Ice Cream Cake

When asked to bring a dessert to a gathering I often stress trying to pick something that the majority of people will like, this becomes even more stressful when you factor my picky husband in. This dessert is a winner for all ages and will be loved by 99.9%.... an almost perfect dessert for serving others but absolutely perfectly delicious.

I've adapted this recipe from Nigella's Ice Cream Cake found in Nigella Express, but really you can adapt this as you like and add whatever you want to it!

This is an incredibly easy recipe but is rather impressive too!

Ice Cream Cake
Serves 8
Ingredients
Chocolate sauce
Dulce de leche sauce
2L vanilla ice cream
3 bars of Cadbury's Crunchie
300g Maltesers

NB You will need a container to let this cake set in that will hold 2 litres.


Recipe
1. Drizzle come chocolate and dulce de leche sauce in your container for setting the cake.

2. In a large bowl leave your ice cream to soften, meanwhile pour half the maltesers into a ziplock bag and crush them. Also crush 3 of the crunchie bars.
3. Once the ice cream has softened, mix in the crushed maltesers, whole maltesers and crushed crunchie.
4. Pour the ice cream into your container, wrap in cling film (ceran wrap) and place in the freezer to set.
5. Remove from the freezer and set your container upside down on a serving plate 30 minutes before serving. The ice cream cake will separate from the container ready for you to add the last crushed  crunchie bar for final decoration... and more chocolate sauce if desired ;o)

Christmas Fruit Punch (Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine)

Each Christmas I try to make something new to add to my list of Christmas recipes, this year I have a few things in mind and this is the first.

I love a good mulled wine so I mustered up the courage to give this recipe a go and decided to go for a non-alcoholic version seeing as it would be being served to people of various ages.. This recipe is adapted from a recipe I was given by a friend, you have to love recipes shared by friends! One problem I had, which isn't even a problem is that the punch looked rather brown when all done, so I added in a few drops of red food colouring to correct.

There is also two ways to prepare this punch - on the hob or in the slow cooker (aka crock pot).

Christmas Fruit Punch (Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine) 
Makes around 25 servings


Ingredients
2 litres orange juice
1.5 litres apple juice
1 litre cranberry juice
1.5 litres water
500g caster sugar
4 sachets of mulled wine spice
1 large orange studded with around 30-40 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
(Few drops of red food colouring - optional)
1 orange cubed
1 apple cubed


Recipe
ON THE HOB
1. Mix all ingredients (except food colouring, cubed orange and cubed apple) in a large stock pot, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Leave overnight for flavours to infuse.
3. Remove spice sachets, orange and cinnamon sticks (may need to pass through a sieve to filter out cloves and cinnamon stick shards). Can be stored in the fridge for up to one week. Add the food colouring if desired.
4. Add apple and orange cubes and reheat gently, then serve.

IN THE SLOW COOKER/CROCK POT

1. Mix all ingredients (except food colouring, cubed orange and cubed apple) in the slow cooker, set on high and leave for 3 hours.

2. Turn off and leave overnight for flavours to infuse.

3. Remove spice sachets, orange and cinnamon sticks (may need to pass through a sieve to filter out cloves and cinnamon stick shards). Can be stored in the fridge for up to one week. Add the food colouring if desired.

4. Add apple and orange cubes and reheat on low for 2 hours or high for 1 hour, then serve.

Mars bar krispie treats

I was sure I had blogged this before but it seems I dreamt that, so now to rectify the situation because this recipe definitely needs shared and devoured!



Here be my lovely and simple and ever so tasty recipe for mars bar krispie treats

Mars Bar Krispie Treats

Makes 16 2" squares

Ingredients
75g unsalted butter
5 x 58g Mars bars
3 cups of rice krispies/generic puffed rice
150g milk chocolate
30g unsalted butter

Recipe
1. Melt together the Mars bars and 75g butter in a double boiler.
2. Mix in the "generic puffed rice" until well combined. Spread this into an 8" x 8" baking tin and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Melt together the chocolate and 30g butter. Spread over the krispie mix and leave it back in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from the fridge and cut into squares

Tabooleh

Back in March I was very fortunate and blessed to get to visit Beirut, Lebanon. You can see my vlogs from this trip in this and this blog post to see more of what I was getting up to there and some of the food we experienced.

