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I’m a bread and butter pudding devotee. My favourite recipe has marmalade and mixed dried fruit (and brandy), but last Saturday I created a variation to suit the girlfriend. It’s super-chocolatey and completely devilish. This is squidgy and delicious, best served hot with cream. (Having said that, leave half for cold leftovers.) If you want something with a little more fruity spice, I’ll put my marmalade one on here as well.

First, make some sandwiches. Don’t go overboard with the chocolate spread - there’s more chocolate to come.

12 slices Brioche loaf, the sort of stuff you get on the pancake and muffin aisle.

Chocolate Spread

Cut into triangles and arrange in a baking dish. Don’t be scared of using a smaller dish and layering up a bit. It’ll just make a squidgier pudding.

For the batter, combine:

3 eggs

300ml milk,or more, if it doesn’t look like covering the pudding when poured over.

100ml double cream

good pinch of nutmeg, mixed spice, or chilli powder if you’re bold.

50g caster sugar, approx. You only need to make the batter taste a little sweet. I never measure quantities when I add them. This is hard!

pinch of salt

Beat the mixture together, make sure it’s tasty, then pour over the sandwiches. If there’s not enough liquid, gently pour in some more milk so you’ve only got the corners remaining above the surface. Leave to soak up for 30 mins.

Meanwhile…bash up

100g good, dark chocolate. Tesco does 70% chocolate for about a pound. The darker the better.

Hide the chocolate pieces down between the sandwiches and in little secret corners like you’re preparing an Easter Egg hunt.

Finally, just before you put it in the oven at 180C for about 20 minutes (or until it’s done to your desired crispy-squidginess and the egg has properly set), sprinkle

a little brown sugar

on the top.

This was so delicious. The pudding isn’t too sweet, so you can really enjoy the chocolate for what it is. You uncover these little seams of molten goo as you dig your spoon around. And there’s nutmeg to give the pudding some depth. It’s good.

BUT IF YOU WANT A DELICIOUS AND FRUITY ALTERNATIVE…

Use chunky marmalade in brown bread sandwiches, buttered on the outside. (Trust me.) Add a good dash of brandy to the batter with a little more sugar. Sprinkle any type of dried fruit you want between the sandwiches, but mixed peel and sultanas are best. Try not to leave too many on top as they can burn.

Or combine the two recipes for a jaunty chocolate-orange angle.

Or make it peanut butter and jelly flavour.

Or add chopped nuts.

Or use hot cross buns and make an Easter-themed one with Appley Dappley and cinnamon.

Mmmmm. Enjoy!

Brother.

Sounds like one for brother! Love, Mum

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 04:54:36 -0400

Sounds like one for brother!

Love, Mum

I FANCY A BREADY PUD

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:38:54 -0400

Dear Mum and Brother and Sister,

I would like to make a bread and butter pudding. Do any or all of you have a favourite recipe?

Love from Little Daughter

AVOCADO ICE-CREAM ?!?!

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 10:47:00 -0400

Dear family,

Jean and Peter came to supper last night (we had such a lovely evening with them!) We had avocado ice cream, which always causes a bit of a stir. It seems so unlikely that it would be nice, but it really is amazing - smooth, creamy and really delicious. So here’s the recipe. Hope you enjoy making it, Jean.

Serves 6-8.

First make the custard. Beat together lightly:

4 eggs

110g caster sugar.

Heat

420ml milk

until just below boiling point, then pour slowly onto the egg mixture, whisking all the time. Rinse out the milk pan. Return the mixture to the milk pan and stir CONSTANTLY and very thoroughly over a gentle, gentle heat until the custard coats the back of the spoon.

(We’re normally advised to do this in a double saucepan, or in a bowl over a pan of water, but this takes so long, and provided you are very careful with the heat, and that you stir all the time, over the bottom and around the sides of the pan, and that you whip the pan off the heat at the slightest sign of curdling, you will be safe.)

Pour the custard into a bowl, stir in

1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Allow the custard to cool completely, stirring frequently so that it doesn’t form a skin. Then chill it well.

Mash together until smooth:

the flesh of 2 ripe medium-sized avocados

60g caster sugar

a squeeze of lime juice.

Mix this into the custard, then either churn in an ice-cream maker, or pour into a plastic box, freeze to a mush, whisk well, then freeze until firm.

Remember to soften the ice-cream before serving it: remove it from the freezer and leave at room temperature for about half an hour.

You can serve it with little crunchy spicy biscuits, or alongside strawberries.

MANGO LIME SORBET

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 10:04:00 -0500

This is for Jenny.

Serves 6

Put in a small pan:

150g caster sugar

300 ml water

Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has completely dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil, without stirring, for 8-10 minutes, until syrupy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Peel and de-stone

1 beautifully ripe mango

and blend it in the food processor with

juice of 2-3 limes (to taste)

zest of 1 lime

Blend in the cold sugar syrup.

