Chocolate brownie cake
5th June, 2008, ThursdayDesserts, Bake
Chocolate brownie cake
Budget: £
Cookery level: 
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 30 min
Serves: 4 or more
Ingredients:
100g butter
175g white sugar
75g brown or muscovado sugar
125g chocolate (plain or milk)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
100g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Put the butter, caster sugar, brown sugar and chocolate in the pan and melt gently on low heat until it is smooth and lump-free.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a little.
4. Whisk the eggs with a fork until light and frothy.
5. Add the eggs, vanilla, flour and baking powder to the chocolate mixture and mix.
6. Put the mixture into a cake tin and bake in the oven for 25-30 mins.
7. Remove and allow to cool for 20-30 mins before cutting into wedges and serve.
Janssons frestelse
6th January, 2008, SundayBake, Seafood
Janssons frestelse
The last and also my favourite dish to introduce in a Swedish Christmas dinner: Janssons frestelse (meaning Jansson’s temptation) which is made of potatoes, onions, anchovies (or sprats) and cream. I had a search on Wikipedia, and it says there is a mistranslation into English where the original recipe uses sprats instead of anchovies, because sprats in Swedish are known as "ansjovis". Anyway, what I used was sprats and I don’t think it matters.
Budget: £
Cookery level:
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 50 min
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
4 medium boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into strips
2 tbp butter
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 can of anchovy or sprats, drained
2 tbp breadcrumbs
1 cup of heavy cream
½ cup of milk
White pepper
Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 220
oC.
2. Heat the butter in a saucepan then add onions and cook until they are soft but not brown.
3. Spread some butter on the container or baking tray, arrange a layer of potato strips on it, then alternate layers of onions and anchovies ending with another potatoes layer. Sprinkle each layer with a little white pepper.
4. Scatter bread crumbs over the top layer of potatoes
5. In a small saucepan, heat the milk and cream until it barely simmers, then pour 2/3 of it over the potatoes.
6. Bake in the oven for 30 min and pour over the read of the cream and bake for another 15 min.
Walnut, raisin, banana and honey cake
21st April, 2007, SaturdayDesserts, Bake
Walnut, raisin, banana and honey cake
Budget: £
Cookery level:
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
225g self-raising flour
175g butter, softened
100g light muscovado sugar
3 tbsp clear honey
1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
2 medium ripe bananas
100g raisins
50g walnut pieces
Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 160
oC/Gas mark 3
2. Tip flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, honey and eggs into a large mixing bowl
3. Mash the bananas, add with raisins into the bowl
4. Beat the mixture until well-blended
5. Spoon into the prepared baking tin and smooth
6. Scatter the walnut pieces over the top
7. Bake for 1 hour - it should feel firm when lightly pressed the top
8. Cool, then lift out of the tin and ready to serve.
Chessy potato
20th April, 2007, FridayBake
Cheesy potato
Budget: £
Cookery level:
Preparation Time: 20 min
Cooking Time: 45 min
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1kg potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 onion, chopped
Spoonful of butter
200g smoked bacon, cut into small pieces
150ml double cream
125ml white wine
300g cheese, grated
1/2 tsp paprika
Method:
1. Heat oven to 200
oC / Gas mark 6.
2. Boil potatoes for 5 min, then drain and put into a large bowl.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan, fry the onion until soft.
4. Add bacon into the onion and cook for 5 more minutes.
5. Mix the onion and bacon into the potatoes.
6. Stir in double cream, white wine, most of the cheese and a little paprika.
7. Mix together then spread over a buttered baking dish (30cm long x 4cm deep).
8. Sprinkle the remaining cheese, cover with foil and cook for 25 min in the oven.
9. Remove foil, sprinkle more paprika over the top and cook for a further 20 min.
Potato Wedges
Potato wedges
Budget: £
Cookery level:
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 30 min
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
1kg potatoes
Vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tbsp Paprika Powder
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Black Pepper
Methods:
1. Wash the potato and cut into wedges, but don’t peel them.
2. Boil with salt water for 5 minutes.
3. Put the potatoes into a large bowl, mix with vegetable oil, chilli powder, parprika powder, salt and pepper.
4. Place in an oven on 220oC / Gas mark 7 for 30 minutes until potatoes are crispy and brown.
