COOKBOOKS GALORE

My first post for a while. Lost my enthusiasm! Hope to get it back soon!. Off tomorrow to the UK for 15 days. Have a very Happy Christmas.

This post was intended for yesterday, Halloween, but for some reason I was unable to post it. This is the lovely pumpkin I bought for a euro. There was a great pile of them, and the lady in front of me in the queue took one from underneath, and you can guess what happened - yes, we chased pumpkins down the road! This recipe is from yesterday's 'Saturday Kitchen'. here I changed the recipe a bit by using a tin of baked beans instead of the cannellini beans and I didn't add the tin of tomatoes or the white wine vinegar. We found the sauce too thin, so I thickened it with cornflour. Doesn't look very appetizing, but it was delicious. I still have a lot of pumpkin flesh left to make some soup.

Like many others, we planted too many tomatoes this year, so we have lots of green tomatoes. Today I made some chutney with some of them. This recipe made 2x 500g jars and a small jar [one used for baby food]. It's from a French cookery magazine. 1kg green tomatoes, finely chopped 500g onions, finely chopped 500g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped 2 fresh green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped 1 tspn powdered ginger 1 good pinch ground cloves 1 good pinch turmeric 50g sultanas 250g brown sugar [use muscovado if you want a darker chutney] 30cl white wine vinegar Mix the tomatoes, onions, apples and chillies together in a large pot. Add the garlic, ginger, cloves and turmeric. Then add the sultanas, sugar and vinegar. Stir it all together. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and cover. Let it simmer for about 11/4 hours, till the chutney has thickened and is soft. Put into sterilised jars and label. Leave it f...

I've read about the name of these cookies, how at the tollbooths on the roads people would stop and buy a drink and a cookie. This version comes from Hannah Miles' new book 'The big book of cakes and cookies' which has 365 recipes for new cakes and well-loved favourites. Hannah was a finalist in Masterchef 2007, and has a lovely blog which is on my list of favourite blogs - Hannah's country kitchen. Here's the recipe: 125g butter 350g plain flour 1/2 tspn bicarb. 2 tspns cinnamon 100g caster sugar 100g soft brown sugar 1 tbspn golden syrup 1 large egg, beaten 100g chocolate chips 100g chopped walnuts Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4 Makes 20 cookies Sieve flour, soda and cinnamon into a bowl. Melt the butter and syrup in a saucepan. Add the choc. chips and walnuts and egg to the flour mixture and then add the butter mixture. Mix it all together with a wooden spoon. Divide the dough into walnut sized pieces and put onto greased baking trays. Mak...

I haven't posted in a while because I couldn't add photos, but now it's sorted. It's a glorious autumn here, still warm, and the trees are now beginning to turn colour. It's the time of year when we gets lots of fruit and veg. from our neighbours and friends, things we've not grown or haven't room to grow. We've had lots of figs, quinces, cabbages, leeks and beetroot. Have already posted about the fig and almond tart I made, and I've been trying out new fig recipes. We loved Nigella's 'Figs for 1001 nights' and I also cooked them with honey, cinnamon and a little orange liqueur. Tonight I'm going to use them as starter with parma ham. As for the quinces, think I'll try to make some quince jelly from Jane Grigson's great 'Fruit book'. It's supposed to be good with meat. I love Jane Grigson's recipes as they're very straight forward and I've always had good results with them. I have her 'Vegetab...

Am on a roll today! Yesterday our lovely neighbour Maurice, aged 86, gave us a tray of figs. They were very ripe so had to do something with them quickly. Last night I cooked some with honey and served them with mascarpone - delicious. Today I made a fig and almond tart. I bought ready made pastry so it didn't take long to make. I found the recipe on the good food channel site.It's by David Massey. for 6 350g shortcrust pastry 100g ground almonds 10g flour 100g caster sugar 100g unsalted butter 2 eggs 9 figs halved preheat oven 180C/gas4/350F Roll out pastry to fit a 23cm flan tin and bake blind for 15 mins or till base is firm. Beat butter and sugar together till fluffy. Add the eggs. Fold in flour and ground almonds. Spoon the mixture over the pastry and arrange the halved figs on top. Turn oven up to 190C/gas 5 and bake tart for about 35 mins. or until almond fillings has set. Serve with mascarpone. When you take the tart out of the oven, you can glaz...

