I love almonds. I also love macamia, cashews and pistachios, oh and pecans and walnuts. Ohh, and honey roasted peanuts! Well . . . I guess I just love all nuts, but almonds are at the top of the list!
I saw a recipe for Almond Horns on Pinterest and had to check it out. They looked fabulously tasty and chock full of almonds. The recipe was on Kitchen Bowl.
They looked incredibly tasty and easy to make. Based on a German Cookie called Mandelhörnchen, Almond Horns are filled with almonds and naturally gluten free.
The dough for the cookies is composed of almond paste/marzipan, ground almonds (almond meal), almond essence, sugar and egg white.
Beaten together these make a somewhat sticky dough, that you roll into logs and then into even more almonds. Shaped into crescents, they are then baked until golden brown.
The end result is a moreish cookie, golden and crisp on the edges and yet deliciously chewy centred!
The dough was very sticky and difficult to shape. Upon researching I discovered several other recipes which required refrigerating it prior to shaping, so I highly recommend doing that.
Mine still turned out to be beautiful biscuits, if somewhat flatter than some of the ones I have seen. I also saw some which were dipped into chocolate.
I think I prefer them this way, but if you want to dip the ends of your horns into melted chocolate feel free! I can promise you that they are incredibly moreish either way!
*Almond Horns*
Makes 16
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Set aside.
Crumble the almond paste into a bowl. Add the sugar, egg white, ground almonds and almond extract. Using a hand mixture beat until well combined. The mixture will be fairly sticky.
Spread the flaked almonds in a shallow
dish or plate. Drop 1 1/2 TBS of the dough into the dish of flaked
almonds and shape into a rough log rolling the mixture in the nuts.
Place onto the baking sheet. Repeat until the almond dough is all used
up, leaving a fair space for spreading in between the shapes. Try to
give them a curved shape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 13 to 15
minutes until light golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for
about 25 minutes. Dust with the Icing sugar.
So there you have it . . . crispy edged, chewy middled, chock full of nuts and not at all uncomfortable with a hot drink! Bon weekend!
One thing we like to eat a lot of in the winter is soup. I am not a huge fan of tinned soup. In all truth I just don't think many of them taste very good, with the exception of a good quality tomato soup.
I quite like that, but the rest of them do nothing for me. I prefer homemade soups most of the time.
This Bean & Bacon Soup is one of our favourites. I always have what I need in the store cupboard to make it and it goes together very easily.
I always have an assortment of tinned beans in the larder. This soup takes haricot beans, or great northern beans as I believe they are called in North America.
Carrots, onions, celery . . . I also always have them in my larder . . . chicken stock (same thing) and tomato passatta (tomato sauce) . . . those things are also always in my larder.
Streaky smoked bacon is also used. I didn't have any today so I used bacon medallions, which are like Canadian bacon and they worked fine.
In fact they are quite lean and so I had to use some cooking spray to cook my vegetables which made it a tiny bit healthier I guess, or at any rate it reduced the fat content somewhat.
Simple to make, hearty and delicious. I don't know what else a person could ask for than this!
*Bean & Bacon Soup*
Serves 4
Hearty and filling and filled with lots of veggies and smoky bacon. Perfect for a cold winter's day.
1/2 pound smoked bacon diced
1 large brown onion, peeled and finely diced
1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
960ml chicken stock (4 cups)
3 (400g tins) haricot beans, drained and rinsed (3 - 15oz tins, great Northern Beans)
salt and black pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
240ml tomato passatta (1 cup tomato sauce)
finely chopped parsley to garnish (optional)
Cook the bacon in a soup pot or dutch oven until crisp. Remove from the
pan with a slotted spoon to some paper kitchen towelling to drain.
Discard all but 2 TBS of the bacon fat. Add the chopped onion, carrot
and celery to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat
until they are beginning to soften.
Add the garlic and cook for a
further minute. Stir in the chicken broth and drained beans. Add the
bay leaf and mixed herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring
to the boil,then reduce to a slow simmer and simmer over low heat for
about 45 minutes.
Remove the bayleaf and discard. Remove half of the
soup to a blender and puree. Return it to the soup pot along with the
tomato passatta (sauce) and 3/4 of the bacon. Simmer for a further 15
minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Ladle into heated
bowls and garnish the top of each serving with some of the remaining
bacon and a bit of parsley if desired.
I enjoyed mine with some crisp crackers I've been hoarding (coz I love soup and crackers) and my husband enjoyed his with a soft roll. We were both very happy. Hot soup on a cold day. Now that's comfort. Bon Appetit!
