Category: Baking

Roast Vegetable, Chilli and Parmesan quiche with wholemeal Spelt Pastry:

September 22, 2014

One Afternoon, sometime last week, I decided to drag out all the bits and bobs that needed to be used up in the fridge, as you do.  Well, I always do as I save everything! I cannot begin to throw anything away, even if it is a 1/4 of an onion as it all links with another Recipe!
  Anyway… I had numerous vegetables, cheese, milk, all sorts to use up so I decided to do a quiche but with Wholemeal Spelt Flour.  It turned out great! I loved it, My partner loved it, in fact both of us said that the aubergines in this recipe tasted brilliant and adding that red chilli, really gave it some “Pizzazz” to it. 

  I was amazed how much interest I had for this recipe. People made some really nice comments and have been asking me to put it up on my site.  So this delights me to say, By Popular demand, here is my recipe for…


Roast Vegetable, Chilli and Parmesan quiche with wholemeal Spelt Pastry:


* My Tin was approximately 9 inch wide by 2 inch deep. 
I cannot state this recipe as vegetarian as it has Parmesan in it. But you could substitute for another cheese or simply none at all! *


Ingredients:

(Pastry *I froze half down)

–  250g Wholemeal Spelt pastry, (Sieved half as I wanted some “crunch/depth” to it)
–  150g Unsalted Butter cubed and softened
–  Pinch of Caster sugar
–  Pinch of Sea Salt
–  1 Egg
–  1 tbsp of cold Whole Milk

(Filling) 

–  3 Medium Free Range Eggs
–  100 ml   Double Cream
–  100 ml  Whole Milk
–  Sprinkle of Ground Nutmeg
–  100g Parmesan Cheese 
–  Half and Aubergine Diced roughly
–  1 medium Onion Diced
–  6-8 small red and yellow tomatoes halved or quartered
–  1/4 green Pepper Diced
–  1/4 Red Chilli diced finely
–  3 leaves of fresh basil finely sliced
–  1/2 small green courgette finley sliced
–  Splash of Olive oil
–  Few dried herbs
–  Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper

Method:

*  Preheat Oven to 190c

*  Pop ingredients for your Pastry into a food processor and mix until dough forms a ball. Or if you prefer, you can do this by hand.

*  Place Pastry onto floured surface, knead slightly together, Cover with Cling Film and place in fridge until you want to use.

*  Roast all vegetables in oven with olive oil and dry Herbs.

*  Roll out Pastry to about 1/2 cm thick or if you can, slightly thinner.

*  Blind Bake Pastry for approximately 12- 15 minutes

*  Once Vegetables are cooked and Pastry is blind Baked, Pop your grated Parmesan into the pastry case, then vegetables, Everything else all in and bake in the oven for approximately 30-40 minutes as different Ovens and Tins can make a big difference.

*  When your Quiche is cooked, allow to cool first before slicing into.


This is a great Quiche eaten Warm or cold. Ideal for a picnic and can be served with many different things.





A Tea Time Treat

July 16, 2014



So I seem to have been hit by a bit of a baking bug recently and thinking about my Pastry chef days. Either that or I have hit a time in my Life when I actually DO have a sweeter tooth than I thought! 
  Thing is as you know by now I only write what I feel is right, when it feels right and so on… And this does. So lets just go with the flow!

  You will begin to see soon a pattern forming with the lovely Herb, Lemon Verbena. I am besotted with it! I am very proud of my little bush of it gleaming away against all my other Herbs. I love the smell and taste that it has in both Sweet and Savoury dishes. Savoury being so far of the Herby Chicken Goujons recipe I developed last month. So, now turn for a sweet dish.

 Lemon Verbena Fruit Shortbread with Lavender Sugar:

Ingredients:
(Makes approximately 12-14 round biscuits)

–  115 g of Unsalted Butter cubed and softened
–  180 g Plain Flour Sifted (plus a little extra when rolling)
–  55 g of Caster Sugar
–  finely Zest Half of a lemon
–  1 Tbsp of Finely Chopped Lemon Verbena
–  25 g of Dried Raisins and Dried Blueberries
–  A small amount of Lavender Granulated Sugar for sprinkling on top, (I infuse my own Sugar)
*Note: If you don’t like Lavender infused sugar, just use normal Granulated Sugar.

