SunshineCooking

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Location: United Kingdom

I am female and British.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Rob's sister Sarah brought this brilliant Tagine Dish for us back from Morocco.
I tried it out at the weekend and made a Lamb and vegetable Tagine. The falvours were soooo tasty.
A Tagine Dish is a shallow, round earthenware glazed pot with a tall, conical lid like a chinese coolie's hat, that traps the steam rising from the stew cooked in the bottom and prevents the stew drying out during the lengthy cooking time.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Moroccan Lamb Tagine Recipe

- 1kg shoulder or leg of lamb, cut into large pieces
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 large red pepper,sliced (I used a green pepper as I didn't have a red one)
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon chili
- 600ml (1 pint) vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon clear honey
- 375g okra (I didn't have okra so replaced it with courgettes)
- 75g whole blanched almonds
- salt and pepper

Lamb Tagine

Method:
1- Put the lamb, onion, garlic, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, chili, stock and honey into a heavy flameproof casserole (or traditional tagine dish) and heat to just on simmering point.
2- Cover tightly and cook for about 1 and a 1/4 hours, stirring occasionally.
3- Add the okra (courgettes) and almonds. Cover the casserole (tagine) and cook for a further 15 minutes.
4- Season to taste and serve with couscous or rice and salad.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Xmas Tree Sponge Cake

I baked this sponge cake for our friends Katie and Michael's Chrismas party last night.
I wanted to give the cake a seasonal touch so I cut out a Christmas tree shape, then rolled out some green icing and cut out the same shape.

I spead jam over the cake then added the icing ontop (the jam helps the icing stick onto the cake).
Then using red icing, I created mini balls and cake decoration.
The mini xmas pictures are edible too :o)

Xmas Tree Cake

Sponge Cake Recipe:
I used double these quantities as I wanted a BIGGER cake, but for a round cake this is what you would need:

125g butter, softened
250ml white sugar (I used castor sugar)
3 large eggs
500ml cake flour
15ml baking powder
2.5ml salt
5ml vanilla essence
100ml milk
50ml water

Method:
- Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add this to the creamed mixture, along with vanilla essence, milk and water.
- Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth.
- Spoon into deep 20cm or 23cm greased cake pan (I used a bigger pan so I can cut out the xmas tree shape)
- Bake in preheated oven at 180c for 45-60 minutes until golden in colour (45 minutes was enough for mine).
- Cool on cooling rack, then split the middle and fill with strawberry jam (if required).

Left Over Pieces of Cake:
I decorated the left over pieces of cake with chocolate icing, smarties, mini eggs and dolly mixture.

Don't Waste Any Cake

Lonely Slice.....

Fruity Coconut Oat Bars

Rob and I went to Katie's xmas party last night. I baked a xmas tree cake (see my blog). I also baked a healthy option........ fruit flapjacks. There were very tasty and disappeared very quickly at the party.

Fruity Coconut Oat Bars Recipe:

125g butter, melted
90g rolled oats
110g sultanas
45g coconut
50g chopped dates
10g chopped glace cherries
75g self-raising flour
110g caster sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon golden syrup

Healthy Xmas Flapjacks

Method:
- Grease 23cm square slab cake pan, place strip of baking paper (grease-proof paper) to cover base and extend over 2 opposite sides.
- Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
- Press mixture into prepared pan (I used a potato masher to press the mixture down firmly)
- Bake in moderate oven (180c) for about 20 minutes or until golden.
- Cool in pan, refrigerate before cutting.
- ENJOY :o)

Friday, December 02, 2005

Would You Like a Slice of Apple Pie?

Recipe:

FOR THE PASTRY:
- 350g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- pinch of salt
- 175g/6oz butter, diced, plus extra for greasing
- 75g/3oz caster or icing sugar, sifted
- 1 egg, beaten, plus 1 egg for brushing
- 3 tbsp milk

FOR THE FILLING:
- 4 large cooking apples
- a bit of sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice

Would You Like a Slice?

METHOD:
1- For the pastry, sift together the flour and salt. Rub the diced butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2- Stir in the sugar.
3- Add the beaten egg into the mix , then slowly add the milk until it begins to form a dough.
4- Cover dough and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.
5- Peel apples and cut into thin slices.
6- Preheat the oven to 180C
7- Grease a baking dish or pan.
8- Roll half the pastry and shape into a circle. Place at bottom of cake pan. Add apple silces and a little sugar (depending how sweet you'd like it), and the lemon juice.
9- Roll the other half of the pastry and place on top of the apple. Seal the edges.
10- Prick the pie with a fork or knife in a few places, brush with the extra egg and place in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes.
******** ENJOY :o) **********

Homemade Apple Pie