Yet another apple cake! We still have some more Bramleys to come - a great year for them. Helen is a friend who is an excellent cook. She made this cake during one of our visits and it's really delicious. Bob,my husband,hates bananas, but loves this cake. He doesn't know that there are any in it!!! This amount makes 2 generous 2lb loaf cakes, but I usually halve the recipe. I'm not sure if it would freeze. 250g unsalted butter 250g dark brown sugar 500g sr flour 4 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped 5 small ripe bananas 500g sultanas 4 large eggs cinnamon and mixed spice to taste [I use a lot as I love them!} Preheat oven 180C/gas4/350F Beat sugar and butter together till fluffy. In another bowl beat eggs and bananas together and then add to the sugar mixture. Add the apples and mix well. Add the spices to the flour and then add gradually to the mixture, mixing well after each addition. Divide between the 2 tins and bake for about an hour. In my ov...

I love teabreads and loafcakes. This one is quite healthy as it uses wholemeal flour, sunflower oil and nuts. It's one of my Mum's recipes so is in ounces. recipe: 3 eggs 4fl oz sunflower oil 8oz wholewheat flour 3oz light muscovado sugar 1 tspn baking powder 1 tspn bicarb. of soda 1 tspn cinnamon 1 tspn allspice 5oz grated courgettes 4oz chopped walnuts 2 oz sunflower seeds Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas4 Lina a 2lb loaf tin. Beat eggs and sugar together and gradually add in oil. Sift flour into another bowl and add the baking powder, bicarb,spices and nuts. Add the courgettes and mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and spoon into loaf tin. Bake for about 40 mins. Cool slightly in tin and then turn on to a wire rack.

Still more windfalls from the garden, so have tried another apple cake recipe. This time it's from Rachel Allen's book 'Rache's favourite food at home'. I like her style very much; it's straightforward and makes you feel you can achieve what she's done. Here's the recipe: 225g plain flour 1/2 tspn baking powder 100g butter - room temperature 100g sugar, plus 2 tbspn 1 beaten egg 100ml milk 1 large cooking apple, about 300g, cored, peeled and diced 1 tspn cinnamon Preheat oven to 180C/gas4/350F Grease a 25cm ovenproof plate [I used a tin plate belonging to my mum] Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl and rub in the butter till it looks like breadcrumbs. Add sugar, beaten egg and enough milk to make a soft dough - it will be wet. Then pat half of the dough into the bottom of the plate. Put the apple onto the dough and sprinkle with 1 tspn of sugar and the cinnamon. Spoon the rest of the dough on the top, covering the apple. Sprinkl...

This is a delicious dish from Trish Deseine's book 'Trish's French kitchen'. I think there was a series of it on the uktvfood channel. It uses piment d'Espelette, which comes from the Basque region of France. Every year there is a festival in Espelette and the houses are covered in these chilies. http://www.producteurs-pays-basque.com/anglais/espelette.html The peppers,onion and garlic were from our garden as were the bay leaves and thyme. I adapted the recipe for 2 of us and used chicken breasts. This is the recipe: for 6 1-2 tbspns olive oil 6 chicken pieces 4 large onions, peeled and 1/4d 4 cloves garlic, sliced 1 bay leaf [ I used 2] 2 tspns fresh thyme, chopped 800g tin tomataoes 235ml dry white wine [ didn't have any white so used a dry red] 2 red and 2 green peppers, slices large tin pitted olives [didn't use these as we don't like them!] 1 tspn piment d'Espelette s&p In a large casserole put the olive oil to warm , then put in chicken pie...

