Black Forest Gateau Cupcakes

Cupcakes are all the craze at the moment, so as a present to my family I decided to take the classic Black Forest Gateau as a cupcake.

To make them, I followed this recipe.

Also, although the recipe says it makes just 6.... I managed to make 16??? (Can't complain really!)

This recipe was loved by everyone, so I think it's going to become a regular. 

xxx

Arancini Di Riso (Yum)

I won't pretend that these didn't take a long time...(mostly because I took no shortcuts)... however, they were worth it!

There are several stages to making these.
Firstly you make a stock (I've previously blogged about how I did this)
Then you need to make the risotto (Mine was similar to this recipe, plus chicken!)
Finally you need to make the breadcrumbs, which I did using homemade bread.

(Serves 6)
Ingredients:
400g Risotto
6 chunks of Mozzarella
6 tspns Tomato Chutney
Flour
2 eggs
Breadcrumbs
Salt & Pepper

Recipe:
1) Preheat the oven at 180 degrees and sprinkle flour on a baking tray
2) Roll up the mozzarella & tomato chutney in 6 balls of risotto
3) Cover each ball with flour
4) Beat the eggs and then cover each ball in the egg
5) Add salt & pepper to the breadcrumbs, then cover the balls in this mixture.
6) Place the balls on the floury tray and cook for 25 minutes, until golden.

xxx

Humble Chicken & Mushroom Pie

This is a really simple pie, but really tasty!

Serves 4 Hungry Hippos or 6 Average Joes

Ingredients:

1 Ready Roll Puff Pastry

250g of Cooked Chicken 

2 Rashes of Bacon (optional)

1 Onions Diced

2 Leeks Sliced

400 ml Chicken Stock

3 Tbspns Creme Fraiche

1 Tbspn Granulated Sugar

1 Tspn Chilli Pepper

1 Tspn Mixed Herbs

Salt & Pepper to season

Butter for cooking

Milk to glaze

Recipe:
1) Preheat the oven at 180 degrees

2) Fry the onions & leek in the butter and sugar on a medium heat until golden (add in Bacon when the onions have softened).

3) Add in the chicken, chilli pepper, mixed herbs and season.

4) Pour in the stock and bring to the boil.

5) Take off the heat and stir in the creme fraiche.

6) Pour the cooked ingredients into a casserole dish. 

7) Layer the pastry over the cooked ingredients, roll up the edges and trim off excess. You can use the excess pastry to make leafs etc for a topping. Cut slices in the pastry to allow pie to fully cook.

8) Glaze pastry with milk so pastry browns.

9) Cook in oven for 45min - 1 hour, until pastry in golden. 

To serve I made a cheese and herb mash and roasted some carrots.

Enjoy xxx

Why You Should Buy The Chicken Whole

Well, it's been a little while since I've blogged. I ended up needing to spend all my time studying for finals... but I've still been making, baking and sewing!

This post is about why I buy full chickens instead of just chicken breast, and the simply answer is stock!

Firstly... it looks like this.... 

Ingredients:
1 Chicken
3 Tbsp of Honey

Salt & Pepper

Recipe:

1) Preheat oven at 180 degrees.
2) Season chicken and wrap in tin foil.

3) Place chicken upsidedown and cook in oven for 45 minutes
4) Turn chicken over, open the foil so the bird is exposed and pour honey ontop. 

5) Cook in oven until cooked through and golden on top (around 45minutes - 1 hour)

With the cooked chicken I made:

Chicken, Mayo and Sweetcorn Bloomers on Homemade Bread

Homemade Chicken & Vegetable Pizzas with Garlic Bread

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Secondly, with a full chicken you get to make stock

Ingredients:

Chicken Bones & Left Over Chicken

Roughly Chopped Root Vegetables (Onions, Carrots, Potatoes) 

Mixed Herbs

Salt & Pepper

Water

Recipe:

1) Simply put all the chicken bones, left overs and vegetables into a large pan and cover it all with water.

2) Season with herbs, salt and pepper.

3) Bring to boil and then leave to simmer for 2 hours
(The longer you leave it simmering, the more concentrated the stock. However, always make sure the bones are covered in water)

4) Sieve out bones, meat and vegetables and leave the liquid to cool.

With the stock I was able to make:

Chicken and Mushroom Pie

Chicken Risotto, which afterwards I made into Chicken Arancini De Riso 

And I can promise you, every meal was delicious!

In time I hope to blog about the recipes for each of these, but for the time being I hope you are convinced to buy your chickens whole

xxx