Friday 29 April 2011

Falling a bit behind with the ol' blogging, but fear not, there is a still a flurry of baking, cooking and mess-making going on.
Friday saw me working, well that was the plan anyway, an hour before I was due to start hubby rings me up and said,"It's dead quiet tonight and I just worked out why, the Royal Wedding, you might as well stay home.  I'll finish up early too, so rustle something up for dinner". Given I was working on Saturday too and hubby was out Sunday and we were going out for dinner on Monday, all I had in my head for any dinner ideas was Roast Chicken for Tuesday night....so off i went in an excited panic, rummaging though the freezer, looking for something that i could turn into a 5 star gourmet treat, ( HA!)  Apart from learning my freezer needs serious filling I also learned it's not AT ALL organised and requires some major OCD attention...* rubs hands and grins like a crazy woman* ...

Flicking through the Edmonds Cookbook, I chose, "Cheesy Sesame-Coated Chicken" page 135, " Chinese Stir-Fried Veges" page 159  and "Potato skins with with Lemon dressing" page 162

A review of the food.....

The chicken did not take 20 mins, it took more like 40 mins before it was ready, I can only put this down to the size of chicken legs when this recipe was first published.  So def, something to note for timing purposes. The recipe calls to remove skin before coating, but we all like crispy chicken skin, so I did half and half to see if it actually made a difference, and yes it does, remove that skin baby! With the coating, I found the cheese didn't really stick to the chicken as with the sesame seeds, so I am keen to try this recipe again, doing half a batch with dipping the chicken in egg first.  I think sprinkling the Parmesan on after would be better also.  The chicken...was....bland? for lack of a better word and perhaps even a bit boring? but funnily enough, AMAZING cold!  Hubby said "with a bit of tweaking this dish could be quite nice" and commented on the perfectly cooked chicken.  I concur. *beams*

Chinese Veges: Tasted pretty good, I omitted the cauli and celery cos neither of us like it...the sauce IMO was a bit "watery" I kind of expected this marinade type sauce, but given the amount of stock you add, I don't think even reducing it would help, but something to play around with in the future, for now, "by the book" hubby really liked them, lots of flavour he said, so that's interesting.

Potato Skins: These were super yum, the pots could of done with baking a bit longer, I would prob pre- prepare them next time till almost cooked and then finish them off just before you take the chicken out.  The sauce was delicious, basic, but def worth giving it a try, would be nice as a sandwich spread with chicken and salad....

Dinner turned out to be reasonably good...I got a bit distracted with the Royal Wedding but it all turned out well in the end and it was on the table not long after hubby was home.

I'm guessing you might be interested in what happened with the Figgy Pudding ..( "Steamed Sponge Pudding" page 213 )..It was nice! very basic and plain but the jam and the fresh figs in it was just the right amount of flavour for it not to be too over-powering.  The base of this pudding also can be used with golden syrup, if you were to add some dates i can imagine it tasting like a sticky date pudding....I'm keen to give this one another go.  The husband doesn't like figs ( I think I'm learning more about my husbands food likes and dislikes than i am about actual cooking!! ) but he was a good sport and tried a piece and said "its actually not that bad" I don't think he will eat any of whats left, but loves to him for even giving it a try.  I had my piece with "Edmonds Pouring Custard" page 209, a childhood favourite, the memories of plums and custard on a winters night watching Disney movies is definitely worth reminiscing...

As I was working yesterday (Saturday) and I took what was left of the Belgium biscuits to work, the bikkie jar is now empty.  Approving nods and comments of "they're mean Tish" has motivated me to do a spot of baking, so while the hubby is off getting some wood for the fire, I'm going to jump into the kitchen...

So bring us some figgy pudding, so bring us some figgy pudding......lalalala

Okay so yesterday, i went to make some "Dried Apricot Jam", page 226 then saw i had to soak the apricots overnight, so the jam itself, didn't get made till today.  The Apricot Jam turned out not bad, very sweet and very thick, so i think ill lay off making jams for a bit till they have gone.
The reason for my jam was so that i could make some "Fig Pudding", Page 213, with the figs my friend bought down from her tree up north. I didnt really have enough to make Fig Jam or Paste etc ( that and i have enough jam in the cupboard right now ) plus im trying to stick to Edmond's recipes..... lol

Figgy pudding, well it was a bit of a disaster zone, i started when i got up, made half the pudding, got interrupted with the plumber arriving early to work on the bathroom. Once pudding was made and ready to go into the pot i couldn't find the pudding basin, realising it hasn't even been unpacked from our move a year ago i would actually need to root around in the garage to find the darn thing. After locating it pretty smartly, (thanks to my OCD in organising) i cleaned it up and set back to work...

I had just enough figs left over for another batch and so i rang my neighbour and asked if she would like them to make one..she asked me what the ingredients were, as i rattled them off i realised that i had forgot to add the soda and hot milk...shit...

The pudding was already in  and halfway done, so i had to just hope for the best.

Its turned out OK, looks like a steamed pudding, smells like figs and doesn't appear to be gluggy anywhere, i have to say though, im very reluctant to try it....