If you’re lucky enough to have an ice-cream maker, churn the mixture and freeze as normal. Otherwise, pour the mixture into a plastic container and freeze until frozen about 3 cm in from the edges. Stir it up vigorously with a fork, then put back in the freezer till frozen.

Leave the sorbet out of the freezer for about 30 minutes before serving, to allow it to soften. Serve alone, or perhaps with little crisp ginger biscuits.

Hope you enjoy making it!

DINNER PARTY CHALLENGE

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:55:00 -0500

Dear Little Daughter,

So here is the menu we put together, sitting in that cafe basement yesterday:

Pea and Watercress Soup

Corn bread

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Beetroot Risotto

Giant garlic mushrooms

Leafy salad with avocado

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

bought sorbet (owing to time issues!)

Sweet Spiced Walnuts

Can I come too?

Love Mum xxx

time-plan

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:54:00 -0500

Dear Little Daughter and Little Daughter’s Boyfriend,

I always make a time-plan when cooking for a dinner party. It saves you getting in a fluster. So… guests arriving at 8, serving first course at 8.30? Here goes.

TWO EVENINGS BEFORE:

Shop!

THE EVENING BEFORE:

Make the Sweet Spiced Walnuts

Prepare your salad dressing

You could also:

make the soup

ON THE EVENING, AS SOON AS YOU GET HOME FROM WORK:

Chill/open the wine

If you didn’t do it last night: make the soup and djjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj it

Grate the beetroots

Make the Beetroot Risotto, cook until its HALF done. Don’t add the cheese or parsley

Mix the dry ingredients for the Cornbread, and the wet ones, but don’t combine them

Prepare the tin for the Cornbread

Assemble the mushrooms

Set the table

Think through all the serving dishes you’ll need

COUNTDOWN TO SERVING:

7.40 Mix the salad leaves but don’t add the avocado

You can halve and stone the avocados and leave, cut side down, on the chopping board

7.45 Heat oven to 190C

7.53! Mix the Cornbread and put it in the tin…

7.55 Put the Cornbread in the oven

Put the soup bowls to warm, and the other plates and dishes

8.00 Greet guests! Relax (if only briefly)

8.20 Warm the soup

Get the Beetroot Risotto cooking again, gently

8.25 Get the Cornbread out of the oven, cut into serving pieces

Put the mushrooms in the oven

8.30 Ladle out and garnish the soup. Serve Soup and Cornbread

8.35 Hop up and stir the Risotto, and take it off the heat if its done

8.45-50 Get the mushrooms out of the oven

Add sliced avocados and dressing to the salad

Finish the Risotto with cheese and parsley

Transfer the sorbet from the freezer to the fridge

Serve main course

PEA AND WATERCRESS SOUP

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:11:00 -0500

I tried this out at lunch time today and it was delicious! It’s incredibly simple - just the flavours of the vegetables themselves really. But they work beautifully together, peppery and sweet. The portions are quite small but big enough. Use white bowls, if you have them, and warm them first. Serves 4.

Heat in a medium saucepan

a small splosh of olive oil

and fry

1 onion, finely chopped

until soft and slightly golden. Chuck in

1 x 75g bag watercress

350g frozen peas

400ml chicken stock (made with a gluten-free stock cube, e.g. Kallo)

100ml milk.

Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Get your stick blender and djjjjjjjjj until smooth. Taste and re-season with a little salt, if necessary, and plenty of black pepper. Reheat gently before serving. Ladle into warmed bowls and plop a good teaspoonful of

half fat creme fraiche

into each, and give it a little swirl with the teaspoon handle, if you like.

CORNBREAD (WHEAT FREE)

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:51:00 -0500

We tried this for breakfast this morning, with cottage cheese and jam. It was really good - moist, light and tasty. Watch how you do the last-minute mixing: Americans know how to do this as they do it all the time, but we’re not used to it. The cornmeal (maize meal) you use should be fine, but not cornmeal flour. I couldn’t find any fine cornmeal, so I put the coarser, polenta-type cornmeal in the coffee grinder. Serves 4

Weigh out

240g fine yellow cornmeal (or the coarser, polenta type, buzzed in the coffee grinder)

then put 60 g of it into a small mixing bowl, and the rest into a large mixing bowl. To the SMALL bowl, stir in:

85ml boiling water

2 teaspoons runny honey

and leave to stand. This will make a cornmeal mush.

To the LARGE bowl, add:

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (gluten-free type)

3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Stir with a spatula until there are no little white lumps. Prepare your tin: grease and line a 7 inch diameter round cake tin, or a large loaf tin, or something similar. Heat the oven to 190C.

