Almond, Macadamia and Chocolate... Macaroons?

Well almost... 

Perhaps not macaroons in the traditional sense but delicious all the same.  You see the problem was I ran out of almonds (always a challenge when preparing macaroons) so after rummaging around the kitchen I ground up some macadamia nuts and then continued adding from there.

The result?  The look and taste of macaroons with a slightly chewier centre – no bad thing - and great with that afternoon cup of coffee.

270g Macadamia Nuts (ground in a food processor)

250g Ground Almonds

115g Egg Whites

500g Caster Sugar

5-6 tbsp of Plain Flour

1 cup of Milk Chocolate Chips (white chocolate would be good too)

1 tsp Almond Extract

Whisk the egg whites until very stiff.  Add the almond extract, sugar and ground nuts.  Add the flour 1 tbsp at a time and stir until a firm mixture is achieved, you can do this is a mixer.  The consistency needs to be firm enough that you can take a heaped teaspoonful of the mixture and roll it easily into a ball in your hands.

Place the balls on baking paper with space between them as they will spread and bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 150 degrees until just going a very pale golden brown colour and the top is slightly cracked.  Leave to cool on the sheet for a few minutes before peeling them off the paper and placing on a cooling rack.

Dust with icing sugar and serve up with coffee and a chat.

Perfect Sunday Supper (or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...)

I think it was the second homemade Damson Gin last night that was the catalyst for needing comfort food today.  It wasn’t a heavy night for a Burns night celebration but it was a good fun evening with friends.  So after a slow start and a busy day, a little bit of something nourishing, gorgeous to taste and very importantly easy to prepare was necessary.  So here it is, simply perfect slow cooked Lamb Shanks in Red Wine, Balsamic and Honey with caramelised Onions and Pancetta, perfect with the family or for supper with friends.

Lamb Shanks with Balsamic and Honey

Serves 2 – multiply up for more

2 Lamb Shanks

1 Red Onion (thinly sliced)

2 cloves of Garlic (finely chopped)

1 tbsp Balsamic reduction

1 glass Red Wine

1 tbsp Runny Honey

300ml Chicken Stock

1 stick of Celery (cut into 2” chunks)

1 tbsp Tomato Puree

1 Sprig of Rosemary

Splash of Olive Oil

Knob of Butter

Sprinkling of Plain Flour

Salt and Pepper

Dust the lamb shanks with seasoned flour and set aside.

Melt half of the olive oil and butter in a sauté pan (big enough to take the shanks in a few minutes) and sauté the onions, celery, rosemary and pancetta.  Leave on a low heat so they do not brown but start to caramelise.  This will take around 10 minutes.  Take off the heat and place in the slow cooker.

Return the pan to the cooker and with a little more olive oil and butter brown the lamb shanks on all sides, place these into the slow cooker with the onion mixture. 

Once again return the sauté pan to the heat and pour in the balsamic, red wine and honey and let it come to the boil.  Add the chicken stock and stir to combine.  When it reaches boiling point again pour over the lamb shanks, season (you can always adjust this later so don’t be too generous at this stage) and cook on the high setting for 1 hour, turn down to a low setting for a further 5 hours.  During the cooking time, spoon the sauce over the lamb a couple of times.

When the lamb is cooked and falling off the bone, remove the lamb from the slow cooker and set aside keeping it warm.  Pour the juices from the slow cooker into a saucepan and boil (this will take 10-15 minutes) to reduce down to a syrup consistency, pour over the lamb shanks.

Serve piled up with potatoes and cabbage.  Don't worry about plating it up as you would for a Michelin Star restaurant, this is good rustic food that tastes devine.  Anyway this is supper not Masterchef!

A Bit of a Tart

Stilton, Onion and Potato Tart with a Walnut Crust, Slow Roasted Tomatoes, Seasoned Leaves and Balsamic Syrup

After a lovely Sunday lunch at the local pub last night I needed just a small plateful of something to sustain me until the morning.  As the remainder of the stilton was threatening to walk out of the pantry and into the kitchen all by itself it is so ripe, the answer was a small piece of tart with a little of the green stuff.  Its very easy and does the job perfectly.

100g stilton cheese plus a little more to crumble on top before baking

25g gruyere cheese grated

150g creme fraiche

2 onions finely sliced

50g butter

2 small potatoes - chopped small

drizzle of olive oil

a few chives

2 very large eggs or 3 large

salt and pepper

For the walnut pastry

200g plain flour

pinch of salt

100g butter

handful of walnuts

water or egg yolk to bind (depending on how rich you want your pastry)

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.  