The English, especially English men, find a particular comfort in drawing closed the curtains on a leaden afternoon sky, lighting the fire and enjoying some little delicacy that they can toast and butter themselves.
Afternoon Winter Teas have the capacity to chase away the Winter blues like nothing else can . . .
"The fire was blazing brightly under the influence of the bellows, and the kettle was singing gaily under the influence of both. A small tray of tea-things was arranged on the table, a plate of hot-buttered toast was gently simmering before the fire, and the red nosed man himself was busily engaged in converting a large slice of bread into the same agreeable edible, through the instrumentality of a long brass toasting fork."
~Charles Dickens, Pickwick Papers
It was a miserable cold day yesterday Tuesday and Todd had to go into town to do some business. While he was gone I decided that I would put together a bit of an English Tea to greet him when he got home.
A Tea is not all that much work to put together for the family, and it makes a nice change from the usual fare of an Winter evening's supper. It doesn't have to be anything really fancy, and just a tiny effort is involved, but I can promise you that it will delight everyone involved!
A Tea such as this must always start with a few sandwiches. Have a rummage around the refrigerator to see what you have to hand, and ready to use. You don't need to make a bazillion of them. Yesterday I made 3 sandwiches, and a couple of small finger rolls filled with egg mayonnaise.
I did cheese and pickle, some ham with honey and Dijon mustard and I had some leftover guacamole which needed using which I put together with a bit of cream cheese and some grated cheddar. They were amazingly delicious. Crusts cut off and sliced into pretty quarters, they went down a real treat.
*Finger Sandwiches*
makes 18 to 24What would afternoon tea be without a plate of tasty sandwiches? (Choose 3 of the below fillings)
12 thin slices of white or wholemeal bread, crusts removed
room temperature butter, for spreading
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper as desired
For the egg and cress filling:
2 TBS good quality mayonnaise
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest from an unwaxed lemon
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
a handful of mustard cress
For the Gentleman's Morsels:
1/4 pound shaved roasted ham
apricot jam, seived
Dijon mustard
For the Roast Beef:
1/4 pound thinly sliced rare roast beef
horseradish mayonnaise
a handful of rocket leaves
For the Parma Ham and Fig filling:
1/4 pound of parma ham
1 ripe fig
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp olive oil
handful of rocket leaves
For the Stilton and Pear filling:
50g of Stilton cheese, thinly sliced (1/4 pound)
1 ripe firm pear
To cut sandwiches, lay your hand on top of the sandwich and lightly press down. Using a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, cut diagonally into quarters or lengthways into 3 fingers.
For the egg and cress sandwiches, thinly butter 4 slices of the bread. Combine the mayonnaise, lemon zest, egg and season with some black pepper, folding together well. Spread evenly on half the slices of bread. Sprinkle with the cress and top with the remaining 2 slices of bread. Cut as above.
To make the Gentlemen's Morsels., thinly butter 4 slices of the bread. Spread 2 slices with seived apricot jam. Spread the other 2 with Dijon mustard. Lay the ham evenly over top of 2 slices and top with the other 2. Cut as above.
For the Roast Beef, thinly butter 4 slices of the bread. Spread 2 slices with the horseradish mayonnaise. Top with the roast beef and season to taste. Sprinkle with the rocket and top with the other 2 slices of bread. Cut as above.
For the Parma Ham and Fig sandwiches, thinly butter 4 slices of bread and fold ham on top of two of them. Cut the fig into thin wedges, remove and discard the skin and then arrange the wedges on top of the ham. Whisk the vinegar and oil together. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Drizzle over the figs. Top with rocket and the remaining slices of buttered bread and cut as above.
To make the Stilton and Pear sandwiches, thinly butter 4 slices of bread. Arrange the stilton over 2 slices of the bread. Slice the pear into thin wedges, removing and discarding the core, then arrange on top of the cheese. Season with black pepper, then top with the remaining slices of bread and cut as above.
When I was boiling the eggs for the Egg Mayonnaise buns, I did a few extra so that I could make some Deviled Eggs. Todd loves Deviled Eggs.
*Perfect Deviled Eggs*
Makes 12 servings
Makes 12 servings
I had a packet of Pikelets in the cupboard, so I warmed up those to have with some butter and jam. These ones were yeasted, which are a bit different to the normal ones I make from scratch, which are more like pancakes.