Method:

–  Preheat Oven to 170c


–  Place Flour, Butter and Sugar into a mixing bowl and start to mix with fingertips to allow to crumble.

–  Once starting to form together add in the fruit, zest and lemon verbena.Mix together until it forms a dough such as like this:



–  Start to roll out the dough to flatten to about 1/2 cm thick. It will start to stick and crumble especially if it is warm in the Kitchen.

– Cut out your Biscuits. I used a 7cm cutter:


–  Lightly Grease your baking tray, place the shortbread on allowing to give space to expand a little when baking. Prick the Shortbread with a fork and sprinkle on the Lavender sugar.

– Pop into the Oven for approximately 12 minutes or until starting to ever so slightly brown at the edges.

– Allow to cool on a cooling rack before tasting, If you can resist! 


Breakfast Boost Bars

July 15, 2014



I realise that this isn’t  a Recipe post that is a “New Thing” or “Trend” in the Culinary world,  but it is something that I always used to make and have been meaning to come up with a new recipe for a while now. 

  Today,  As usual, I had some bananas that were way overripe.  So instead of me putting them into a bread or muffin like I normally do, I decided to come up with a Bar of some sort.  Now I say, “some sort” because, well, I am not sure If this recipe is a Flapjack or a Granola Bar? as, in my eyes, it qualifies for both! 

   I have to say, I am not great at eating breakfasts, especially in summer.  I do get easily bored and like something that I can eat quite efficiently  whilst reading my emails, doing my “To Do list” for that day AND drink my morning Coffee. I know, its bad! But I have to find something that suits me, we all do! and I feel with these bars, it will certainly keep me going for a while. Lets hope it will help others too.
  Now I am no nutritional expert but I have tried to keep the recipe packed full of nutrients with the fruit, nuts and seeds. Also adding no extra sugar to the syrup.

  I can’t wait to let my Fiance try these before he goes for his morning run at the weekend.  He’s been trying to find that certain something that works for him as many others have their own energy fix before a run/workout.  I will let you know what happens there on that note at a later date. Not forgetting aswell how great these are for Children, for breakfast or as a boost over those summer holidays! 
  For now, I will be trying these as my breakfast hit for the next few days…These Boost bars are moist, chewy, packed full of goodness and they’re Vegan too!


Breakfast Boost Bars:

Ingredients:

(This mixture made 9 2″x2″ Squares)

–  100g of Soy Spread ( I used Pure Dairy Free)
–  100g of Golden Syrup
–  1 Tbsp of Raw Organic Coconut Oil ( I used Lucy Bee)
–  200g of Whole Rolled Porridge Oats
–  40g of Grated Raw Carrot
–  2 Over ripe Bananas mashed
–  40g Dried Soft Apricots
–  20g Pistachios (De- shelled)
–  40g of Dried mixed Boosting Berries (i.e Blueberries, Cranberries, Goji, Raisins, etc…)
–  Sprinkling of mixed Seeds for on top (i.e Sunflower, Pumpkin, Linseed etc…)

Method:

–  Preheat Oven to 170c

–  Melt the Soya Spread in a Heavy bottomed pan on a low-medium heat and add the Golden Syrup to it.

–  Into a small hand blender/mixer or processor blitz loosely all the dried fruit together and the pistachio nuts.

–  Add the Oats to the Pan and stir coating all the mixture. Then add the Coconut oil, Bananas and grated carrot to the mixture. Stir and turn off the heat.

–  Line a baking tray with baking parchment and add the mixture creating a nice rectangular even shape.

–  Pop into the Oven for about 20 mins.

–  After 20 minutes sprinkle over your seed mix and pop back into the oven for another 20 mins.

–  Once done, take out and allow to cool before cutting into squares/slices.

If you pop these in a larder/Pantry they will keep for a good few days if kept in a sealed cake tin.