Fail? in my heart i think so!! - hubby thought it was funny and said "im sure it will be fine babe".  Its nice to have a prop up, confidence wise, but i can smell my husbands lies like a fart in a car and there is no way his words were sweet smelling lol......maybe ill make him try it citing 'you said it would be fine" - whats the bet he doesn't like figs......find out later i guess. :D

Lesson learnt for today - Preparation..... HA!

Belgium Biscuits and Raspberry Jam

Day 4 (27/04/2011)

After a very long day, and very little sleep thanks to my cat mushrooms meowing, I still managed to crank out a batch of Belgium Biscuits, I had been thinking about them ALL day……not only did I make the biscuits, I made the jam to go inside (and the icing on the top! except the icing doesn’t count as a recipe as its only water icing not the icing listed in the book…bum.)  but at least I got two recipes down,  Belgium Biscuits page 35 and Raspberry Jam, page 228.  Oh they are soooo yummy too!! Om nom nom !

I do want to mention that the biscuits are better thin, as you have two bikkies together. I made a bunch of options to see what was best, hearts sandwiched together with jam topped with icing, single hearts with jam and icing.  Gingerbread men with jam and icing…they all tasted really good and now I can’t decide!!

No Title day...

Day 3 26/04/2011

Nothing baked or made today, well nothing from the edmonds cookbook anyway! just traditional cook in the pot sausages...mmmm, anyway, i thought i would give everyone a day to finish off what i have made already!

Next up Belgium Biscuits i think...

"NO FAIL!"

Day 2 (25/4/11)

Today is Anzac day (as well as Easter Monday!) so what more fitting than to make Anzac Bikkies, page 34. I have to say, I haven’t EVER made Anzac Biscuits but they are super quick and easy and I got an awesome result….although after reading a thread on trade me, perhaps I just got lucky??

I was going to make Hot Cross Buns from the Edmonds book, page24, but I was easily distracted by a thread, again, on trade me. “no fail” it says…..  it seems, for me and a lot of other people, it would be correct.  I used high grade flour because that’s all I had and yeast with a yellow lid, not the “red lid” the recipe calls for….i didn’t let it rise overly long and figured, I’d just chuck it in and hope for the best….4 people tried them and they all said they were pretty good, although hubby said they needed more spice….i did under measure the spice because I though a tablespoon of both mixed spice AND cinnamon seemed a lot, seems I was wrong. Given the circumstances I would say a positive result!

A better effort today than yesterday and feeling a little bit more motivated to try again…

So once my baking was done and dusted and all was cleaned up, I started dinner, which got me wanting to do something with the apples I have and since we have guests staying i thought it might be nice to make a dessert to go with my chicken soup starter and hubby’s steak meal, so off I went, to the index to “apples” Apple Aread…Apple Shortcake... Apple pie!! Yes, apple pie sounds divine! I prepared the apples as it said, but rather than make one big pie I decided to make 6 individual ones.  What a hit! They looked gorgeous!  It was hard straying from my usual recipe of bit of this spice, bit of that spice, butter, brown sugar etc…but they tasted pretty traditional, a lot like apple strudel mix I thought, but not bad!

I passed the book to my friend and said,  pick something, it didn’t matter what.  She picked Gingerbread loaf page 29….could be interesting!

Epic Fail!

Day one   (24/4/11)

Roast chicken with “basic bread stuffing” page 135, although I have substituted sage with mixed herbs, I have followed the recipe and it all seems pretty straight forward.  The chicken I’m stuffing is only a little one, so I didn’t bother “trussing” it, as mentioned on page 133. Something to try for another time…with the chicken will be some sautéed veges and “Broccoli with almonds”, page 158, although I’ll have to leave the almonds off the hubby’s, he’s not a fan of nuts...

Dinner turned out to be an epic fail in my opinion….the chicken was good and the stuffing was yummo too… I didn’t like the sauce that goes on the broccoli, it was very sharp and with broccoli having no taste at the best of times, all I could taste was lemon.  Strangely enough, tonight I also found out that dear hubby doesn’t like broccoli, how, after over 5 years, did I NOT know this???? My friend Lorna gave me a packet of “bread sauce” that you put with chicken, kind of like a white sauce with breadcrumbs but with a sour cream and chives taste. Very odd, but certainly worth a try! – I think I quite like it.  It’s not sold in NZ but you can pick it up from one of those British shops.

There is nothing for dessert tonight, was going to make apple cake with some apples my friend gave me, but to be honest, I’m so full and so bummed out about how crap tea was, I think I’ll just pour myself another bourbon… shame that’s not in the Edmonds cook book!

Tomorrow I’ll pick up some flour and attempt some baking… Anzac Biscuits, hot cross buns, apple something and maybe a loaf of bread…..maybe HA!

The edmonds cookbook and my “effing nuts decision”

I love cooking, baking creating etc, so I have decided to cook my way through the Edmonds cook book. Totally crazy I know, according to my brother in law, “its fucking nuts” but still thinks the idea is a good one and of course, has offered to be a taste tester…..along with my very supportive hubby, friends and Trade Me Community.

So, off I go, on the plane to effing nuts.

Just so you know, I haven’t even looked at all the recipes in the book…..i have no time limit, although I would like to be completed in a year…and the ‘bible’ of reference is a 1998 version, given to me by my parents when I moved out of home in 2001. 

Wish me luck….