Mongolian Beef

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I simply had to share this dish especially as we are coming up to Chinese New Year. This year we are celebrating slow cooker style but this dish can also be cooked traditionally in a wok. My youngest devoured this after initially refusing to taste it but after a little persuasion declared it his new favourite dinner.

500grams striploin / sirloin or round steak

37 grams /¼ cups cornflour (corn starch)

1tablespoon olive oil

I garlic clove minced of shopped finely

1 centimetre fresh ginger finely chopped

177 millilitres /¾ cup soya Sauce

177 millilitres / ¾ cups water

100 grams / ½ cup brown sugar

2 scallions chopped to garnish

2 carrots, ribboned with a potato peeler or your own choice of vegetable e.g. peppers

Method

Cut the steak into thin strips. In a zip lock bag add the steak and cornflour and shake to coat the steak.

Add olive oil, garlic, ginger soya sauce, water brown sugar and your choice of veg to the slow cooker. Stir the sauce ingredients to combine, then add the steak and stir again until coated in sauce.

Cook on high for 2-3 hours or on low for 4-5 hours. Serve with rice or noodles.

Alternatively:

Cook this dish in a wok

Fry off ginger and garlic and add the steak coated in cornflour and fry over a high heat until cooked with your choice of vegetable. Add the soya sauce (½ cup) and the brown sugar (¼ cup) and stir fry until sugar is dissolved.

To make this dish gluten free, use a gluten free soya sauce.

Adapted from The Recipe Critic: Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

Sticky Toffee Pudding

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I love this pudding on a cold day served with toffee sauce and vanilla ice-cream. This is an easy recipe and you don’t have to worry about cooking individual puddings just slice and serve. My oldest girl loves this cold in her lunch box as well as a tiny portion of toffee sauce if there is any left.

225 grams/ 8 ounces stoned dates chopped

250millilitres / 9 fluid ounces black tea

100 grams/ 3 ½ ounces soft butter

175 grams/ 6 ounces sugar

3 medium eggs

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

225 grams / 8 ounces self raising flour ( or All Purpose  with a teaspoon of baking powder)

¾ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda/ baking soda

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F and line the bottom of a 20 centimetre / 8 inch loose bottomed tin. Grease the sides of the tin also to prevent the cake sticking to it.

Place the chopped dates and tea into a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Cook for a few minutes to soften the dates then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Cream the butter and sugar in your mixer until fluffy and incorporate the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the cooled date mixture followed by the flour, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice.

Pour the batter into your prepared tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out cleanly.

This pudding works really well gluten free; just substitute the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthan gum.

Toffee Sauce

55 grams/ 2 ounces butter

125 grams/ 4 ½ ounces sugar

140 grams / 5 ounces golden syrup

115 millilitres/ 4 fluid ounces cream

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan over a high heat and boil for approximately 5-5 minutes stirring continuously until it has thickened. Serve warm.

Adapted from Rachael Allen’s Bake

Pulled Pork

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This is all the rage at the moment and it’s surprisingly easy to do. I like to serve it in the brioche burger buns available in Aldi. It’s great for lunchboxes too!

For the marinade

4 tablespoons hoisin sauce – readily available in the Chinese section of your local supermarket

1-2 cloves garlic peeled and finely chopped

1 cm of fresh ginger peeled and chopped finely

1 star anise – available in the Spice aisle of Tesco, Supervalue and even Tiger in Mahon Point or Mr. Bell’s in the Old English Market.

4 teaspoons muscovado sugar

½ teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

2 tablespoons honey

800 grams – 1 kilogram of pork neck  (available in Sheehan’s Butchers)

You can prepare this the night before:  place the marinade into a freezer bag and add the pork neck and place in the fridge. Then in the morning dump everything into the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours. I normally place everything into the slow  cooker set a timer for it to come on at 6am.

