Venison Sausage sticky tray bake

time needed: 1h minutes including prep and warming oven

Venison Sausage sticky tray bake

Having come home with two very fat venison sausages I looked in the fridge to see what would make a simple supper. In the veg collection we had sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and fresh chillis and a lovely spring cabbage.

Based on this recipe we ate very well. And considering that Steve said he'd like 'just a sausage sandwich' he managed to tuck in ok.

Substitutions, aside from the veg, which was prepped in slices, was fig jam with lemon and vinegar instead of redcurrant jelly, with a few frozen redcurrants thrown in. It was nice and sharp.

In summary:

• set oven to 220C and allow to warm up 10m
• oil all the veg except the onions and put in roasting tray, put in oven and roast 15m
• add the sausages and onions, stir through the veg, put back in oven 20m
• drizzle redcurrant (or similar) mixture over contents of roasting tin and stir, put back in oven 15m
• serve with salad or green veg.

Lemon and raspberry occasion cake

Cherry and hawthorn blossom adorn the cake

Sometimes you make an occasion cake, that has to look good, as well as taste good. I think I hit the mark with this one.

The cake is a basic sponge with equal weight of butter, sugar, eggs and flour, in this case four eggs set the weight. You can average an egg as 60g, so work that out if you like. The cooked cakes are cut in half and there are three layers of filling, each one had lemon curd, overlaid with cream and the cake above had raspberry jam. Someone said it was too tall, and it did have four layers, but then it was for an occasion.To stop the cream squirting out the side I laid raspberries to hold it in. Really, when all the layers were stacked up the whole looked a bit wobbly. A good ganache coating covers a lot of sins and that's what this cake got, white chocolate ganache.

I used a palate knife dipped into boiling water and dried, which makes it easy to move the ganache around, spread it where it needs to go. I can do piping but I don't enjoy it, and I think you end up with too much icing. So I go for a nice slather, and then in this case I draped spring flowers across it, bird cherry and pink hawthorn, both of which are edible if you wanted to eat them. The main thing is that they aren't toxic, and they look lovely.

Around the top of the cake I sprinkled lemon zest and freeze dried raspberry and added fresh raspberries around the base and dusted the lot with icing sugar.

 

 

Moist Rich Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

it's not the Holy Grail, but people like it

In my experience gluten free chocolate cake, and perhaps other flavour cakes made with gluten free flour, can taste a bit powdery. This recipe from Dove's Farm, produces a beautifully moist springy cake. This one is made with a sweetened ganache (chocolate mixed with cream), but you could use a normal buttercream.

The recipe uses milk and oil in the place of the more usual butter. It doesn't matter whether you're an experienced cake maker or not because this cake is really a doddle. Just follow it and stir everything when it says to in the recipe below.

The cake keeps well. But there isn't really a risk of that. Enjoy.

Chocolate cake

• 75g cocoa powder
• 250 gluten free self raising white flour
• 325g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200ml milk
• 200ml oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 125 ml boiling water
• Oil, for tins

Chocolate filling and topping

• 250g dark chocolate
• 250 ml double cream
• 100g caster sugar

Equipment: Three 20cm/8” cake tins, large jug, saucepan and two mixing bowls

Preparation: 

• Pre-heat the oven at 180 C/ fan 160 C/ 350 F/ Gas mark 4
• Prepare the tins, by oiling them or using a baking liner

Method

Cake

• Sieve the cocoa and flour into a bowl
• Add the caster sugar and stir to combine
• Break the eggs into a large jug, add the milk, oil and vanilla extract and beat together well
• Pour the egg mixture into the mixing bowl and mix everything together with a whisk
• Add the boiling water, beating well – this will make a runny mixture
• Divide the mixture between the three cake tins
• Bake for 35-40 minutes – they’ll be springy to the touch and a skewer will come out clean

Cool the cakes for a couple of minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack.

Filling and topping

• Break the chocolate into squares
• Put the cream and sugar into a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until it’s about to boil
• Pour the cream/sugar mixture onto the chocolate pieces and stir until combined
• Leave to cool, stirring every now and then until you have a thick paste
• Spread the filling over each cake, then stack them on top of each other

Asian slaw comes around again

 A dressing makes simple ingredients sing, and this family favourite will not disappoint. Give it a go, her's the link to the original post

give it a go, it's good for getting over the winter blues, commit to it without a picture

Baked charmoulah vegetables

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp olive oil

2 crushed garlic cloves

1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1tsp chilli seeds

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp ground cumin

for mixed sliced vegetables such as 

Cauliflower

Aubergine

Sweet potato

Courgette

 

Method

preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7

Mix the ingredients in a bowl 

brush onto the vegetable flesh. 

lay in single layer in oven dish

Bake for 40 minutes, turning midway, until cooked through and golden. 

 

English apple pie

A quick and impressive dessert or cake that is easy to make, and doesn't use butter a family something that we ate quickly when it was made. 

Mum got the recipe from a pamphlet shared amongst the 'foreign community' living in Germany in 1958. Although it's called English  apple pie, we always knew it as American apple pie and it seems likely that it was written by an American, as the ingredients quantities are in cups. 

Apart from the pleasure of eating it, this recipe is easy to make, and you can substitute a cup for half an average mug, the proportions being equal for, flour, sugar, walnuts, with one large egg and double for chopped apple.

Resist temptation to add spices, the flavour is just great as it is.

Ingredients

1 large egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 cup chopped raw apple

1/2 cup broken walnuts (or other nuts/meats)

Method

prepare a pie/tart tin 20cm/8" grasing and lining it

set the oven to 180/4/350

beat together the sugar and eggs until light and thick

add the flour and baking powder 

add the chopped apple and nuts

once the ingredients are stirred through pour the mixture into the prepared tin

cook for 30minutes or until golden and a skewer comes out cleanly

leave to cool before eating - good warm or cold

Cream, ice cream or yoghurt go well with this cake, if you feel the need.