Since coming home I have tried making some of the traditional Lebanese food for myself, one of these dishes being the well known tabooleh. This is a very finely chopped salad made up mostly of parsley, tomato and onion and dressed in olive oil and lemon juice. Very simple but amazing and flavourful.



The recipe below is adapted from Taste of Beirut's Tabooleh Salad

Tabooleh

Ingredients
2 bunches of flat leaf parsley
1/2 bunch of fresh mint
3 scallions or 1 small onion, finely chopped
2 large tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

Recipe
1. Wash and dry the parsley and mint. Remove the leaves from the stalks and finely chop the leaves.
2. Wash the scallions and finely chop.
3. Wash the tomatoes and finely dice.
4. Mix together the herbs, scallions and tomatoes in a bowl.
5. In a small bowl mix the lemon juice and olive oil together using a fork.
6. Mix the dressing into the salad and serve!

Chewy gooey goodness

I love brownies... who doesn't? But I have to confess, until recently I had never made brownies before! Well I have but but they were flourless and so not really proper brownies.

I had to do something about this.... after all I love brownies as do most people! I recently bought The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and got stuck into making their "traditional brownies" and I'm so glad I did, or am I? This is my new favourite recipe and so I make them all the time! My waistline isn't going to thank me but I know my lips do every time.



These are so simple to make and extremely moreish.

Hummingbird Traditional Brownies (with a Ruthie twist)

Makes 12 big brownies or 24 little bite sized brownies

Ingredients
200g dark chocolate (or I sometimes use milk chocolate and add other flavours like orange, coconut, raisins, strawberry etc)
175g unsalted butter
310g caster sugar
125g plain flour
3 eggs

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 170˚C
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together until smooth in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.
3. Take the bowl off the heat and stir in the sugar.
4. Mix in the flour (and any additional flavourings)
5. Stir in the eggs one at a time until well blended into the mix.
6. Pour the mix into a greased and lined baking tray and bake for 30 minutes (or until slightly crisp on the outside but soft in the middle).



It's a fool proof recipe and one everyone I've shared these with have enjoyed!

Curried Cod Fillet

The hubster has been out working a few more evenings recently, meaning dinner for one, meaning a choice of anything for dinner! I had a fillet of cod in the freezer and a recipe in mind just waiting for a special occasion like this!

Thanks to Jamie Oliver for this one from Ministry of Food!

Curried Cod Fillet

Ingredients
1 portion of cod fillet
2 tbsp curry powder
olive oil

Recipe
1. Roll the cod in the curry powder to coat evenly.
2. Heat a frying pan to a medium high heat and add some olive oil.
3. Fry the fish in the pan on each side for 3-4 minutes until cooked through.


Simple and beautiful.

Naan Pizza

Nigella published this idea before me but I had the idea before coming across it so I think I'm due a book deal and tv show of my own for that.

Today is international pizza day so it seems right to enjoy some in celebration of this dish that is a favourite worldwide. My nod to the pizza is one made with naan bread instead of dough, this idea is a great quick dinner and simple too. While I love it with tikka chicken and chunky tomato sauce, today was a frugal one with some leftovers acting as toppings - ham, fresh pineapple, sweetcorn and mozzarella.

Creamy pasta with mushroom and bacon

When the cat's away the mice will play... apparently!

Regular readers of this blog will know my husband is a rather fussy creature when it comes to food. So when he tells me he won't be home for dinner or won't need dinner made for him I get rather excited thinking about what I can have that's usually off the menu when he is around.

Today was one of those fun days. I had all sorts of ideas about toad in the hole, chicken and broccoli bake, baked fish, sticky chicken wings and so so sooooo much more. The dentist interrupted most of these plans by numbing my mouth in order to work on a tooth that has been keeping me up the past 4 nights - I can't complain really because my tooth feels so much better already! I had a flick through a Christmas present again, Tana Ramsay's Real Family Food, and spotted her pasta with mushrooms and bacon recipe and decided that was the way forward - easy for the slightly gummy eater to enjoy

This was a great dish, also quick and easy to throw together for a weeknight meal - it's a pity the hubster won't like it! While I was making it I wondered was it like the Spaghetti Carbonara and while similar this recipe was much simpler in preparation but had better flavour.