Once the pork is ready shred it with a fork and serve.  If you want to serve it with a sauce, decant the juices into a saucepan and thicken with a slurry of cornflour and water.

For a gluten free option replace the hoisin sauce with a GF soy sauce and use GF rolls

Adapted from Gok Wan’s Honey glazed Char Siu Pork

Star Anise is a small dried star-shaped fruit with one seed in each arm. It has an aniseed flavour and is used unripe in Asian cookery.

Sticky Gingerbread

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This is a wonderful moist cake that never lasts long in my house. It is delicious iced or just sliced and served with butter. It reminds me of a fond friend and colleague André Goddard who used to love this when I brought it into Faculty Meetings.

 

225 grams / 8 ounces self raising flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1 tablespoon ground ginger – this is not a misprint!

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

115 grams / 4 ounces butter

115 grams  / 4 ounces dark muscovado sugar. (I used golden caster sugar and it was fine)

115 grams / 4 ounces black treacle

115 grams / 4 ounces golden syrup

250 millilitres / 9 fluid / 1 cup ounces whole milk

85 grams /3 ounces drained stem ginger finely grated*

1 egg

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F

Line a 2 pound loaf pan or an 18cm round, 7cm deep cake tin.

Put the flour, bicarb ( baking soda) and all the spices into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the grated stem ginger.

Put the sugar, treacle, golden syrup and milk in a medium saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point. Pour in the treacle mixture into the flour mixture stirring as you go with a wooden spoon.

Beak in the egg and beat until all the mixture is combined and resembles a thick batter.

Pour this into the prepared tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out cleanly.

*Stem ginger is root ginger that is preserved in sugar syrup. It is very difficult to find in the US and crystallized ginger is the closest comparative. 4 pieces of stem ginger is about 4 ounces of crystallized ginger. For stem ginger syrup use 4 tablespoons light corn syrup plus  ¼ teaspoon ground ginger.

To ice this cake mix together

 50grams / 2ounces of icing sugar

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix until you have a smooth, slightly runny icing. Add more juice if needed. Drizzle the icing over surface of the cake

Cheat’s Chocolate Mousse

~ momwheresmylunch ~ 4 Comments

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This is a tasty desert that is so easy to make but looks very impressive! Instead of the usual fuss with raw egg, this recipe uses marshmallows instead! I’ve served it in chocolate cups but it also works well in a glass with a stem!

150 grams/1 ½ cups mini marshmallows (pink and white ones from Aldi)

50 grams /½ stick soft butter

250 grams/9 ounces/ dark chocolate

60 millilitres/ ¼ cup hot water

280 milliliters/1 cup and 2 tablespoons cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy based saucepan on a gentle heat to melt the contents. Keep stirring so it won’t burn.

Meanwhile whip the cream with the vanilla until thick, and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until totally combined.

Pour into a  bowl and allow to set in the fridge for about two hours.

This mousse is gluten free if you use gluten free marshmallows! It is also good served in glasses or chocolate cups with some cream and fruit on top

 

Chocolate biscuit Cake

~ momwheresmylunch ~ 2 Comments

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The Royal couple Kate and William had a chocolate biscuit cake as one of their wedding cakes but they had just the crushed rich tea biscuits in it. I’ve also includes marshmallow and dried cranberries which I suppose makes this more of a rocky road treat. If you only want a rich tea in your cake just replace the rest of the ingredients with biscuits, though I must say once you have tasted this you will be hooked! Feel free to replace the Maltesers and cranberries with sweeties and dried fruit of your choice. We usually have lots of Cadbury’s fudge sweets left after Christmas and they taste very good in this cake! Enjoy!

