking trays, allowing 4 centimetres between to allow for expanding. Bake for 18 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade.

Vanocka

500g strong plain flour
100g butter, softened
80g + 1 tbsp sugar
1 cup milk
10g dried yeast
2 egg yolks
50g raisins
1 egg, beaten
Icing sugar, for dusting

Heat the milk until lukewarm, mix in 1 tablespoon sugar and the yeast. Leave for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to rise. Put the flour and sugar into a large bowl, make a well in the centre. Mix the egg yolks into the milk. Pour into the flour and mix until combined. Add the butter and stir well. Add the raisins. Turn out onto the table and knead for 10 minutes, adding more flour if the dough is soft. Put into a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise for 1 hour. Punch back the dough and braid. Place onto a prepared baking tray and allow to rise for 30 minutes more. Brush the surface with beaten egg. Use some pre-soaked wooden skewers to secure the vanocka. Bake for 5 minutes at 220 degrees centigrade then reduce the heat to 160 degrees centigrade and bake for 45 minutes more. Cover with foil if the vanocka is becoming too brown. Once cool dust with icing sugar.

Roast Chicken

1 1/2 kg chicken
1 small onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 lemon, quartered
50g butter
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper

Put the chicken into a roasting dish. Stuff the onion, garlic and lemon into the cavity and place the chicken breast side up. Mix together the butter, thyme, salt and pepper and smear all over the chicken. Roast for 60 minutes at 180 degrees and then reduce the heat to 160 degrees and roast for another 20 minutes. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before carving.




The chicken was very tender and juicy but the skin was crispy. It's preferable to the slow roast chicken that I made last week.

Fruit and Choclate Plait

I followed the recipe for Giant Hotcross Bun but only used 100g dried fruit. At the end of the kneading time I added 100g milk choclate chunks. I divided the dough into two and from each half formed a plait. After rising for an hour they were baked for 40 minutes at 180 degrees and dusted with icing sugar when cool.

More Yummy Cakes

With the remaining vanilla cake batter I made nutella and chocolate topped cakes.

Jiu-Jitsu Cupcakes

Fererro Rocher Cupcakes

I wanted to make cakes that looked like Fererro Rocher chocolates.

I used chocolate cake batter (http://thefruitsofmylabour.blogspot.com/2010/03/chocolate-cupcakes.html) and added half a teaspoon of nutella, topped it with more cake batter.




When the cakes were cool I melted some milk chocolate and mixed in some roasted, chopped hazelnuts.




Mmm! They were yummy!

More Knedlicky

I tried housekove knedlicky again. It looks like I've cracked it! This time I divided the dough into four pieces as opposed to two.

Houskove Knedlicky

500g strong plain flour
1/3 baguette, slightly stale, crust removed, cut into cubes
200ml lukewarm milk
1 egg
1 tsp salt
7g sachet fast action yeast

Put the flour, salt and yeast into a large bowl. Add the milk and egg, mix well. Turn out onto a surface and knead for 10 minutes, adding the bread cubes towards the end. Put back into the bowl and cover with a damp tea towel, leave in a warm place to rise for 40 minutes. Divide the dough in two pieces and shape, steam for 50 minutes. Prick all over to release the steam then slice and serve.



Sliced open:




Notice the soft, fluffy texture:



With gravy:

Roast Lamb

Slow Roast Chicken

1.5 kg chicken
50g butter, softened
1 tsp dried thyme
1 lemon, zested
500ml stock
Salt and pepper

Mix the butter, thyme, lemon zest and pepper. Place the chicken into a pan and smear with the butter. Place the remaining lemon into the cavity. Add the stock to the pan, cover well with foil and bake for 2 hours at 160 degrees centigrade. Carefully remove the foil and bake for 30 minutes at 220 degrees centigrade. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Spicy Lentil and Spinach Soup

225g red lentils
1 onion, chopped
3 tbsp veg oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium red chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 medium green chilli, deseeded and chopped
2 1/2 cm piece ginger, chopped
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 pinch cayenne pepper
300ml stock
200g chopped tomatoes
100g creamed coconut
5 blocks frozen spinach, defrosted
1 small bunch coriander, chopped
4 tbsp natural yoghurt, to serve
Salt and pepper

Put the lentils into a medium saucepan with 900ml cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until tender. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onions and cook for 15 minutes until soft, add the ginger, chillis and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the spices and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the stock, tomatoes and lentils and their liquid, simmer for 5 minutes. Season to taste. Remove from the heat, add the creamed coconut, stir until combined. Allow to cool slightly, blend until almost smooth, return to the heat. Add the spinach and bring to a simmer, cook for 5 minutes. Add most of the coriander. Serve garnished with yoghurt and the remaining coriander.

Egg Mayo Potato

Baked potato topped with two chopped boiled eggs mixed with two tablespoons mayo and some chopped cherry tomatoes.

Nutella Swirl Cupcakes

I took a basic vanilla cupcake batter and swirled through 200g Nutella.




The cakes were decorated with vanilla and chocolate frosting. The intention was to mix vanilla and chocolate in the same piping bag for a marbled effect but the bag burst so I ended up icing by hand.

A few that I iced before the bag split (note the slight marble effect that didn't work very well!):




The remaining cakes were plain iced and decorated with contrasting chocolate stars:

Giant Hot Cross Bun

425g strong plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
50g butter, cubed
7g sachet fast action dried yeast
1 tsp mixed spice
50g muscovado sugar
200g mixed dried fruit
125ml milk, plus 1 tbsp for brushing

Put flour and salt in a mixing bowl, rub in the butter. Add the spice, yeast, dried fruit and sugar. In a jug measure the milk, add 125ml boiling water, pour the mix over the dry ingredients, stir to combine. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Form into a round and place on a prepared baking tray, allow to rise in a warm place for an hour until double in size. Brush the bun with milk. Mix 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon milk and make a cross shape. Bake at 200 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes until brown and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom.





With butter:



Toasted with butter:

Pumpkin Cake

300g self-raising flour
300g muscovado sugar
3 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g raisins
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
200g butter, melted
1 orange, zested
1 tbsp orange juice
500g (peeled weight) pumpkin, grated

For the icing:
200g Philedephia
85g butter, softeded
100g icing sugar, sifted
1 orange, zested
1/2 orange, juiced

Beat the butter and eggs together, add the orange juice and zest, mix. Add the sugar and stir, add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, spice and raisins, mix well. Stir in the pumpkin. Transfer to a prepared baking tray. Bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 40-50 minutes until done. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack. Poke holes all over the cake using a skewer and drizzle with the remaining orange juice. Allow to cool. Beat together the Philedephia and butter, add the icing sugar and zest, beat well. Spread over the cake.

This cake was a real hit, will definitely make it again!