Creamy pasta with mushroom and bacon
Based on Tana Ramsay's recipe from Real Family Food

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
8 rashers of streaky back unsmoked smoked bacon, cut into 1" pieces
1 medium onion finely diced
1 garlic clove minced (or cheat like me with 1/2 tsp of "easy garlic" - jar of pre minced garlic)
250g mushrooms, diced or sliced
100ml white wine
100g dry spaghetti per person (or your pasta of choice)
200ml single double cream
25g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (I subbed this for some dried parsley but think fresh would be better)
grated parmesan to serve


Recipe
1. Put a saucepan of water on to boil for the pasta and follow packet instructions.
2. Heat the oil in a pan, then fry the bacon pieces. After a couple of minutes add the onion and garlic and fry until the onion starts to colour.
3. Stir in the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes, then add the wine and simmer until almost evaporated.
4. Add the cream and gently simmer for 3-4 minutes.
5. Drain the pasta and return to the saucepan. Mix in the sauce and parsley, then serve with grated parmesan on top.



In other news, the Irish Blog Awards 2010 have now opened nominations and will be closing them on 5th February, so get in there and get voting regardless of whether you're in Ireland or not!

5 minute microwave chocolate cake

Ever need a quick chocolate cake fix? Then this is it!

I had heard about this little beauty years ago but it slipped my mind until a colleague in the world of youth and children's work reminded me about it because she had used it as part of a children's talk and in planning our Christmas family service I remembered it again. After all that it just seemed right to make it and I did a couple of times in practice and also as a practice for my own cookery show by making it during the church service! Nigella better watch out!



5 minute microwave chocolate cake

Serves 3-4, but I made it stretch to about 20 -30 that Sunday with all the kids wanting a little piece.

Ingredients
1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)
a splash of vanilla extract

Recipe
1. Mix together dry ingredients
2. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
4. Pour the mixture into a 10cm diameter cake tin and cook for 4 minutes at 1000 watts
5. Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired and decorate with icing, or for an even quicker option chocolate spread!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

Creole Christmas Cake

I know I'm in a minority these days but I am a big fan of Christmas cake. When I was younger Mum would have bought slabs of "iced fruit cake" through the year for me, not just at Christmas. Last year I made my first ever Christmas Cake using Mum's Christmas Cake recipe. I watched Delia's Christmas Special a few weeks ago and loved the look of her Creole Christmas Cake and decided I just had to try it. It takes a good bit of time seeing as the dried fruits are to steep in the alcohol for a week! Then the baking takes 3 hours and after that there's the extra "feeding" but that's only if you want more alcohol in it!



It's a truly delicious cake - I was excited to try it from the moment it came out of the oven but I was good and waited to steal a few crumbs when it was taken out of the tin!

Creole Christmas Cake

Ingredients

For the pre-soaking
3 tbsp dark rum
3 tbsp brandy
3 tbsp port
3 tbsp cherry brandy I added an extra tbsp of rum, brandy and port instead
1½ tsp Angostura bitters Left this out - couldn't find it!
½ level tsp ground cinnamon
½ level tsp ground nutmeg
½ level tsp ground cloves
½ level tsp salt
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 level tbsp molasses sugar
2 oz (50 g) glacé cherries, chopped
1 lb (450 g) raisins
4 oz (110 g) pitted no-soak prunes, chopped I used sultanas instead
8 oz (225 g) currants
4 oz (110 g) mixed candied peel
2 oz (50 g) mixed chopped nuts

For the cake:
9 oz (250 g) self-raising flour
9 oz (250 g) demerara sugar
9 oz (250 g) butter, at room temperature
5 large eggs

Recipe
1. Mix together the fruits, spices, salt, vanilla, molasses and alcohol and store in a container for a week. Give the container a shake every now and again during this time.