225 grams/ 8 ounces / 1 ¼ cups milk chocolate*

225 grams / 8 ounces/ 1 ¼ cups dark chocolate*

150 grams/ 2/3 cup butter

225 grams/ 2/3 cup golden syrup (corn syrup)

225 grams /3 cups rich tea biscuits roughly crushed

80 grams/ 1 cup Maltesers (1 treat sized bag from Aldi)

125 grams/ 2 ½ cups mini marshmallows

30 grams/ ¼ cup dried cranberries

Before you start line your tin with cling film so you can remove the finished cake easily. I used a loaf tin but you can also use a brownie pan or a cake tin. You can even make this in a pudding bowl if you want an alternative Christmas pudding!

Prepare your biscuits and measure out the other ingredients as the chocolate mixture will seize if you leave it standing around too long

Combine the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over a medium low heat and stir until melted.

Remove from the heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients.

Pour the mixture into your prepared tin pressing down with a spoon to ensure it is tightly packed. Refrigerate overnight to set although my one only took about five hours!

*Note that when converting the chocolate measurement a lot of conversion site say the 225 grams = 1 cup chocolate. It was closer to 1 ¼ cups when I measured it myself

 

Chocolate Roulade

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This is my friend Kate’s signature dish when she hosts book club. The roulade has no flour in it so it is very light and fluffy as well as being gluten free. I have tweaked her recipe to include Nigella’s chocolate mousse which is easier as you don’t have to wait overnight for it to set.

Chocolate Roll

6 large eggs separated

150grams/ 2/3 cup caster sugar

50grams/ ½ cup cocoa powder – sieved

Cheat’s Chocolate Mousse

150grams/1 ½ cups mini marshmallows (pink and white ones from Aldi)

50grams /½ stick soft butter

250 grams/9 ounces/ dark chocolate

60millilitres/ ¼ cup hot water

280 millilitres/1 cup and 2 tablespoons cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To finish

240ml/ 1 cup cream whipped

 

Firstly preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F.

Then line a Swiss roll tin with baking parchment and set aside.

For the roulade place the egg yolks into a bowl and whisk until they start to thicken.

Next add the sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens slightly – be careful that it doesn’t become too thick.

Now, mix in the sieved cocoa powder.

In your electric mixer whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stag

e, then carefully fold them into the chocolate mixture until the two are incorporated fully. Pour into your prepared tin and bake for about 15 minutes until the roulade is springy.

When cooked remove from the oven and allow to cool. it will shrink as it cools but that is ok. Normally when you make a Swiss roll you roll it up when it is warm and allow it to cool wrapped in parchment or a clean tea towel. If you do that with this roll it is really difficult to fill it! Trust me!

For the Mousse

Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy based saucepan on a gentle heat to melt the contents. Keep stirring so it won’t burn.

Meanwhile whip the cream with the vanilla until thick, and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until totally combined.

Pour into bowl and allow to set in the fridge for about two hours.

This mousse is gluten free if you use gluten free marshmallows! It is also good served in glasses or chocolate cups with some cream and fruit on topIMG_3313[1]

To finish the roulade

Spread about 2/3 of the mousse on the roulade followed by a layer of whipped cream on top. Using the parchment paper roll the roulade carefully into a log shape. Sieve icing sugar or cocoa on top and serve.

 

Mum’s Sausage Meat and Potato stuffing

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This is my mum’s recipe and it a fabulous stuffing for Christmas Day or regular Sunday dinner. I don’t normally stuff my turkey but cook the stuffing separately in a dish. This stuffing can be cooked either way but remember to allow extra cooking time if it is inside your turkey. My kids love it and always ask for seconds. If there is any left it is good cold in a sandwich with a slice of turkey and some cranberry sauce. It can be prepared the night before and stored in your fridge in a covered dish. We make it Gluten Free as my kids feel the GF sausages are less spicy. Simply replace your breadcrumbs and sausages with your favourite GF variety. Enjoy!

