Biscuits Ahoy!

In the middle of a totally frantic work week I somehow heard my voice saying YES to a request for some home baking for the office Wear It Pink coffee morning...  I simply didnt have time for cake making and baking so rustled up these biscuits instead...the viennese whirls are shamelessly copied from Holly aka Great British Bake Off but I filled them with a nice rasberry buttercream icing instead of patisserie cream...

 and these coconut macaroons were well received by coeliac colleagues as no flour is involved...

They were easily outshone by a cake baking colleague who pitched up with a full cupcake stand of goodies and an amazing coconut and lime sponge cake...the recipe for which I now have tucked away in a safe place...thanks Laurie!

Pics from the BBC Good Food Show

Masterchef Challenge

Incredible cakes

Nick Nairn looks bored...

Perfect Saturday!

Off to the Good Food Show first of all then a cheeky cocktail at the Rogano before heading to Gandolfi Fish tonight for dinner....my idea of a perfect Saturday!

Pear and Almond Tart

Having been away last weekend at the Chester Marathon and busy the weekend before I've missed having time to just potter around in the kitchen...weekdays are fine but the focus is on getting food on the table without too many bells and whistles.  So despite a Friday night of drinking, catching up with friends and more drinking I was up and in the kitchen bright as a daisy...

Pastry is not my friend.  Previous attempts range from okay to inedible.  But with a foolproof (ha!) recipe from an Angela Boggiano book and plenty of time to analyse every instruction I turned out a very nice sweet shortcrust pastry case.  My very good friend Marion had recently inherited a bag of windfall pears and kindly passed them on...most are destined for chutney but yesterday I sacrificed some to the tart.  I won't give the pastry recipe as there are plenty of good ones out there and acceptable shop bought versions - here is how I made the tart though...

• Blind bake the pastry case if home made for 12-15 mins until very slightly golden then cool and egg wash the base and sides
• Meanwhile peel and quarter 2 small pears and poach in a stock syrup for around 10 mins or until soft but not mushy (a simple stock syrup is a half sugar/water ratio dissolved over a gentle heat - you can add a vanilla pod, cinammon stick etc)
• Remove the pears and cool them.  Take each quarter, start 1cm down from the top and cut 3 or 4 slices lengthways to the bottom, push gently into a fan shape
• For the frangipane-esque filling: 125g of soft butter is beaten until pale and smooth then add the following: 200g ground almonds, 75g caster sugar, 1 egg, and a generous tbsp of amaretto if you have it, or almond essence if not!  Finally add the zest and juice of half a lemon and beat it all to a pulp.
• Cover the bottom of the pastry case with a thin layer of jam (I had pear and ginger) then spread on the frangipane mix.  Arrange the pears on the top, pushing down slightly into the mix.
• Bake for around 30 mins at Gas 4 or until the top seems spongy when pressed.

This turned out rather nice as you can see:

We had a big slice still slightly warm with a dollop of cream!

Soda bread recipe

soda bread doesnt last long in our flat...

I've slowly been going off commercial bread, even seemingly good quality stuff seems stodgy and unappetizing these days.  I briefly entertained the idea of trying to get a sourdough starter on the go and then 3 seconds later came to my senses, thats a committment I'm not quite ready to make.  Soda bread ticks all the boxes, its easy peasy, yeast free therefore quick to make and bake and is very tasty - the teenager now insists I make it every other day.  The best bit is that you can vary it to your own taste, here is my personal take on it:

200g plain flour
200g brown flour
100g porridge oats (you could just use 500g of flour if you like)
2tsp bicarb of soda
1tsp salt
1 tbsp runny honey (optional but nice!)
350 ml buttermilk ( live yoghurt with a splash of lemon juice is an alternative)

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl or pulse in a processor.  Make a well in the centre and mix in the honey  then the buttermilk. Bring the dough together (it shouldnt be too sticky) then turn out onto a floured surface.  Knead it but not for long, its really just about getting it a little smoother and into a ball shape.   Put it onto a baking tray, flatten it down a bit then score deeply with a cross shape.  Bake at gas 6 for around 40 mins.  The bread is ready when the bottom of the bread sounds hollow and empty when tapped with your hand.  Eat when its nice and warm.  I sometimes knock this up as soon as I get home from work so that its ready along with whatever is for dinner.

The Three Chimneys, Skye

Our annual trip to Glenelg saw us make an impromptu lunch visit back to the Three Chimneys on Skye...its only a ferry ride and 40 mile drive so practically on the doorstep...hahaha!  No photos but I can say that, whilst still outstanding by many restaurants standards we weren't quite as 'wowed' this time around. 
Terrible weather and therefore driving conditions meant we arrived 10 mins late for which I immediately apologised, however I was a little taken aback to be told once seated that we were being given our menus straight away due to our 'late arrival'.

I started with a wonderful dish of ox tongue and blade of black isle beef with a simple salad, Gary had a trout mousse with smoked salmon and a beetroot salsa of sorts.  Both were fantastic.  My main of crown of grouse with their trademark tattie scones, bacon and a damson jus didn't quite hit the mark and I'm not exactly sure why.  The grouse, whilst cooked pink and seemingly perfect was tough and not easy to eat, although the flavour was there.  Garys shellfish platter was worth every penny of the £10 supplement, huge scallops, oysters, langoustines and smoked mussels and cute little winkles in a shot glass.  I sneaked an oyster whilst he wasn't looking...  I opted for the trademark marmalade steamed pudding with drambuie custard and Gary had an iced parfait with fennel brittle which he said lacked flavour but was perfectly nice, nice, nice, nice.

Overall, still a great experience and a lovely treat, worth the effort so if you havent been you should go!

Lemon Curd Stacks

First go at lemon curd was a surprising success, I hadn't even bothered to sterilise a jar such was my lack of faith.  In the end we just scoffed the whole lot in a variety of guises including these quite delicious sweet pastry, cream and lemon curd stacks...yum

Cauli and cheese soup with pancetta and chives

Quick and easy supper soup taken up a notch by addition of a few strips of crispy pancetta and scattering of chives...yum