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Cooking, Recipe and Food Blog

Hot Cross Loaf

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It’s nearly Easter – and that means eating a lot of Chocolate Eggs, and Hot Cross Buns with a cup of Tea in the afternoon. But why stop with just a single Bun?

Hot Cross Buns

This recipe will show you how to make an entire loaf of the bread, which you can easily split into twelve portions if you’d prefer the traditional Buns. Cook for fifteen to eighteen minutes, at 220C for the Buns.

To Serve 16
50g Butter, chilled
500g White Bread Mix
1 tsp Mixed spice
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
175g Currants
50g Mixed Peel
75g Caster Sugar
1 Large Egg
340ml Milk, plus 4tbsp for brushing
50g Plain Flour
1tsp Sunflower Oil
15g Icing Sugar
40g Granulated Sugar

1. Grease two Bread Loaf tins. Run the Chilled Butter into the Bread Mixture until it begins to resemble breadcrumbs. Stir in the Spices, Currents, Mixed Peel and Caster Sugar.
2. Break the Egg into a jug with enough Milk to bring it up to 350ml. Beat lightly and add to the Bread Mixture.
3. Knead onto a floured surface, then share into the two Loaf Tins, then cover with lightly oiled Clingfilm, placing somewhere warm until doubled in size.
4. Heat the Oven to 220C, then mix the Plain Flour with the Oil, Icing Sugar and three tablespoons of Water. Put into a plastic bag, shake well, then snip off a corner from the bag and pipe into the Cross Shape on top.
5. Bake for twenty minutes in the oven, then reduce the heat to 190C and cook for another fifteen to twenty minutes.
6. Heat the Granulated Sugar with the four tablespoons of Milk, simmer for two or three minutes then brush on the loaves. Remove from the tins and leave to cool.

Photo Courtesy of: Avlxyz

Savoury Oat Crackers

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Great as part of a picnic, or to use as a snack for a day at home – these crackers are very easy to make, and very tasty. You can easily add some flavouring to them to make each batch a bit different, and of course, you can shape them however you want!

Savoury Oat Crackers

To Make 12
100g Unsalted Butter, plus extra for greasing
90g Rolled Oats
25g Wholemeal Flour
1/2tsp Coarse Sea Salt
1tsp Dried Thyme
40g Walnuts, finely chopped
1 Egg, beaten
40g Sesame Seeds

1. Heat an oven to 180C, and lightly grease two medium sized baking trays
2. In a large dry bowl, rub the Butter into the Rolled Oats and the Flour using just your fingertips, until it begins to cling together and then start to stir in the Walnuts, Salt and Thyme.
3. Add the Egg and mix to form a soft dough. Spread the sesame Seeds out on a large shallow dish (it can be a plate or tray). Break off small pieces of the Dough (around Walnut Sized would be good), and roll into balls, before covering in the Sesame Seeds.
4. Place the balls into the greased baking trays, then flatten them using a Rolling Pin of the palm of your hand, to get them as thin and as flat as possible.
5. Bake in the oven for around twelve to fifteen minutes, or until firm and light gold.
6. Remove from the oven, then cool on the baking tray for three to four minutes, before placing on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Serve with various Pates and dips to get a good snack.

Photo Courtesy of: papertygre

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto

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Soft, fluffy and full of flavour, this meal is a great dish with butternut. An interesting variation on the great classic dish, it’s very popular and easy to make, it just requires close attention to make sure it doesn’t burn or doesn’t absorb enough of the liquids.

Butternut Squash Risotto

To serve 4
600g Butternut Squash (or use Pumpkin), peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
4tbsp Olive Oil
1tsp Clear Honey
25g Fresh Basil
25g Fresh Oregano
1tbsp Margarine
2 Onions, finely chopped
450g Risotto Rice
175ml Dry White Wine
1.2litres of Vegetable Stock
Salt and Pepper

1.       Heat the oven to 200C, and place the Squash into a roasting tin. Mix One Tablespoon of Oil with the honey and cover the Squash with the mixture. Roast for thirty to thirty five minutes, until tender.

2.       Mix two tablespoons of Oil with the Basil and Oregano, and process until finely chopped and well blended, and set aside.

3.       Heat the Margarine and Oil in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions, and fry until soft and golden. Add the rice and cook for two minutes, coating thoroughly in the Oil mixture.

4.       Pour the wine in and bring to the boil. Lower the heat slightly and cook until the wine is nearly absorbed. Add the stock slowly, cooking for around twenty minutes over a medium to low heat.

5.       Slowly stir in the Herb and Oil mixture as well as the Squash, making sure it’s thoroughly mixed in.  Cook for five more minutes, until the rice is creamy but retaining some crunch to it still.

Season with Salt and Pepper, garnished with Salt and Pepper.