500grams/ 8 ounces of your favourite sausage meat

500gram / 8 ounces of cooked and cooled mashed potato

500 grams/ 8 ounces breadcrumbs

1 small onion chopped and cooked off in butter and allowed to cool

1 egg beaten

1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped finely

100grams/ 3 ½ ounces fresh cranberries (optional)

100grams/ 3 ½ ounces cashews nuts or chopped chestnuts (optional)

 

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F

If you can’t get sausage meat, use your favourite brand of sausage and squeeze the meat out of the skins. Mix all ingredients together using your hands until they are thoroughly mixed.

Press your stuffing into a greased dish and cook for about 35-40 minutes until the internal temperature is 83C/181F

Emmitt White’s Date Nut loaf

~ momwheresmylunch ~ 1 Comment

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This recipe is dedicated to all the Irish J1 students who stayed in 23 Security Street in Hyannis in 1989! Our next door neighbour Emmitt White welcomed us with this date nut loaf and made it numerous times for us over the summer. He shared the recipe with me when we left Hyannis in September. I have baked this often over the years and it never ceases to bring back memories of that idyllic summer cycling around Cape Cod with John, Mark, Caroline and Jayo. Enjoy!

250 grams stoned dates, chopped

150grams/ 1 cup chopped walnuts

200 grams/1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

42grams/ 3 tablespoons soft butter

Add 235 millilitres /1 cup boiling water

166 grams/ 1 1/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

 

Heat your oven to 160C /325F and line a 2 pound loaf tin. This is a sticky cake and you won’t get it out of the tin if you don’t line it!

Mix the dates, walnuts, sugar, butter and egg in a mixing bowl. Add the boiling water and stir. Finally add the flour and baking soda and give everything a good stir! Then simply pour into your prepared tin and bake for 40-50min until an inserted skewer comes out cleanly.

Make this loaf 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 to stop it crumbling

Basic Madeira Mixture (Yellow Cake)

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This basic Madeira mixture is my go to mix for birthday cakes, lemon cake, fruit cake and chocolate chip muffins for the lunch box. It’s an all in once mixture which is very versatile; just add lemon zest, fruit or chocolate to change the flavour. Make this batter 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.

 

150 grams/ 2/3 cup /6 ounces softened butter

150 grams/2/3 cup /6 ounces sugar

200 grams/2 cups / 8 ounces  flour (all purpose)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F

Simply place all the ingredients into your mixer and beat until you have a pale and creamy batter. I use a muffin scoop to divide the batter evenly into a 12 hole muffin pan lined with cases. Cook for 15- 18 minutes. Alternatively, line a 2 pound loaf tin approximately 9 by 5 inches with baking parchment or a readymade liner, scoop the batter into it and cook for 35-40 minutes until a skewer comes out cleanly.

Chocolate Chip

Add 175 grams/1 cup of chocolate chips to the basic batter to make 12 muffins or one loaf cake.

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Lemon

Add the zest of one lemon and replace the milk with lemon juice for a zingy muffin or lemon cake. You can also drizzle the rest of the lemon juice over the loaf cake immediately when it comes out of the oven. Simple poke some holes with a skewer first so the juice can filter down through the cake.

Fruit Cake

Add 150 grams/ 1 cup of sultanas or your favourite dried fruit to the basic batter to make a simple fruit cake. You can even use a split of 2:1 dried fruit to mixed peel.  Also if you like you can replace the milk with a tablespoon of brandy or whiskey if you want a more festive flavour.

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Cherries

Use 150 grams/ 2/3 cup of dried glacé cherries that have be cut in half and rinsed in warm water, dried and coated with flour to make an old fashioned cherry cake. The secret to stopping the cherries from sinking is to coat them in flour before you add them to the batter.

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Marble cake

Divide your batter into three container and colour with your favourite food colouring. Then, simply drop tablespoons of the batter into your loaf pan or teaspoonfuls into your muffin cases alternating each colour. Swirl with a skewer at the end to mix your colours.

Chocolate

Reduce your quantity of flour by 25 grams and substitute 25 gram / ¼ cup of sieved cocoa to make a luscious chocolate muffin or loaf cake.