2. Preheat the oven to 275˚F (140˚C) when you're ready to bake.
3. Measure out the flour, sugar and butter into a very large bowl and mix together.
4. Add and mix in the eggs one at a time.
5. Gradually stir in the dried fruit mixture until all is combined.
6. Pour into a greased and lined 9" round tin, then bake in the oven for 3 hours.
7. Leave to cool for 45mins in the tin then once cool wrap in greaseproof paper and foil and in an airtight container.
8. If you're wanting to "feed" the cake pierce a few holes in the cake and pour a little brandy into each one, repeat once a week for 4 weeks.


If you're decorating the traditional way, spread apricot glaze over the cake then cover with marzipan, dampen the marzipan a little and cover with white icing.



For more Christmas recipes see
Jamie's Mince Pies
Traditional Mince Pies
Ginger Glazed Gammon/Ham
Sage, Sausage and Apricot Stuffing
Christmas Roast veggies

Oopsy Cakesy.

Today we had a "Fun Day" at church and I had bought a High School Musical box of cake mix for the group to make to go with lunch. The girls got into making it while I got o with sorting other lunchy bits out, so they emptied the box and got on with it. Apparently Katie asked me if both the bags of stuff had to go into the mixture and apparently I said "Yes" but I can't recall this conversation. So she chucked it all together, mixed in the butter, water and eggs and poured into the tray then put it all in the oven to bake. While I was clearing up the rubbish I wondered where the icing had gone to and discovered that the icing had been put into the cake mixture and was now in the oven. We worried it all may turn out a little too sweet but left it to bake and we got on with lunch and playing with HSM stickers.



When it came to eating the cake it looked good, smelled good and had a slight glaze on the top from all the sugar in it! It was real good, even with the icing IN it not ON it. So an experiment gone wrong but that turned out good and we had fun decorating it with the HSM rice paper decorations and sugary stars.

Marmalade Chicken

Sorry!!!!!! I've been such a bad blogger lately but life has just been mental and though I would have had time to blog it would have burned me out so I apologise for not being around much lately - and haven't visited other blogs either so I've that to catch up on too!

I'm getting back into the swing of things with a great quick simple dinner - marmalade chicken. A one dish dinner which everyone will love (except my weird husband lol).



Marmalade Chicken
Source: Tesco Magazine (can't remember the issue)
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 medium sized white potatoes
3 shallots, peeled and cut into 6ths
1 red pepper (I used a mixture of peppers), sliced into strips
2 chicken breasts
4 tbsp marmalade

Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 175˚C
2. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1.5cm cubes. Spread evenly over the base of a baking dish and spray with oil.
3. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
4. Spread the shallots and peppers over the top of the potatoes and spray with oil.
5. Place the chicken breasts on top and place back in the oven for 15 minutes
6. Glaze the chicken with the marmalade and return to the oven for a final 10 minutes.

Voila! Delicious chicken dinner!!!!

Taste and Create: Twice the Spice Chicken

I owe you all a big apology. I haven't been blogging the last fortnight because I've been a little distracted with work and by our second anniversary celebrations!

About a month ago Rob and I decided to plan surprises for each other to celebrate so on Sunday when I got home from work, Rob told me to pack my bags and surprised me with a trip to Paris for a couple of days!



I'm surprising Rob tomorrow, but it won't be anywhere near as exciting as Paris!!!!

For now though I'm cutting it tight on posting this month's Taste and Create entry. I was paired with In the Garden of Eatin' - a fun food blog filled with recipes for every day healthy cooking on a budget.

I decided to make twice the spice chicken. A quick tasty dinner for sure!

Twice the Spice Chicken
Source: In the Garden of Eatin'

Ingredients
1.5 lbs Chicken (I used diced chicken breast)
1/3 cup Canola Oil (I used rapeseed oil)
1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 Tbsp Onion Powder
1/4 Tbsp Season Salt
Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce (I've never heard of this before, so used Jerk/BBQ sauce)



Recipe
1. Heat grill pan (or normal pan) to medium high heat.
2. In a large bowl combine oil, chili powder, onion powder and season salt (this is your first spicy layer). Toss chicken to coat.
3. Transfer chicken to the grill pan and cook through.
4. When the chicken is done cooking stir in the sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Basic White Rustic Loaf

I love it in restaurants when they give you a basket of different breads along with some butter and oil for nibbling before your meal so I decided to make some bread when my family came for dinner one night.

