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Friday, December 31, 2010

Rachel Allen is Evil

No I have not lost the plot, I can explain where I am coming from. Lets start at the beginning I am a fan of Rachel Allen and I have all her cookbooks. Nearly every recipe I try from them works. Three days ago I ran out of toffee sauce. I normally buy it in M & S but due to the snow I did not get there. I found the recipe for toffee sauce in Rachel's book Favourite food at home. It was so easy and absolutely delicious. We have had vanilla ice cream and toffee sauce for desert for the last 3 days. I know the recipe says it will keep in the fridge for months but I can't see it last that long. So why have I decided Rachel Allen is evil. That's easy to answer, anyone who can come up with a desert sauce so delicious and that easy to make has to be. It's Wicked.

Rachel Allen's Toffee Sauce.

100g Butter.
175g Brown Sugar.
100g Caster Sugar.
275g Golden Syrup.
250ml Single Cream.
1\2 tsp Vanilla Extract.

Put everything into a pot and heat gently to dissolve. Simmer over a very low heat for 4-5 minutes. Stirring all the time. Cool and use to you hearts delight.
Can be put into a jar and stored in the fridge

I will never buy toffee sauce again

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Veggie Savoury Rolls

How to turn this

Into this

You need 1 Punnet of mushrooms, chopped
1 Red pepper, chopped
1 Onion, Chopped
Heat a little oil in a pot add the chopped mushrooms, onion and pepper and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes until soft.

Meanwhile make the packet of white sauce. I do this in the microwave. A minute at a time giving a good stir between each minute. It takes about 5 minutes. Watch the last 2 minutes very closely I don't know now many times I have ended up pouring the sauce back into the bowl from the glass plate.


Add the white sauce to the vegetable mix, give a good stir, now add the packet of sage and onion mix, stir well to mix everything in. Leave aside to cool. I know it looks awlful at this stage but I promise it tastes better than it looks.


When it is cool unroll the pastry sheets and cut each 1 in half. Devide the filling between the 4 sections of pastry.
Brush the edges with milk and roll up. Cut each section into 8.
Place on a 2 lined baking sheets, joined side down. Brush with milk
Cook in a hot oven 190C Fan oven for 20 to 25 minutes. This work in my oven so adjust to suit yours.
I Promise the vegaterian in your house will love these.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

1st Week in December

November ended on a high note with a visit to the O2 to see War of the Worlds. It was brilliant.







We have had a lot of snow here in Dublin. We ran the heating to warm the house and the budgie want into molt, so he is now camped out near the rad looking very sorry for himself. I have not taken the car out of the drive-in since last Fridayand will not be doing so until the roads are clear. Any shopping that has to be done was done on foot. Put on the old hiking boots and walked to Lidl. I picked up a lot of vegetables and a cookie press and then spent 2 day getting the hang of it. We ended up with Italian butter cookies and Lemon butter cookies. I think I have the hang of it now. Made a nice Vegetable and bean stew with dumplings and a casserole with seeded scones. Made Pizza dough on Thursday and turned it into Cal zones with roast vegetables. They went down very well with everyone.
On Friday to use up the carton of plums that have being sitting on the worktop I made the upside down plum tart from Rachel Allen's book. It is the first time I have tried making a sponge in the frying pan and putting it in the oven. It worked out very well except for the small spill of the toffee sauce in the oven. That was just the excuse I needed to get in and give the oven a good clean out. The glass door is crystal clear. All the better to see the lovely things cooking in there.
On Saturday I used up the last of the celery to make a pot of soup, celery soup is always a big hit here. Hopefully we will get back to normal some time next week as the shopping list is getting longer and longer. Will have to start planning next weeks menu. Apple sponge is in there somewhere, I don't want to waste the cooking apples in the fridge.


The back garden covered in snow