To the cornmeal mush, stir in:

1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 egg, beaten

200ml low fat plain yogurt

Careful how you do this bit: pour the liquids onto the dry ingredients, stir together with a few swift strokes, scoop efficiently into the tin, then put it straight in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes. until the top is golden and the bread is just firm in the centre. I turned the oven down to 180 for the last 5 minutes as mine was getting a bit too brown. If your tin is bigger, and therefore you bread is shallower, it will cook more quickly. Serve more or less straight away. If there’s any left over, store it in a bag. It’ll be good for a couple more days (with cottage cheese and >chutney<.)

BEETROOT RISOTTO

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:50:00 -0500

Yum yum yum! But oh dear, you really will need a new grater for this (especially since I bent yours on my apple last weekend), unless you can find a friendly neighbour with a food mixer…

Serves 4

Peel and grate (preferably using a food mixer)

a bunch of beetroots (= about 500g beetroots).

In a large frying pan, heat

a splosh of olive oil

and fry

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

until soft. Add

300g risotto rice

and stir briefly before adding the grated beetroot. Stir briefly. Season with

salt and pepper

then continue to cook and stir over a medium heat, gradually adding the liquids (below), a little at a time, for about 30 minutes, until the rice is cooked.

300ml white wine

about 1 litre hot vegetable stock

At the last minute, add

50g grated Parmesan, or 225g goats cream cheese.

Taste, and adjust the seasoning.

You might want to darken the flavour with a little Vecon or yeast extract, and/or brighten it with 1 tablespoon cider vinegar or lemon juice.

Stir in

plenty of chopped fresh parsley

and serve.

GIANT GARLIC MUSHROOMS

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:22:00 -0500

Serves 4

Place

4 large flat mushrooms

stalk-side up on a baking tray. Dot the brown insides with

1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

25-50g butter (or you could use 3-4 tbls olive oil, if you prefer)

leaves from 2 sprigs thyme

salt and pepper

Bake at 190C for about 20 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked through. Sprinkle with

juice of 1/2 lemon

and serve.

SWEET SPICED WALNUTS

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:02:00 -0500

These are caramelly and spicy. It would be fine to substitute any of these spices that you don’t have, with ones that you do have.

Put in a small baking tin:

250g walnuts.

Mix together:

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground mace

pinch of ground cloves

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

1 1/2 tablespoons clear honey

pinch of salt

then stir this mixture into the nuts. Bake at 160C for about 15 minutes (?), stirring every 5, till caramelly and yummy. Leave to cool, then break apart to serve.

Dear Mum, Arty and fun British Chicken, but not hugely fussed. Let me know if you have any other...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:28:43 -0500

Dear Mum,

Arty and fun

British

Chicken, but not hugely fussed.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Little daughter xx

Dear Little Daughter, I shall enjoy this challenge, but first I need a few more guidelines. Do you...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:56:45 -0500

Dear Little Daughter,

I shall enjoy this challenge, but first I need a few more guidelines.

Do you want the meal to be sophisticated, or arty and fun, or comfy and casual?

Do you have a regional preference, for example Middle Eastern or Thai, or do you want it multi-cultural/fusion?

Would you like to use chicken in the main course, or would you rather go vegetarian?

Love, Mum x

Dinner Party Challenge

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:20:30 -0500

Hi Mum,

I am serving dinner for 4 people next week, and would like to make a 2 if not 3 course meal that is relatively fuss free.
Here are the specifics:

Serves 4 generously
One guest is wheat intolerant
One guest doesn’t like fish
Meat is not necessary
We do not have a food processor
Main course needs to take only a few hours
Dessert would need to be made the night before

…any fun ideas?

Love from little daughter xx

CRISP CINNAMON STAR BISCUITS

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 08:31:00 -0500

Hello family! Here is the recipe for the super-crunchy cinnamon stars we had with our Christmas apple sorbet and mulled fruit sauce. Makes 36 star-shaped biscuits.

Cream:

4 oz butter

8 oz caster sugar

Beat in:

1 egg

Sift together, then mix in:

10 oz plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

pinch salt

Squeeze the mixture gently into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out with a star-shaped cutter. Place on non-stick paper on baking sheets. Bake at 170C (fan oven) for 13 minutes.

Love from Mum xxx

CARROT AND COCONUT SALAD

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 06:02:00 -0500

This is for Katie. But did it have sultanas in it too? I can’t remember.

Mix together:

500g carrots, grated

170-225g desiccated coconut

1/2 can coconut milk, well stirred

grated zest, juice and remaining pulp of 1 lime

3-4cm root ginger, pulped or grated

a dash of mild chilli powder, or paprika

1 tablespoon ground coriander

salt to taste