Scones for homework, and Chicken for dinner.

Twice a week, the kids have a street dancing lesson. On those days, we have to hightail it home so I can get the dishwasher emptied, and refilled, the wash on, and the kids need to change and have a snack. It's a little mental but there a few things that are handy to have in the house to feed them. Fruit and yoghurt is usually rejected in favour of a bagel or a scone. Maybe a banana but they usually need something carbohydrate based.
This evening, the lessons were delayed and I had time to bake while they were doing their homework.
There is a cafe in Blessington that do divine scones. They put brown sugar in the mix, which gives it a caramel flavour. Gorgeous. I will figure them out some day and save myself a fortune. But until then, these will have to do.
I always say when I am making scones, that I will make enough to freeze a stock pile. But I love the smell of them baking so much, that I have not yet done that.
This recipe is quick and if you have a mixer, you really have no excuse.

Scones

225g Self raising flour
1 tsp Baking powder
50g butter
50g Caster sugar
150 ml milk

Put the flour, baking powder, butter and a pinch of salt into the mixer. Put the mixer on and whizz up until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. If you are doing it by hand, rub the butter in with your fingertips.

Stir in the sugar and milk until just combined and it forms a dough. You do not want to overhandle it, it will be tough. Form into a disc about an inch thick and cut with a round cutter. Pop onto a tray lined with parchment and brush with a little milk.
My hubbie puts blueberries in at the milk stage. They are yummy with sultanas too.

Bake for 12 mins or until golden brown on top.
Eat while still hot with butter and jam.

Again apologies for the photography!

Chicken and Savoury Rice.

This recipe for rice is one my Mum has been cooking for years and it is always yummy. The kids like it too although Daniel is always optimistic that he will be able identify the mushroom. He has not to date!

First the chicken.

You need
4 chicken legs
20 cloves of garlic
2 lemons
sprig of thyme and a bay leaf
glass of wine
300 ml chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 170 c

Fry 4 chicken legs (thighs attached) in a tablespoon of olive oil in a casserole pot on a high heat until golden brown on both sides. Remove and set aside.
Pour off the excess fat. Put the chicken back in and add 20 cloves of garlic, a glass of white wine, zest of 2 lemons and juice of one, sprig of thyme, a bay leaf and 300 ml of chicken stock.
Bring to the boil, and then put into the oven for 30-40 mins.

In the meantime, the rice.

You will need

Half a red pepper
Small onion
About 8 mushrooms
1 cup of basmati rice
2 cups and a bit of chicken stock (use two stock cubes)

Fry the peppers, onion and mushrooms in butter until the onion is soft. Add the rice and coat in butter, add the stock and bring to a high simmer.

Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.
Mum sometimes adds oregano to the rice, but I added fresh chives today and it was tasty.
Serve the chicken with the rice and spoonful of the juice from the chicken.

Homework done!

Chinese!

I have mixed feelings about Chinese food. Not often have I had a good Chinese. I like the idea of it, and anytime someone says they are staying in and ordering Chinese, I imagine those American cardboard takeout containers and crunchy stir fry veg and noodles. The reality usually is greasy, stodgy chicken balls or glow-in-the-dark sweet and sour sauce. It always proves to be a let down. I have been to one good Chinese restaurant, but I can't remember the name.

The kids do love egg fried rice and this has proven a successful vehicle for vegetable delivery, but they are a little suspicious of Chinese food too. No doubt they are picking up on my reservations.

I had a gorgeous beef stir fry in The Ballymore Inn last weekend and have been dreaming about the sauce ever since. Think I'll just have to figure out a way of prying it out of the chef. But it put me in the mood for freshly made and tasty Chinese, without the gloop.

I don't cook pork very often as it often fails, but when it is nice it is gorgeous. I must blog one day about Darina's Pork Carbonnade. It is truly divine.

This recipe was not the biggest hit with the kids it must be said. They ate it. But there were no marching bands or dancing girls. Declan and I liked it. I would like to try it with oyster sauce sometime as hoisin has a hint of fennel to it, and can be an acquired taste.

This recipe did not take that long, but you need to work fast at each step so it helps to have everything prepared in advance.

Pork Chow Mein

serves 4

You will need

500g Pork fillet (get the butcher to trim it)

300g Noodles

1 small tin of water chestnuts (drained)

I head of broccoli

I bunch of spring onions

Fresh Parsley or Coriander

I inch piece of fresh ginger

2 cloves of garlic

2 Tablespoons of hoisin sauce

2 Tablespoons of sesame seeds

drizzle of sesame oil

splash of soy sauce

First, prep your ingredients

Chop the spring onions, chop off only the broccoli florets into small chunks, finely slice the ginger and garlic, chop the parsley and measure out the sesame seeds.

Chop the pork into thin strips.

Then in a pot of boiling salted water, add the noodles. Once they are in, work fairly quickly, they do not take long. Just before they are cooked add in the broccoli for the last few minutes. You really want the broccoli to stay crunchy.