Either way, they are delicious. I had some Potted Stilton with Cranberries leftover from Christmas in the refrigerator, so we had that as well, and I can tell you it went down very nicely spread on my warm pikelet! I love LOVE Stilton with cranberries.
*Pikelets*
Makes 25A drop scone or pancake by any other name. Yummy.
150g of self raising flour (1 cup + 2 TBS)
1 TBS caster sugar
pinch of salt
185ml of milk (3/4 cup)
1 large free range egg
butter to brush the grill
to serve:
softened butter
preserves
Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl. Beat together the milk and egg. Add all at once to the dry ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Heat a large griddle pan, or nonstick frying pan. Brush with butter. Drop the batter by tablespoons onto the heated griddle. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the bottom is lightly browned. Flip over and cook on the other side until golden. Allow to cool completely and serve with some softened butter and jam for spreading.
A bit of sweet and a bit of savoury . . . it all goes down well for an afternoon tea. You don't really have to make anything special . . . if you have jam tarts in the cupboard, or some nice biscuits/cookies, they will do just fine.
I had some sausage rolls and leftover Cheese, Spring Onion and Bacon Scones from the other day. So I warmed up those. You can make both from scratch, plain scones, or fruited scones are nice. I didn't have any cream or I would have made some fruited ones fresh.
These Orange and Currant Scones are the bomb!
I had a packet of sausage rolls from M&S in the freezer so they came in really handy, but its easy to make your own as well as I have done in the past.
*Joy's Sausage Rolls*
Makes a dozen
A nice cake, family style, should be the centre of the tea table. I had baked a lovely Banana Cake that I planned on serving, but I had an accident when I went to flip it onto the cooling rack.
It happens to us all from time to time, and it ended up still being raw in the middle so what a mess! The edges were very tasty but it was no Tea Table Centrepiece. It would be great in a trifle however (the cooked bits.)
This is what it should have looked like. The recipe was adapted from a book I got recently called Fika and Hygge by Bronte Aurell. FABULOUS book!
*Swedish Banana Cake*
Makes 8 - 10 servingsI Knew then that I wouldn't have time to bake another cake from scratch, so I gave Todd a quick buzz on his mobile and asked him to bring us home a Victorian Sponge from M&S. It was actually quite good for a store bought cake. Here is my recipe for one you can bake yourself from scratch and I can tell you that it is very very good.
*Traditional Victorian Sandwich Cake*
Makes one 7 inch cake
Makes one 7 inch cake
Popular during the reign of Qyeen Victoria, this cake remains popular to this day, which is a huge testament to it's taste and ease of baking! Don't be tempted to use all butter. This is one recipe that is better for the use of a mixture of butter and margarine.
85g butter, softened (6 TBS)
85g soft margarine (6 TBS)
but your cake won't be as light in texture)
170g caster sugar (1 cup)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 large free range eggs, beaten
170g self raising flour (a scant 1 1/2 cups)
To finish:
3 TBS raspberry jam
buttercream to fill (optional)
icing sugar or caster sugar to dust the top
Butter and base line two 7 inch sandwich tins. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
Cream the butter, margarine, sugar and vanilla together until light in colour and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture begins to curdle, add a spoonful of the flour.
Fold in the flour with a metal spoon, taking care to use a cutting motion so as not to knock out too much of the air that you have beaten into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins, leveling off the surface. Make a slight dip in the centre of each.
Bake on a centre rack of the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the sponges have risen well, are golden brown, and spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan for five minutes before running a knife carefully around the edges and turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, place one layer on a cake plate. Spread with raspberry jam and buttercream (if using). Place the other cake on top, pressing down lightly. Dust with icing or caster sugar and serve.
Don't you love my tea cosy? I made it myself recently.
I found the pattern here.
Of course afternoon tea requires cups of hot tea to wash down all your sweets and savouries with. We don't do black tea ourselves, so we had ginger and lemon tea, which was also very nice.
*How To Brew The Perfect Cup of Tea*
- Use a good quality loose leaf or bagged tea
- This must be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature
- Always use freshly drawn boiling water
- In order to draw the best flavour out of the tea the water must contain oxygen, this is reduced if the water is boiled more than once.
- Measure the tea carefully
- Use 1 tea bag or 1 rounded teaspoon of loose tea for each cup to be served, plus one for the pot.
- Allow the tea to brew for the recommended time before pouring
- Brewing tea from a bag in a mug? Milk in last is best .
