April 26, 2011
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 ripe pears, peeled and cored
2 tbls fresh lemon juice
1 tbls caster sugar
1 tbls amaretto liqueur
50g icing sugar
1 tbls cocoa powder
25g ground almonds
1 egg white
1. Preheat the oven to 160C/ 325F/ Gas 3
2. Cut pears in 1cm cubes. Place in saucepan with lemon juice and caster sugar and cook over a medium heat for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. When they are cooked pour the amaretto over the pears, then spoons the pears with the juices into 4 x 150ml ramekins.
4. To prepare the topping sift the icing sugar and the cocoa powder into a bowl. Stir in the ground almonds.
5. In a separate bowl which the egg white until stiff. Gently fold the egg white into the dry ingredients.
6. Spoon the chocolate meringue mix over the pears and shake the ramekins to level it. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 mins until the topping is firm to the touch. Serve warm and enjoy.
This was my first attempt at this recipe (taken from BBC Good Food Website). I think it went pretty well for a first time. Tasted really nice, though I think I would prefer to have more chocolate on top, about 1 1/2 times the amount as it didn’t quite cover the pears as much as I would have liked. I would also like to try soaking the pears in the amaretto overnight so that more of the flavour was captured by them. Overall though very yummy, a good mix of fruit and chocolate. And quite quick to make.
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April 18, 2011
This recipe was adapted from my Pooh’s Cook Book. The original recipe was honey and raisin, but I didn’t have any honey in the house.
Makes 9-12 Scones
8oz self-raising flour
1/2 level teaspoon salt
1oz butter
1 level tablespoon castor sugar
2 tablespoons seedless raisins
1 egg
4 tablespoons milk
cinnamon
Pre heat the oven to 400F/ Gas 6
1. Sift flour and salt and then rub in the butter.
2. Add the sugar, raisins, cinnamon, mix well and make a hollow in the centre.
3. In a measuring jug break the egg and add enough milk to make the liquid up to 1/4 pint. Mix well with a fork.
4. Pour the liquid into the centre of the four, and with a fork mix to a rough dough.
5. Turn out onto a floured working surface and knead lightly.
6. Roll out to about 1/2″ in thickness, cut out using a round cutter and place onto a lightly floured baking tray.
7. Dust lightly with flour and place in the over for 12 minutes.
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April 12, 2011
Another great cafe in Aarhus. I love that these places are cafe come pub come restaurant. You can go for a coffe, then have some food, then move onto a pint later if you fancy.
It has a lovely atmosphere, quiet background music, odd chairs and armchairs, dining chairs and tables out back, but more of a cafe style towards the front.
I had a burger, was very nice, with cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomatoe between a crispy bread roll. Had a spicy mayo dip on the side, and gerkins- which seem quite popular here but I’m really not a fan of them! Accomanyed with roast potatoe balls with nice crispy skins.
The people were all blonde hairded blue eyed beauties and I wished I had my blonde hair again.
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April 9, 2011
Last month I took a holiday to Aarhus in Denmark. It was very cold, with snow on the ground and like a true English girl I had not brought enough clothes with me. So I had to go from cafe to cafe- which was no bad thing!
I came across this cafe while looking for some lunch, walking along the street I spotted books in the window, peered in to see comfy looking armchairs and immediately knew that this was a place I would like.
It is what my perfect cafe would be like- book shelves lining the walls, a mismatch of nice classic wooden furniture and a couple of comfy armchairs in the corners. The lighting is just right- light enough to do you work (lots of students on their laptops while I was there) but not too bright to feel like you are in a library.
It has a really nice relaxed feel to it with friendly staff who spoke very good English. I liked it so much I went back again, even though I only had 4 days in Aarhus.
I sampled their food- a platter of olives, artichokes, pate, bread, olive paste, prochuto and gerhkins. Really nice and actually quite filling.
Noerregade 32, Arhus 8000 , Denmark
Website
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April 8, 2011
It has started to feel like summer this week, people have been getting out their BBQ’s in true English style- making the most of any kind of sunshine. So along this theme I decieded to make my own beef burgers. You can add almost anything to these burgers, once of my favourites is adding blue cheese to the burger mix- but this is not to everyones tastes. It is so easy and tastes so much better than even the highest quality shop bought burgers.
Ingredients
Minced Beef
1 egg
breadcrumbs
1 red onion
Salad
1. Chop the onion and mix together with the egg and the breadcrumbs.
2. Add in the minced beef until all the meat is covered in egg. Season to your tastes.
3. Roll the mix into balls and flatten and place in a pan of olive oil.
4. Fry until brown on both sides.
5. Serve with salad.
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April 2, 2011
Pizza you say, whats so special about pizza? Well… this pizza is not like the others. Made from cornmeal these pizzas are a lot more filling that your regular pizza and a lot less greasy.
This is the only cornmeal crust pizza restaurant in the UK. The pizzas have a lot more toppings on them, and have a different selection to your usual, the special when we went was fig and pancetta absolutely gorgeous.
Introduced to us by Jackie who has met these guys before and interviewed them, she explained to us that we wouldn’t need more than two slices. We all looked at each other and thought she was crazy- she had previously that day been telling us she had forgotten to eat meals. In the end 3 of us went for the taster- 6 slices all different flavours, and Jackie chose her two favourite slices. You can order individual slices or a whole pizza and anything in-between.
So we tucked into our slices, enjoyed the atmosphere and each others company. By the time we were on our last slices we were quite glad we had listened to the advice- 2 slices really was enough.
However we did manage to find a little bit of space for dessert- cookie sandwich; two home made cookies sandwiching ice-cream.
6 Chepstow Road
Notting Hill
London
W2 5BH
Website
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Abandon Spoon! 