VERY BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE

I saw this on This Morning and thought it looked scrummy and I didn't want to lose the recipe, so here it is with a link back to the original article.

Recipe for Success - Mary Berry - This Morning

14/03/2007

Mary Berry is cookery writer, TV cook and baking master. Having spent nearly 40 years in the industry, she has written 60 cookery books to date with her recipe books are a fixture on the shelves of every family home. Whether it’s cakes or good honest family food, Mary Berry truly is the original domestic goddess!

VERY BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE

2 oz (50g) cocoa
6 tablespoons boiling water
3 eggs
4 tablespoons milk
6 oz (175g) Self raising flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
4 oz (100g) soft butter
10 oz (275g) Natural caster sugar

For the icing and filling

5oz (150g) Bournville chocolate broken into small pieces
5 floz pouring double cream
3 tablespoons apricot jam

Pre heat the oven to 180C/160 fan/Gas 4

Grease two 8” sandwich tins and base line with baking parchment

First measure the cocoa and boiling water into a large bowl, and mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and beat again until combined. This can also be made in processor but be careful not to over whisk. Divide the cake mixture between the prepared tins. Bake in a pre heated oven for about 25 – 30 minutes until well risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tin.

For the icing and filling measure the chocolate and cream together in a bowl and stand the bowl over a pan of simmering water for approx 10 minutes until melted – stirring from time to time. Set aside and allow to become cold and almost set.

When baked, remove cakes and allow to cool completely. Spread the tops of each cake with apricot jam. Fill the cakes with half the icing and spread the remainder on top. Take the small palette knife and draw large “S” shapes to give a swirl effect – dust with icing sugar and enjoy!

AGA

Bake on the grid shelf on the floor of the roasting oven with the cold sheet on the 2nd set of runners for about 25 minutes.

How do you get kids interested in healthy food

A thread on UKScrappers has just inspired me to write this.

How do you get kids interested in eating healthy food?

Get them helping make pizzas. If you have a breadmaker, use the dough setting, chuck in the ingredients on timer if necessary so the dough is ready when they come home from school. Let them make the tomato sauce, really easy, onion finely chopped, fry until golden, add tinned chopped tomatoes salt & pepper to taste. Provide lots of lovely toppings and get them to make their own pizza. If you want to make the tomato sauce yourself, you can blitz in some carrots etc so they don't see them.

Involve the children in the cooking, when they are chopping the veg, steal and eat bits of raw carrot, celery, cucumber etc, core from cauliflower/cabbage, celeriac, swede.

Get them growing some of their own food, radishes, carrots, lettuce, they will love growing then eating them fresh. Pop in some peas, I never expected to get a meal, I let my DD graze on the produce in the garden, there's nothing like seeing them think they are being naughty picking a pod of peas and eating them straight from the pod.

How many times were we caught nicking chocolate, icecream etc, and felt wicked doing it, do the same with veg, my DD eats anything now. Nick the healthy stuff and they will too, hee hee, easy way to get the good stuff into them.

Also how about getting a children's cookery book, or simple cookery book, let them pick a new recipe each week, they take it in turns and cook together, they make the shopping list, help you shop for the ingredients choosing what they need, then cook it themselves, with your help. Let them make a mess, it doesn't matter, but boost their confidence in the kitchen, can't make the same dish twice, the good ones get added to your like list and can go into the normal cooking during the week. I used to do this with my mum and it was brilliant fun.

I used to make a lovely English curry from a 101 recipe book by Good Housekeeping, that involved onion, chopped apple, sultanas.

If you see an offer for cheap fruit get them making jam with you, great to have on some bread. No preservatives and so easy.

Raspberry Fool

Ingredients

1 punnet Raspberries

250ml Double cream

50g Icing Sugar

Method

Reserve a couple of raspberries to decorate the top of the dessert

Mash raspberries with icing sugar in a bowl, then push through a sieve (this is called "coulis").

Whip cream until soft (careful not to overbeat), then fold in 3/4 of the raspberry coulis.

Layer the coulis with the fool in a glass and then decorate with raspberries and a drizzle of coulis.

Middle Eastern Tabbouleh Salad

Ingredients

8 oz (225 g) cracked wheat (bulghar) (available from health food shops)

2 oz (50 g) parsley, finely chopped

8 spring onions, finely chopped (including the green parts)

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 large beef tomatoes, about 1 lb (450 g)

4 inches (10 cm) cucumber, very finely chopped

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly milled black pepper

Start off by measuring the cracked wheat into a bowl. Cover it with plenty of cold water and leave for approximately 20 minutes or until the grains soften and lose their crunchiness (which means, of course, you'll have to bite a few to find out how they're going).