"Tea! Thou soft,thou sober, sage, and venerable liquid, thou female tongue-running, smile-smoothing, heart-opening, wink-tipping cordial, to whose glorious insipidity I owe the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate!"
Colley Cibber, The Lady's Last Stake, 1708
And there you have it. A Winter's day mood brightener for two.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I love fresh cod. In Canada we hardly ever ate Cod unless it was salted, because it was known to be a somewhat wormy fish. Haddock was considered the prize. Over here in the UK, the Cod is beautiful.
Up until recently most of our sustainable cod has been coming from Iceland, Norway and Russia. A recovery from near total collapse has led North Sea cod stocks to be
labelled as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council for the first
time in 20 years, so we are now able to enjoy this lovely fish without guilt!
Of course we are really fond of our fish battered and fried . . . but that is a rare treat as it is none too healthy for you with all of that fat and the frying and all, nowadays I am more than likely to poach it and serve it with a parsley sauce, or simply pan fry it in a tiny bit of butter and herbs.
Today however I topped our fish with a delicious mix of bread crumbs, lemon and herbs and baked it until it was perfectly cooked and just flaking with the tines of a fork. It tastes somewhat indulgent, but it is actually quite healthy!
*Herb Crusted Cod*
Serves 4
A
simple manner of cooking your fish, which is healthier than frying and
quite delicious with a beautiful mix of herbs, lemon zest and garlic.
This is fabulous! I serve with mash and a vegetable on the side.
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F gas mark 7. Lightly butter a
baking tray large enough to hold your fish in one layer with plenty of
space between the fillets.
Wipe your fish and pat dry. Place onto the baking tray and season to taste with black pepper and fine sea salt. Mix together the bread or cracker crumbs, garlic, lemon zest and fresh herbs. Season well with salt and black pepper. Add the butter and mix all together with your fingers to combine. Divide the mixture amongst the fillets and press them down to help them adhere to the fish.
Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and the fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve hot with lemon wedges on the side.
We bought our fish at Costco. You can get really nice fish fillets there for a very reasonable price, and yes, sustainable. With some mashed potatoes, and a variety of vegetables, we both enjoyed this very much. Bon appetit!
No doubt about it, we eat a lot of chicken in our home. Generally speaking it is the meat of choice, although in all honesty, today we do not eat as much of it as we used to.
Not because we don't like it, but because we made the decision to only eat free range organic chicken, and it is more expensive than regular chicken. Oftimes I will also choose cornfed.
Why? Because it tastes better. Its as simple as that. There is a marked difference.
Because there are only two of us it is a bit easier. I can well respect the challenges and economy of feeding a larger family.
It is a bit of a blessing that there are only two of us. Most recipes are very easily cut in half, especially when you are talking about savoury dishes such as these delicious chicken legs I am showing you today.
I have given the recipe quantities for four servings, but again, it is very easily cut back to feed two. Delicious, tender chicken legs.
It is a common fact that the darker meat of the chicken is much tastier than the light. That is because it comes from the parts of the chicken that get exercised most . . . in this case the legs.
And a free range, organic, corn fed chicken has been allowed to roam and develop more tastiness in these joints. I apply a simple method of seasoning and cooking them.
Recipes don't really need to be complicated. Simple is best most of the time.
You don't need elaborate when you are talking about meat which is quite delicious to begin with. The legs are rubbed with softened butter.
I, then, scatter lemon zest, salt, pepper and parsley over top. The juice of the lemon is squeezed over finally, and they are cooked in the oven . . .
Tightly covered, long and slow . . . at a low temperature, and then a quick flash baking at a higher temperature, uncovered to finish them off and brown them to a beautiful golden brown.
Served warm with some of the pan juices spooned over top, you cannot get much better than this.
the juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 160*/300*F/ gas mark 3. Lay the chicken legs in a
single layer in a baking large enough to fit them. Rub them all over
with the softened butter. Sprinkle the lemon zest over all, aong with
the black pepper, parsley flakes and sea salt to taste. Squeeze the
lemon juice over top. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake them in
the preheated oven for 1 hour. Increase the oven temperature to
225*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Remove the foil and baste the chicken legs
with the pan juices. Continue to cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes,
or until the chicken is golden brown and the juices run perfectly
clear. Serve hot.
You are really going to enjoy these, even if you don't use free range chicken. They are . . . to be simple . . . quite quite delicious. I like to serve them with rice, with more of the pan juices spooned over the rice, and of course a tasty vegetable on the side.
This
content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English
Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading
this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report
it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting.
Do come again!
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