07/06/2010 by D.

For the shortbread:
1oz icing sugar
2oz salted butter (room temperature soft)
3oz plain flour

1 punnet strawberries
1 tub greek yoghurt

Heat the oven to 180c.  Mix together the icing sugar and the butter, then stir in the flour.  Roll out the pastry to 1/2 cm thickness, then cut out circles with a cutter or water glass.  Reform left over pastry and cut more.  Place on a greased tray and bake for 10 mins, then leave to cool.

Hull the strawberries, and quarter.

On plates, build small towers of biscuit, yoghurt then strawberries, then biscuit, yoghurt and strawberries.  Sprinkle a little icing sugar over the top and serve immediately.

I often make just the shortbread biscuits with my toddlers, and ice them with icing sugar mixed with a few drops of lemon juice.

Posted in Strawberry, Biscuits, Flour, Yoghurt, Vegetarian, Butter, Recipe | Print | No Comments »

03/04/2010 by D.

We had some of these in the freezer, (we doubled the quantity when making Gnocchi with spinach and bacon and froze half).  They boil up well straight from frozen (10 mins in boiling salted water) and it was short work to melt a little dolcelatte and toast some seeds.  I have repeated the recipe for the gnocchi here so you don’t have to print out two recipes.  We ate this with a rocket and pear salad.

for the gnocchi:
2 large potatoes
1 sweet potato
1 egg yolk
2 tblsp milk
pinch ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp salt

for the sauce:
100g Dolcelatte
1 tsp butter
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped roasted hazlenuts or toast sunflower and pumpkin seeds

Bake the potatoes on a tray in a hot oven (220c) for around an hour.  Perfect thing to do if you have something else going on in the oven as they will be fine in the fridge for a couple of days until you have time to make the Gnocchi.

When the potatoes are ready (the sweet potato may take a little less time that the others), cut them in half and leave to cool a little.  Scoop out the flesh and push through a sieve/use a ricer/mash thoroughly to make absolutely sure there are no lumps.  I have to be honest, pushing them through a sieve is a bit of a pain, and I actually bought a potato ricer specifically to make this dish as I love it so much.

In a large bowl, mix the potato, milk, nutmeg, salt and 1 cup of the flour and stir well.  Flour your hands, then take a small spoonful of the mixture out and briskly roll into a ball between your palms.  It should roll, but still be sticky.  If you just end up with potato smeared hands and not a little gnocchi, add some more flour.  It is important to get the balance right as too much flour will make the gnocchi too heavy and more like boiled bits of dough, too little and the next step will be almost impossible!

Put a big pan of salted water on to boil.  Lightly flour a baking tray, a chopping board and your hands.  Gently knead the mixture in the bowl and divide into two.  Take out half the mixture and roll into a long snake 2cm thick (this is the playdough bit!) on the chopping board.  Using a knife, cut off 2cm diagonal lengths and push them onto the baking tray with each cut.  Repeat with the second half of the mixture.  If you are feeling fancy (or have a bored child, friend or spouse handy), gently indent your gnocchi with a fork.  (NB If you are freezing the gnocchi, leave them on the plate to cool.  Freeze in a box and again, respect their space.)

Melt the dolcelatte, with the butter and milk in a saucepan.  Add the nutmeg and stir well.  Take off the heat.

Cook the gnocchi in the boiling water (I flick them off the baking tray into the water, trying to avoid the flour) in batches for 2 or 3 mins each; don’t crowd them as all your hard work will go to waste.  Do about four batches, depending on the size of your pan.  Generally the rule is once they float, they are ready.  Try one if you are unsure.  They should be firm and not taste of raw flour.  Scoop out with a slotted spoon and then spread them out on a plate whilst the next lot are cooking.  When you are done, drain the excess water off the plates and add the gnocchi to the sauce.  Taste and season. 

Give it all a couple of minutes to reheat, then serve immediately with roasted hazlenuts or toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top.

Posted in Pumpkin seeds, Gnocchi, Milk, Flour, Hazlenuts, Dolcelatte, Sweet potato, Eggs, Potato, Recipe, Vegetarian, Nutmeg, Sunflower seeds, Organic Box | Print | No Comments »

20/02/2010 by D.

Some are fussy about the bacon, some are weird about the banana and some just want that syrup!  I love it all together, a little bit of each in every mouthful.  Either way, it’s all served on the side, so everyone call fill their boots; even the picky eaters.  These oaty little pancakes make a wonderful weekend brunch.  Takes about forty minutes from start to eat, less if you are nifty with the pancakes.

Pancakes
1 1/2 cups white SR flour
1/2 cup oatmeal (I blend whole, rolled oats into a fine flour for this)
2 eggs
2 tbsp greek yoghurt
250ml milk
pinch salt
butter for greasing pan

To Serve
1 pack dry-cure smoked streaky bacon
3 bananas, sliced
Maple syrup for pouring (make sure it’s the real deal and not maple ‘flavoured’

Put the flour, salt and oatmeal in a large bowl.  Whisk together the milk, eggs and yoghurt.  Mix the two together into a thick, smooth batter.

Heat a large frying pan to sizzling, then turn it down a touch, you want about 3/4 of the full ring heat.  Put the bacon under the grill to crisp.  Switch the oven on low and put a plate to warm in there (you are going to keep the pancakes warm as you make them).

Using a piece of kitchen towel, wipe some butter all over the surface of the frying pan.  Ladle a large serving spoon or small ladle full of batter into the pan to make a small pancake.  When the top looks set, flip it over for a minute or two, then check to see if it is done (look for patches of browned spots).  If the bottom is too dark when you flip it over, you need to turn the heat down a bit.  The first pancake is often a dud.  Eat it and make another.  Depending on size, you should be able to fit three palm-sized pancakes into a large pan at the same time, which will speed up production. 

Scoop the finished pancakes onto the plate in the oven and go again, until all the batter has been used.  Butter the pan each time before adding more batter.  You should end up with a pile of dinky little pancakes.

Serve the plate of warm pancakes with a seperate plate piled with crispy bacon, a bowl of sliced bananas and maple syrup to drizzle over.  Sublime.

Any left-over pancakes can be refried briefly with some grated cheese for a quick toddler supper.

Posted in Oats, Flour, Maple Syrup, Banana, Milk, Bacon, Brunch, Yoghurt, Recipe | Print | No Comments »