Then have ready a large sieve. When the cracked wheat has softened, pour the contents of the bowl into the sieve, drain well to extract as much water as possible. Shake the wheat into a deep bowl and stir in the parsley and spring onions followed by the lemon juice and 1½ teaspoons of salt to combine thoroughly.

Meanwhile, finely chop the tomatoes quite small and add to the bowl containing the wheat. Next, add the cucumber and olive oil to the salad and mix to combine everything. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Pasted from <http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/middle-eastern-tabbouleh-salad,731,RC.html>

Cheesy Dauphinois potatoes

3 potatoes, cut into thin slices

250ml double cream

125ml milk

55g Butter

1 garlic cloves, chopped

100g cheddar cheese grated

salt and fresh ground black pepper

1. Prepare the potatoes by cutting into thin slices 0.5cm . Preheat the oven to 190ºC/Gas 5.
2. In a saucepan heat the garlic, potatoes and cream and butter, add enough milk to just cover the potatoes. Cover and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
3. Transfer the potato mixture to a shallow gratin dish, top with the grated cheese. Bake the potato mixture for 30 minutes.

Salsa

3 Tomatoes (finely chopped)

1/2 small onion (finely diced)

1/2 green chilli (finely diced)

Juice from 1/2 lime

Salt & Pepper

Method

Mix together and serve

Guacamole

1 avocado

1/2 small onion (finely diced)

1/2 green chilli (finely diced)

1 tomato (finely chopped)

Juice from 1/2 lime

Salt & Pepper

Method

Mash the avocado, then add the other ingredients and stir. Season to taste

Beef Enchiladas

For the Enchiladas

1 packet of flour tortillas (only 4 needed)

250g minced beef

1/2 green pepper (sliced)

1/2 red onion (sliced)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Olive oil

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin kidney beans

1 oxo cube

Method

Put the oil with paprika and cayenne in frying pan, gently warm the spices, add the onion and fry until softened, add the minced beef and fry until all browned, add the pepper and continue to cook for 1 minutes. Add the tomatoes, kidney beans and sprinkle in the oxo cube. Stir and cook for 15 minutes. Season to taste. Allow to cool slightly.

Take a tortilla, put 1/4 of the mix in the tortilla and roll up, place in serving dish. Repeat with other tortillas.

Mix the other 1/2 chopped tomatoes with 1 tablespoon of tomato puree and season. Pour over the tortillas.

Grate 75g of cheese and sprinkle over the top, put in a hot Gas 6 oven for 15 minutes.

Serve with Guacamole and Salsa

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Ingredients

1 tablespoon cooking oil

2 dessert spoons thai green curry paste (start with Amoy paste)

2 tablespoons thai fish sauce

1 tin coconut milk

chicken breast (raw or ready cooked) cut into 1inch pieces

1 mug of thai fragrant rice

cold water to cover by half an inch

salt

Method

Add rice to a saucepan and wash under the cold tap a couple of times. The water will turn cloudy, this is the starch in the rice which would make it sticky when cooked. Cover the rice with enough cold water to reach half and inch above the level of the rice and add salt. Bring to the boil, stir once, cover with a tight fitting saucepan lid and turn heat to the lowest simmer possible. Don't be tempted to look at the rice, leave it for 10 minutes then turn off the heat. Leave rice until you are ready to serve the curry. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

In a wok or large frying pan, heat the oil of a medium heat, add the curry paste and fry for about 1 minute stirring continuously, be careful it spits.

Add the coconut milk and fish sauce, stir and simmer for about 1 minute.

Add the chicken to the sauce and turn heat to a simmer, if raw cook for about 15 minutes, if using ready cooked, for about 5 minutes.

Serve

Tips:

I cheat and buy a hot roast chicken and then strip the breast meat straight into the curry sauce, just don't burn your fingers picking it off the bone.

Curry pastes vary with the brand, I have found that the Amoy paste is very tasty and mild, suitable for those who don't like fiery curries, if you do like them hot, buy the traditional green paste which comes in plastic tubs, be warned, use only 2 teaspoons of paste unless you book the fire-brigade.

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

1 onion, sliced

125g button mushrooms, sliced

50g butter

250g sirloin steak

25g plain flour

Salt & pepper

1 tablespoon tomato puree

125ml pot sour cream

Method

Fry the onions in the 25g of the butter until soft add the mushrooms and fry together until soft. Spoon the onions and mushrooms onto a separate plate, keep the remaining butter in the pan, add the rest of the butter and melt.

Slice the beef into thin strips and then toss in seasoned flour. Remove excess flour and then fry the beef until golden brown. Return the onions and mushrooms to the pan with any juices. Add the sour cream and tomato puree, stir carefully over a gentle heat, season to taste.

Serve with boiled rice or noodles.