Photo courtesy of: thebittenword.com

Vegetable Pilaf

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No time? Want something easy, tasty, quick and extremely healthy? Then try this dish. It takes less than thirty minutes from start to finish.

It’s also very cheap to make – you can use frozen vegetables to save time and work, and can easily add some meat as well as or in place of some of the vegetables, and change the vegetable stock for a meat one!

To serve 4

100g Frozen Chopped Onion

25g Butter

2tsp Plain Flour

1 Vegetable Stock cube, dissolved in 150ml Hot Water

250g Frozen Asparagus

200g Frozen Peas

200g Frozen Broad Beans

1tsp Mixed Dried Herbs

600g White Rice

75g Cashew Nuts

1.       Gently fry the Onions in the Butter until three or four minutes. Take off of the heat, and stir in the flour, before slowly adding the Vegetable stock, stirring all of the time.

2.       Add the frozen Vegetables and the Mixed Herbs, and simmer with a lid on for five or six minutes.

3.       Start to cook the rice, whilst at the same time, fry the Cashews off in a non-stick frying pan, constantly moving and tossing them, so that they are golden all over.

4.       Stir the Vegetables and Cashews together making sure that the sauce is covering everything.

5.       Serve on top of the rice.

If you’re going to use meat in this dish, take out some of each vegetable, and make sure that the meat is hot through before serving. Replace the Vegetable stock cube with a Meat Stock cube (if possible, the same flavor as the meat!)

Photo Courtesy of Avlxyz

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

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There’s a whole heap of food and drink you can make from anything left over from Pumpkins. One example of a very healthy snack are these seeds. They’re very good for you, tasty, very easy to eat and extremely easy and fast to make. You can also mix and match different flavours by using various sweet and savoury spices – I’ve usually got a pot of these seeds roasted with Cinnamon and Nutmeg.


All you need is the seeds from as many pumpkins as you have.

1.  Rinse the seeds under cold water, picking out the pulp and skins. To make this easier, try to do it as soon as possible – the longer you leave it, the drier the pulp and skins get, making it harder to separate.

2.  Put a teaspoon of Oil on a baking sheet, and place the seeds in a single layer on the sheet. Add in any herbs and spices you’d like at this stage. Make sure that all of the seeds are completely covered in oil.

3.  Bake at 150 C/ 300 F for 15 minutes. Take out, stir and put back in for a further 10 minutes.

4.   Take out of the oven, leave to cool and then store in an air tight container. Try mixed in with a variety of different nuts, seeds and fruits.

Photo Courtesy of WordRidden

Pretzels

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If, like me, you like your Beers, you’d know that earlier this month was Oktoberfest. Having spent much of my time celebrating, I ‘researched’ this recipe very well. Although these pretzels are slightly softer and more buttery than ‘traditional’ pretzels, I found them to go excellently with a wide range of beers – the perfect side for any Oktoberfest gathering, sports event or as a snack.

To Make 12

4 tsp active dry yeast

1 tsp white sugar

1 ¼ cups of Warm Water

5 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup white sugar

1 ½ tsp Salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup baking soda

4 cups hot water

¼ cup Kosher salt (for topping)

1.      In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1tsp of sugar in the warm water. Let it stand until creamy and frothy – should be around ten minutes.

2.      In a separate bowl, mix the flour, the rest of the sugar and the 1 ½ tsp of Salt. Make a small well in the centre, before adding the Yeast mixture and Oil and mix in well, until it’s a dough. If it’s too dry, add an extra tablespoon or two of water.

3.      Knead until it’s smooth (should take around seven or eight minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, and place the dough in and coat with the oil. Leave to stand in a warm place until it has doubled in size – around an hour.

4.      Pre-heat oven to 230 C/ 450 F. In a large bowl, mix the baking soda in the hot water until it has dissolved.

5.      Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 12 equal pieces, rolling each piece into a rope, and twisting into the desired shape. Once they’re all shaped, carefully dip each Pretzel in the baking soda solution and place on a greased tray. Sprinkle with Kosher Salt.

6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for around eight minutes, until golden brown

Photo Courtesy of Mercury Jane

Fruit and Nut Cous Cous

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Served warm or cold, this dish is delicious for Lunch or dinner. To mix it up, try a different flavour of stock, and different herbs.

To Serve 4
250g Cous Cous
200g Fruit and Nut Mix (Peanuts, Sultanas, Raisins, Brazil Nuts, Almonds, etc.)
1 tsp paprika
700ml Vegetable Stock

1.Toast the Cous Cous, Fruit and Nuts and paprika in a heavy bottomed pan for a few minutes.
2.Slowly add the Vegetable Stock, turn the heat down until simmering
3.Cook until the Cous Cous is tender.