This was a great simple recipe I found on channel 4 from delicious magazine.

I split the dough into 3 and made a loaf with sundried tomatoes in the middle, a loaf with black olives in the middle and a plain one. The baking time was half what the recipe below states because of this split.



Basic White Rustic Loaf
Source: channel 4 from delicious magazine.
Makes about a 750g loaf/12 slices

Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp fine salt
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
300 ml warm water
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing

Recipe
1. Mix together the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl. Create a well in the centre and slowly mix in the water and the oil until the dough comes together – if the dough is very dry, add a little more water.
2. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, until smooth, on a lightly floured surface.
3. Shape like a rugby ball and put onto an oiled, large baking sheet. Leave to rise in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled in size.
4. Preheat oven to 220°C. Make slashes with a sharp knife in the top of the dough and dust with flour. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until risen, golden and cooked. Cool on a wire rack and slice to serve.

Marmalade cake

About a month ago I was away for the weekend with the youth group. Heading out my car was loaded with food, most of which was devoured, but often there's things left over like some biscuits, milk, bread, crisps, cereals and marmalade. We end up dividing the leftovers among the group because there's no way I could use it all up on my own. When it came to sharing it out this time though nobody wanted the marmalade!!!!! What's wrong with marmalade? So I took it and decided to make a marmalade cake for them as well as enjoying it on some lovely golden toast.

I hunted through all my bookmarks and remembered the lovely Rosie blogged on her old blog about Marmalade Cake. (You can catch Rosie over on Baking Cakes Galore now). How could I resist?

I made mine in 2 victoria sandwich tins and put them one on top of the other with about 2-3 tbsp marmalade in between then topped off with the icing (which turned out a little too orange when I added too much red colouring the the yellow).



Marmalade Cake

Ingredients
Cake
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour, sifted
175g (6 oz) softened butter
175g (6 oz) soft brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Grated zest of 1 orange
Juice ½ orange
2 tbsp thin-cut marmalade
Icing
200g (7 oz) icing sugar, sifted
Juice of 1 orange
Orange edible food colouring (optional)
A few sprinkles (optional)

Recipe
1. Grease two victoria sandwich tins. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Add a little of the egg at a time until it's all mixed through. Then mix in the marmalade, OJ and zest.
4. Fold in the sifted flour gently folding.
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and level the surface off.
6. Place into the preheated oven to bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool for 5 – 10 minutes in the tin before removing to cool on a wire rack.
7. To make the icing; add the sifted icing sugar a little edible orange food colour (optional), and enough orange juice to make a spreadable icing for coating the top of the cake. Spread over the top of the cake and add sprinkles if using.

Buttermilk Chicken

I'm absolutely loving the Nigella Express book I got in the January sales. I'm pretty sure I've made loads more out of it than any other cook book I have.

I found some chicken drumsticks in the freezer and immediately thought of this recipe and I'm glad I did, because it was beautifully juicy and tender and full of flavour. Thank you again Nigella!!!

Buttermilk Chicken
Source: Nigella Express, Nigella Lawson, p274

Ingredients
12 chicken drumsticks
500ml buttermik
60ml vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, skinned and bruised
1 tbsp crushed peppercorns
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Recipe
1. Mix together the buttermilk, 60ml oil, garlic, pepper, salt, cumin and maple syrup.
2. Place the chicken in a ziplock bag and pour in the mixture. Squish everything around to marinade
3. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes but if possible overnight
4. Preheat oven to 220˚C. Place chicken pieces in a roasting tine lined with foil, shaking off the excess marinade
5. Drizzle the 2 tbsp oil over the chicken and roast for 30 minutes.

Pan fried glazed pork chops

I was given Jamie Oliver's "Ministry of Food" book for Christmas and have only recently been making stuff from it. There's some great recipes in it and a lot of the book suggests varieties on each recipe too to help with learning and trying new things.

This is a straightforward recipe and a really delicious one and with some variety in the choice of glaze. I used mango chutney but you'll see some other ideas in the ingredients list.