In a very hot but dry pan or wok add the sesame seeds and toss for a minute until they start to pop. Put them on a plate while you cook the rest.

Put a tablespoon approx of veg or sunflower oil into the hot pan and add the pork. Stir fry until golden all over and add the ginger and garlic. Toss around for 30 secs and add the spring onions and parsley. Keep stirring and add the drained tin of water chestnuts. Add the hoisin and soy and toss together.

Drain the noodles and broccoli when the noodles are just cooked. Don't let them get too soft. Throw them into the pan and stir around with the meat and sauce. Drizzle with a little sesame oil, about a teaspoon. It is strong so you do not need much,

Serve sprinkled with sesame seeds.

The kids get good crack out of chop sticks so if you need a gimmick to sell Chinese to them, they may be just the ticket!

Pastry.

This is a really dependable recipe. I do not have a knack for pastry. I get it wrong as often as I get it right. But this recipe for short crust pastry from Rachel Allen really is easy.

You will need a food processor. But if you don't have one it is a great investment. I bought mine in 1996 and it is still going strong. I use it for breadcrumbs, hummus, fairy cakes and pastry to name only the regular uses. These are things I make on a weekly basis so it is well used.

They say that if you have cold hands, then your pastry will always work! Maybe my circulation is the problem, but this way, you don't handle the pastry much.

Into the processor, put 200g of Plain flour, 100g of cold butter cut into cubes.

Blitz for a minute until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

Add into the mixer while it is going, One beaten egg.

Keep the machine on until the mixture forms a ball of dough and immediately turn it off.

Put the dough onto the counter, with a little flour and make into a disc,

Do not handle it too much. Just enough to pull it together. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge.

Leave for 30 minutes in the fridge.

When you take the pastry out of the fridge, place it between two sheets of cling film. Roll the pastry out between the cling film. It saves having to flour the work surface and the pastry sticking to the counter. This is not the simplest procedure and takes a good few goes at it to get right. But when you do get it right it is a triumphant moment!

When it is rolled out it should be a lttle bigger than the tin you are putting it in. Peel off one side of the cling and lay it in the dish. When it is in place, use your hand to smooth it out and press it into the sides. Then peel off the other layer of cling film. Ta Daaaa!

There it is. The perfect pastry case.

For lemon tarts or most dishes, I bake the pastry case blind at 180c for 20 mins or until it feels dry.

For Quiche, I just pour in the contents on top of the raw pastry and bake as per the instructions.

It was a truly jubilant moment when I succeeded in producing tasty pastry 3 times in a row. The jinx is broken!!!!

Robyn's 7th Birthday Party

Firstly, Apologies for the poor photos. I am determined to try and improve on the photography so the pictures are more descriptive.

Anyhow, Parties!

I realised earlier that this party has been our 16th! Each year, I try something new, and stick to some old reliables. But the one thing I learned early on was that kids don't eat as much as you think they will at parties. I don't serve sweets, and the kids never ask for them, chocolate maybe, but they never miss sweets.

This year, on the menu

Sandwiches, (cut into triangles of course!!)

Tuna, Ham and Egg mayonnaise.

Squeezy yoghurts

Kiwi, Banana and Watermelon chopped

Rice Krispie buns

Fairy cakes

Chocolate covered strawberries

Chocolate Birthday cake

Pombear crisps, chocolate buttons mini packets of natural jellies.

I used to make bowls of popcorn, but, most of it ended up on the floor and in between the sofa cushions and the kids didn't eat much of it.

This year, the big hit were the chocolate strawberries.

I melted down an easter egg. (We still have about 25 left!) and dipped the strawberries in using cocktail sticks. I stuck them into half an orange, so they would stand up and put them into the fridge for an hour.

The Rice Krispie buns are made up of 2 parts krispies to 1 part chocolate. (200g krispies 100g chocolate) Again, I used easter eggs. The cadburys ones are the nicest.

The fairy cakes are umbelievably easy

Into a food processor, put

125g Self raising flour

125g Soft butter

125g Caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp Vanilla essence

a little milk.

Put all the ingredients except the milk into the food processor and blitz until creamed together. Add a little milk (about 4 tablespoons) until you have a batter with a dropping consistency.

THATS IT!

I use mini muffin trays as kids usually just eat the icing or at most a couple of bites of buns, so the large ones are a phenomenal waste.

You need about a teaspoon of batter for each mini muffin case.

Bake at 180c for about 10 minutes. (keep an eye on them as times vary)

The icing is just icing sugar, lemon juice and fod colouring. Personally , I like raspberry jam and coconut, but Robyn has a deep hatred of coconut, and it was her party!

The Birthda Cake uses the Mocha Cake recipe from Rachel Allen's Bake.

It is a really adaptable recipe and stays lovely and moist.

I will post the recipe for that in the next post, with the mocha icing. I promised the gang in work I would make one, so I will use the pictures of that.

Until then....See Ya!