These mini quiches were a big hit with my kids. I served them for lunch during half term and the girls ate three each! Even Seán who takes a lot of persuading to try something new ate two! This recipe will also make one large quiche and can easily be made Gluten free. Season carefully as you already have salt in the bacon. If you are feeling adventurous try a different filling as listed below or if you are feeling indulgent use half cream, half milk.

Pastry

175 grams / 1    cups plain flour (All Purpose)

85 grams / 6 tablespoons butter

Pinch salt

2-3 tablespoons of cold water

Filling

3 rashers of back bacon chopped or bacon lardons

2 eggs beaten

60 grams/ ½ cup cheddar cheese grated

150 millilitres /  cup milk

Salt and freshly ground pepper if needed

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on the water and stir the mixture with a knife until it comes together. Add more water if necessary. Press the pastry into a ball, the bowl should be clean. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until it is 3 millimetres / ¼ inch thick. Cut out pastry circles and place in a greased muffin tin with a 98 mm/3 7/8 inch cookie cutter which is approximately the size of a pint glass. The pastry needs to come up the sides of the muffin tin so that it holds the liquid.

Fry the bacon until crisp. Mix together the eggs, cheese, milk, bacon and seasoning.  Spoon the mixture into each pastry case. Bake in to oven until the pastry is golden and the filling is set. Cool slightly in the pans before removing.

Cheat by using a store bought pastry. The results are just the same

Make these quiches gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthan gum. As the discs are small you shouldn’t have a problem with cracking but roll between 2 sheets of cling film if you wish.

Alternative Fillings:

Baby plum tomatoes and Camembert cheese- Just half the tomatoes and slice the cheese

Vegetable Quiche – your families favourite vegetables, precooked firstly of course

Garden vegetable with feta: broccoli, spring onion and baby asparagus. Sauté the spring onion and asparagus firstly

Cheese and onion

Broccoli cheese and tomato- steam the broccoli firstly

Chicken and asparagus- use cooked chicken and sauté the asparagus

Chicken and leek- use cooked chicken and fry off you leeks, consider using baby leeks if making these as mini quiches.

Smoked salmon and broccoli- steam the broccoli firstly

Bacon, leek and mushroom. Fry these off before you add the milk and cheese

Cheese and tomato- Dice the tomato, no need to precook.

Carrot and courgette (zucchini) Grate the vegetable first

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate Chinese New Year with Garlic chicken and Egg Fried Rice. 2015 is the year of the Goat and begins today 19th February and ends on the 5^th March. Add a little fun for your family with chopsticks for your kids. I used these “Rookie Stix” and they were a big hit. If you are making a gluten free version of this dish make sure you use a gluten free soy sauce. I used the Sanchi brand which is available at our local supermarket.

The secret to Chinese cooking is to prepare in advance, so before you start chop your garlic and spring onions reserving some for the final garnish.

Garlic Chicken

2 tablespoons corn flour

Salt and ground white pepper

8-10 boneless and skinless chicken thighs cut into pieces

Oil to shallow fry. A lot of Chinese cookbooks recommend groundnut oil but sunflower or vegetable is fine

6 cloves garlic peeled and chopped

6 spring onions chopped

2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

!-2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

A pinch of sugar

In a large bowl coat the chicken with the corn flour which has been seasoned with a twist of salt and pepper. Heat sufficient oil in your wok to shallow fry your chicken. You will need to do this in batches. Cook for 3-4 minutes until golden and cooked through. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Discard the oil and wipe out your wok. Heat approximately a tablespoon of oil in your wok and heat over a high heat. Add the garlic and spring onion and stir fry until aromatic.

Add the chicken back into the wok and mix it well with the garlic and spring onion. Add the Shaoxing rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and stir. The soy sauce will change the colour of the chicken to a golden brown.  Delicious!

Adapted from Gok Cooks Chinese

Egg Fried Rice

As a rule of thumb, I use 1 ½ cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. More water causes soggy rice. I used Basmati rice for this recipe but feel free to use long grain. Make sure you wash it though!

1 egg beaten

1 ½ cups rice/ 300g

2 ¼ cups/ 532 millilitres water

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Spiring onion to garnish.

Ideally for egg fried rice the rice needs to be cold. I usually cook the rice while I’m preparing the chicken so it’s ready to go when the chicken is done. I use a rice cooker but here is a step by step of how to cook it on the hob.

Firstly wash the rice to remove excess starch. Place rice in a saucepan and cover with the water. Place the pan uncovered onto the hob and bring to the boil. Boil until the water has reduced and is foaming bubbles at the top of the rice. Cover and reduce the heat to its lowest setting and leave to cook for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and leave to cool.

When you are ready to make your egg fried rice. Heat a tablespoon of rice in your wok and add the egg. Stir it as it cooks so you basically have scrambled egg. I found this far more successful than adding the raw egg to the rice as it usually ended in lumpy fried rice! If you want special fried rice like in your local restaurant, add cooked shrimp, chopped ham and peas at this point. Next add the rice and stir so that the egg is evenly mixed through it. Add a teaspoon of soy sauce for a little colour and serve! Garnish with chopped spring onion

What Year were you born in?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate Valentine’s Day this year with Red Velvet Cupcakes. The deep red sponge is topped with a vanilla cream cheese frosting and will melt on your tongue.  These can easily be made Gluten Free so no one misses out on the celebrations. Note that I have used Cider vinegar in this recipe. It is sweeter than the white wine vinegar that some recipes recommend.