Pan fried glazed pork chops
Source Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food, p 230

Ingredients
2 pork chops
olive oil
salt and pepper
apple sauce/mango chutney/apricot jam/maple syrup/honey to glaze
lemon juice (optional)

Recipe
1. Trip the skin off the edge of the chops and cut into 2 long strips.
2. Rub the pork chop with salt and pepper and heat a little oil in a pan.
3. When the pan is hot add the strips of skin and move about. Remove when crispy and golden.
4. Lay the chops in the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, turning every minute.
5. Spoon a large spoonful of your glaze over each chop and keep turning to be sure both sides are evenly glazed. Cook until golden red.
6. Remove from the pan and leave to rest for a minute before serving.
7. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top to balance out sweetness

Pork and Mango Stir Fry

My hubby, Rob, is working in Liverpool these days which means there are loads more options for me for dinner. I threw this together for myself and absolutely loved it!



Pork and Mango Stir Fry

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
150g pork pieces
2-3 tbsp mango chutney
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
pinch of dried chili flakes
handful of mixed vegetables (I used broccoli, red pepper, onion and peas)
2 rings of fresh pineapple chopped up
Add to wok noodles for one.

Recipe
1. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan and add the pork. Stir fry until cooked through (about 5 minutes)
2. Add the mango chutney, oyster sauce, soy sauce and chili flakes and stir through. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the vegetables and pineapple and cook for 3-5 minutes.
4. Stir in the noodles and cook for 1 minute and serve.

Whole Orange Cake

In January I made a little "vow" to make at least 3 recipes a month from the food magazines I have bought that month. Well February's mags weren't too great for me so I ended up making some recipes I have bookmarked in cookbooks instead and this is one of them - Whole Orange Cake.



Really simple to make and very tasty - especially seeing as it was topped off with chocolate ganache.

Whole Orange Cake
Source: Simply Essentials: Fruit by Donna Hay

Ingredients
2 oranges
175g butter
1.5 cups caster sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup ground almonds
1.5 cups plain flour
2 tsps baking powder

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 160˚C
2. Wash oranges and place in saucepan of water on a medium heat. Bring the water to the boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Leave for 30 minutes or until soft.
3. Take the oranges out of the water and leave to cool a little. Chop coarsely.
4. Process the oranges in a food processor until finely chopped.
5. Add the butter, sugar, eggs, ground almond, flour and baking powder and process until smooth and mixed through.
6. Pour into a greased 9" cake tin and bake for 1 hour or until cooked through.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients
3/4 cups single cream
100g dark chocolate, finely chopped
70g milk chocolate, finely chopped

Recipe
1. Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan over a medium heat.
2. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.
3. Leae to melt slightly and then stir until the mixture is glossy and smooth.

Soy Honey Cocktail Sausages

Last Sunday was a manic day. to start with little Stewie (our wee dog) had to get taken to the vet - he had a run in with a tree at the park the day before. After that I had to rush to church then to the shop to pick up some bits for the afternoon. Shortly after getting lunch we had to go pick up a drugged up Stewie from the vet and then straight after that I had to get back down to church for a band rehearsal for our youth service so I was kept busy at the rehearsal, then the service and then we had our youth group meet after that too!!!!! What a day of running here there and everywhere, and in the middle of that I had to make dinner for our band! So I had some cocktail sausages, oven chips and a Nigella recipe to use.

Unfortunately after making them I only got to have one but it was so good I've bought in some more cocktail sausages with the plan of having them all to myself! And I also wasn't able to get a photo because they were all scoffed so quickly so I'll add a photo when I remake this one.

And here's a photo of the second batch.... still sooooo good! And with perfectly well again Stewie craving over them in the background!



Soy Honey Cocktail Sausages
Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson, p322
Ingredients
1kg (75) cocktail sausages (I had a pack of 60)
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
125ml honey

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 220˚C. Separate sausages if linked and spread over a roasting tin
2. Mix together the honey, soy sauce and sesame oil. Pour over the sausages and mix well to cover.
3. Roast for 25 minutes and turn half way through.

I'm sending this to Giz and Psychgrad for the Tried,Tested and True 3 event.



I'm also sending this into the blog event I started and still run with the help of some excellent guest hosts every week - Bookmarked Recipes. This week Maggie from Doghill Kitchen is hosting.