Monday 22 August 2011

Beef Stir-fry with Satsuma and Sesame

This quick and delicious recipe is the perfect Monday night supper. Full of veg to revive you from the weekend shenanigans, and a good old steak to make you smile and provide power for the week ahead. 



10g Coriander Seeds
10g Sesame Seeds
Tbsp grated ginger
1 clove garlic
1-2 chilies finely chopped
100g Mushrooms sliced
1 red pepper sliced
1 green pepper sliced
3 carrots Ribboned
1 bag sugar snap peas
1/2 Broccoli
4 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Honey
Juice of 2 Limes
1 satsuma separated
Small tin of sweetcorn
2 x Rump Steak
Bunch of Coriander Finely Chopped

Gently roast the coriander and sesame seeds in a dry pan for a few minutes. Then grind in a pestle and mortar. Place the sesame oil in a clean pan and add the ground seeds, ginger, garlic and chilli and cook on a medium heat for 3-4 mins. Add the mushrooms and fry for a few mins til golden. Then add the peppers, carrot, sugar snap peas and broccoli. Add the soy sauce, honey and half the lime juice. Cook for 2-3 mins. Then add the sweetcorn and satsuma pieces and turn the heat off, (you want the satsuma to be warm but not hot.)

In a separate pan fry the beef (we used Rump steak as I love the flavour but you can use Sirloin or Fillet). Cooking time will vary but I cook it for about 2 1/2 mins on each side for medium rare. Once cooked, cover with the chopped coriander and lime juice, and season.  

Monday 15 August 2011

I have a chinaware fetish!

You cant beat afternoon tea with a proper china set! 


A proper snack!

I love a good snack, whether its savory or sweet, healthy or not so healthy. When im by myself and want to have a quick treat I always try and make it look pretty and appetizing so i can fully sit back and relax. So grab a magazine, knock up a snack and enjoy!

Here are a few of the snacks I had last week: 

Halloumi and Prawns. 

So simple and so good. Simply cook the halloumi in a frying pan until lightly golden, put it in a bowl. Then fry the prawns in a little butter until cooked, add to the halloumi, add a few sprigs of chive and season. 


Pesto Peas with Gorgonzola

Boil the peas, mix with pesto (either homemade not not) and sprinkle with Gorgonzola. Easy Peeassey.



Mini Choux Pastries with Strawberries (and a cup of peppermint tea)

Choux pastry is so easy and quick. Heat about 70g butter and water in a pan, bring to the boil and add 70g plain flour. stir continuously until the mixture comes away from the pan and forms a ball. take of the heat. Whisk 2 eggs in a bowl and very gradually add to the mixture, combining the eggs well. Pipe little ball onto a lined baking tray. 20-25mins at 220 degrees. Once cooled, slit a hole on one side and pop in the sliced strawberries. Dust with Icing sugar. Serve with a Peppermint tea. 




Tuesday 2 August 2011

Afternoon Mini Financier Cakes with Coffee

I have an event coming up where the client wants huge silver bowls filled with the finest Almonds I can find, so i have been sent samples from all over the world and thus have rather a lot of almonds in my kitchen at the moment. So I decided to make good use of them and when a girlfriend popped over for coffee I thought they would be the perfect accompanying nibble. 


These lovely little cakes are supposed to resemble gold bars, thus the name, but you can make them in any shape you want and i wanted them to be round and mini!






120g unsalted butter
1 tbsp honey
45g plain flour
125g Icing Sugar
120g ground almonds
1/2 tsp almond extract
pinch of salt
3 egg whites, lightly whisked
20g flaked almonds


Heat the oven to 220C. Warm the butter in a pan on a medium heat. Use a little of the melted butter to grease the baking tin. I used a 24-hole mini muffin tin but you can use a normal bun tin, square or round. Pop the tin in the fridge to chill. 
Continue to heat the rest of the butter until the milk solids go light brown and the liquid is a golden colour. Strain the liquid into a bowl without the brown solids, then whisk in the honey and set aside. 
Sieve the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl and mix in the ground almonds, extract and salt. Stir in the egg whites then pour in the browned butter and mix until smooth.
Evenly divide the mixture between the tins and place in the oven for 5 minutes. Take out a sprinkle on the flaked almonds, pop back in the over for a further 8 minutes. Cool for a few minutes then pop on wire rack to cool completely. 
Serve with a pop of coffee or tea.