First of all make the pastry as it needs to rest in the fridge prior to baking.  In a food processor or by hand combine the flour and butter until consistency of fine breadcrumbs is achieved.  Add the walnuts and blitz again until they are chopped into the flour mixture.  Add the salt and the egg yolk or water (enough to combine to a dough).  Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for half an hour (more if you want to make it in advance).

Prepare the filling by whisking the eggs in a bowl and leave to one side.  In a deep saute pan, fry the potatoes and onions for 10 minutes in the butter and olive oil until almost cooked.  Add the remaining ingredients and heat through until almost to boiling point and the stilton has melted into the mixture.  Season and then remove from the heat and set aside to cool down.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out and line your flan dish.  Blind bake in the oven for 15 minutes then remove the baking beans (or rice whatever you use) and baking parchment, brush with a little of the egg mixture and return to the oven for 5 minutes.

Combine the eggs to the onion and potato mixture and pour into the flan dish.  Crumble over the remaining stilton and return to the oven for 20 minutes or until just cooked.

Serve with slow roasted tomato halves, some rocket seasoned with olive oil and a balsamic drizzle.

Nice Ice

I honestly believe that it is at this time of year that I genuinely regress into my childhood.  I am the sort of person who insists everyone has a stocking on Christmas morning, the decorating of the tree is a family affair and had I not been initiated into the adult truth regarding the big guy with the white beard and stomach made out of chocolate muffins, I would still like to believe he squeezes his way into our chimney each year at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve to bestow his generosity regardless of whether I have been good or bad.

So with all that going on and the accompanying white stuff threatening to once again litter our pavements I have had a bizarre craving to find the ultimate ice cream.  Strange I know but I never pretended to be ordinary.  So in the spirit of pure indulgence during this Christmas period I have been playing around with flavours to tempt my pallet and inspire images of 1950's ice cream parlours but perhaps on a more adult theme.  To be truthful it should be said that out of the five I messed around with some worked better than others.  I give you my four favourites. 

One is slightly unusual and reminds me of childhood purple violets, one is very grown up and was born out of having a cold and two are quite simply wonderful and perhaps just a little bit decadent...

Ice Cream - Basic recipe

300ml single cream or milk

300ml double cream

4 egg yolks
75g caster sugar

1 vanilla pod

Heat milk and vanilla up to boiling point. Leave to infuse for 5 minutes then remove the pod, split open and scrape out the seeds stirring them back into the milk mixture.

Whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick.  Whisk into the vanilla milk mixture.  Over a low heat simmer to a custard (it will be ready when it coats the back of a wooden spoon).  You must do this over a low heat and keep an eye on it or it will split changing the consistency of the ice cream from one of creamy loveliness to something rather grainy.

Whisk the double cream until turning thick and then fold this into the custard mixture.

Place into the ice cream maker and churn as per your machines instructions.  If you don't have a machine then pour into a shallow dish and freeze covered stirring every half hour until frozen.

Flavour Variations:

White Chocolate Lemon Cheesecake

200g white chocolate

Zest and juice of 2 lemons

350ml double cream

250g full fat cream cheese

75g caster sugar

4 egg yolks

Bring sugar, cream cheese, lemon zest and double cream to the boil and leave to infuse.  Whisk the egg yolks and add to the cream mixture with the lemon juice.  Gently heat over a low simmer until custard consistency is achieved.  Pour into the ice cream machine for required time or freeze in shallow dish.

Hazelnut, Fudge and White Chocolate

200g white chocolate

100g hazelnuts (chopped but not fine grain)

100g fudge pieces

Use basic ice cream recipe as above.  Add chocolate once custard mixture is achieved and stir to melt, add hazelnuts and fudge pieces and continue as per instructions.

Lavender and Honey

Replace sugar with Lavender sugar or add 1 dsp lavender flowers to milk along with 2 tablespoons of runny honey.  Continue as per basic ice cream mixture.

Whiskey and Ginger

2 pieces of stem ginger (chopped into pieces)

3-4 tbsp whiskey (more or less depending on how strong you want it)

Use basic ice cream recipe as above.  Place the ginger and whiskey in the milk prior to bringing to the boil.  Leave to infuse for 10 minutes then strain the milk discarding the ginger.  
Continue as per instructions.