• 60 grams/ 3 tablespoons butter
• 150 grams/ ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 10 grams/4 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 20 millilitres/ 4 teaspoons red liquid food colouring
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 120 millilitres/ ½ cup buttermilk
• 150 grams/ 1 cup plain flour
• ½ teasp salt
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1 ½ teaspoons cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy and then add the egg and continue beating until incorporated.

In a separate bowl combine the cocoa powder, red liquid food colouring and vanilla extract together to make smooth paste. Add this to your batter and mix thoroughly scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. Turn down the speed of your mixer and add the buttermilk, flour and salt until you have a smooth batter. Next add the baking soda and cider vinegar and beat until well mixed in.

Use a muffin scoop to fill your paper cases ¾ full and bake in the preheated oven for 18 min. A skewer should come out cleanly when they are cooked.

This quantity of batter makes about 9 cupcakes or one 8 inch cake. You can double the batter to make a two layer heart shaped or round cake.

Decorate with the classic cream cheese frosting remember to double if you are making a cake.

• Classic Cream Cheese Frosting
• 300 grams/ 2 ½ cups minus 1 tablespoon of icing sugar
• 50g grams/ 3 ½ tablespoons butter
• 125 grams/ ½ cup / 4 ½ ounces  cream cheese
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Beat the cream cheese and butter together until incorporated then add the icing sugar. Cover your mixer with a clean tea towel to avoid the cloud of sugar that will be created when you begin to mix. Don’t overbeat as it can become runny. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon or pipe on the cream cheese frosting. Enjoy!

Make these gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthum gum.

Cheat:  Rather than buy a whole carton of buttermilk make it yourself by combining 235millilitres/1 cup milk with 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Allow it to sit for 20 minutes at room temperature.

You have probably heard the name of the fourth Earl of Sandwich (born John Montagu), the British statesman who gave his name to our favourite lunchtime staple.  He may not have been the first to eat meat between two slices of bread. In fact, Arabs had already started stuffing meat inside pita bread, centuries before the Earl came up with his delicious snack. According to one account, on Nov. 3, 1762, the Earl was deep into a marathon poker game and couldn’t be bothered to leave the gaming table for dinner. As a solution, he asked a servant to bring him a piece of meat, stuffed between two slices of toast so he wouldn’t smear food on his cards and so the idea of a sandwich was born. I’ve had many requests for new sandwich fillings so I’ve done a bit of research and pulled together some ideas. This list is by no means definitive but you might get a new sandwich idea that your child will eat.

There is an abundance of different types of bread available so experiment with various varieties such as pittas, bagels, ciabatta, baguettes and breads made with different types of flour, such as spelt or sourdough. If your school does not have a nut ban try the classic peanut and jelly combination. Use jam if you are not stateside! Ham – wafer thin or home baked –roast a piece of unsmoked gammon in a can of cider just as you would for a traditional Sunday lunch.

Ham and cheese croissant with grainy mustard – vary the normal cheese you use for a different taste. Ham, cream cheese, sliced tomato and salad with mayonnaise Egg salad Egg and tomato Egg and bacon – great in a roll BLT – bacon lettuce and tomato BLT with cheese – use your favourite Tuna and mayo. Add grated carrot and finely sliced spring onion for a different twist on a classic Tuna and sweet corn Tuna, Tomato and Mozzarella Quesadilla.

Make your sandwich using two tortillas, Fry on a pan brushed with olive oil over a low heat turning once until golden and cheese is melted. Cool before wrapping Sardines and cream cheese with grated cucumber and spring onion. Make sure you drain the sardines and finely chop the onion. Make the mixture well the night before to avoid soggy sandwiches.

Prawn cocktail –prawns with mayonnaise and a little ketchup to create the Marie Rosé sauce. This is good served on the side with a couple of sliced of brown bread. Smoked salmon and cream cheese on a toasted bagel. Fresh salmon and pesto and cucumber Chicken and coleslaw Chicken fajita with cheese, tomato and lettuce. See last week’s post.

Chicken and avocado– make sure to douse the avocado slices liberally in lemon/lime juice to prevent it going brown. Roast Chicken and avocado salad. Dice the chicken and the avocado. Add lemon juice and mayonnaise and season. Include lettuce, watercress or rocket leaves if liked. Chicken and guacamole: a spicier version of the above. Chicken Club sandwich – Barbecue flavoured chicken with bacon, avocado, lettuce and tomato with a combination of mayonnaise and wholegrain mustard. Dressing: 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons of mustard Chicken and Tzatziki – Make the Tzatziki by seeding and grating the cucumber and sprinkling with ½ teaspoon salt. Leave  for 10 minutes, then drain. Mix with yogurt, lemon juice and mint. Spread on top of chicken and add lettuce if liked. This is great in a wrap or with lamb instead of chicken. Chicken, dried apricots, shredded lettuce and chopped parsley. Combine with a little Greek yoghurt and serve in a pita. Salami and tomato.

If your kids like a meat pizza they might enjoy this. Simply slice on a buttered roll. It’s really tasty on ciabatta rolls if you toast them first. Chorizo is also good instead of Salami. Salami, cheese, tomato and basil is another variation of this.

Roast beef with lettuce. Use horseradish or replace with mustard if preferred Cheddar and coleslaw Peanut butter and jelly – classic Peanut butter and jelly with sliced banana Peanut butter and grated carrot Peanut butter and Nutella. Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread and Nutella on the other. Sandwich together for a little piece of heaven!

Hummus and watercress Potato salad pita pocket. Combine cold, boiled baby potatoes with mayonnaise, chopped spring onion, hardboiled egg and crispy bacon bits and feta cheese in a pita pocket.