We have a lot of windfall Bramleys to use up, so I made this apple cake. The recipe is from Sue L, a lovely lady on the bbc food forum. This is her blog - http://www.mainlybaking.blogspot.com/  . It's good as a cake and also great as a pudd. with ice cream or cream. The recipe: 250g butter or margarine 300g sr flour 1 beaten egg 350g apples - peeled, cored and sliced 150g caster sugar 1/2 tspn cinnamon 1/2 tspn mixed spice 1 tbspn brown sugar Preheat oven 180C/gas4/350F Grease a 20cm cake tin. Melt fat in the microwave in a large bowl. Stir in the beaten egg and caster sugar. Gradually stir in the flour. The dough should be like cookie dough. Spread half the dough into the bottom of the cake tin.Use fingers to spread it evenly. Mix the apples with the spices and arrange in an even layer on top of the dough. Cover with the rest of the dough, again using fingers to spread it out.Sprinkle top with the brown sugar. Bake for about an hour, or till golden. Leave ...

The weather here has been so hot that I decided to make some real lemonade. I used the recipe from Delia's 'Summer Collection' You need: 6 lemons 150g sugar Scrub the lemons and thinly pare the outer coloured zest from 3 of the lemons. Remove any white pith as it will make the lemonade taste bitter. Put the zest in a large bowl and add the lemon juice and the sugar. Pour in 1.4 litres of boiling water, stir well, cover and leave overnight in a cool place. Next day stir again and check for sweetness. Add more sugar if necessary. Serve chilled with lots of ice.

One of the books I've had for a long time but never used is Delia's 'Summer Collection'. I decided I'd like to try her easy one-crust pie, so having bought some apricots, we [my granddaughter and I] made it today. I have to admit that I didn't use the semolina flour or the egg in the tart base, but it turned out fine. Maybe with fruit that are have more liquid, like rhubarb, you should use them.I didn't use the crushed sugar cubes and egg white on the top either - just brushed it with milk. The recipe: for the pastry: 175g plain flour 40g lard 40g butter or margarine cold water to mix for the filling: 750g prepared fruit [rhubarb,gooseberries or really any fruit at all][I used apricots stoned and 1/4d and added 25g flaked almonds] 75g caster sugar 2 rounded tbspns semolina flour for the glaze: 1 egg white 6 crushed sugar cubes Sift flour into a bowl and rub in fat. Add enough cold water to make a smooth dough. Chill in the fridge for 30 m...

When we first came to live in France, we brought 2 Bramley apple trees with us. This type of apple is unknown here. The trees have done well, and this year have been loaded with fruit. What to do with them all? Today I decided to try an apple muffin recipe from Susan Reimer's excellent book 'Muffins fast and fantastic'. It's a nice and easy treat to makeThis is the recipe which I have changed a little. Apple muffins - makes about 10 -12 muffins . 250g sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 11/2 tspns mixed spice 85g sugar 1 egg 150ml milk 170g peeled, cored and chopped Bramley [or any other type] apple 90ml vegetable oil soft brown sugar for the tops Preheat oven 200C/400F/gas6 and grease muffin tin. In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and spice together. Add the chopped apple. In another bowl beat egg into the milk and add the oil. Mix together well. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir till just combined. Spoon this into the muffin ...

We came back from out holidays on Tuesday night. Had typically British weather! The caravan in Norfolk was much bigger than I thought it would be. We went to the sea a couple of times, the second time we had rain, but determinedly sat under our umbrellas waiting for the rain to stop - how British! Got back to find the garden growing like the Triffids. No-one had picked the courgettes so one had grown into a huge marrow - 54 cms long. Lots of tomatoes, aubergines and peppers - so a ratatouille is called for methinks.

Apologies to Cliff.....! We're all going on a summer holiday, No more blogging for a week or two, Fun and seaside on our summer holiday, Going to make Rhys's dreams come true in a day or two..... Thanks to Trekkie for this verse ..... You're going where the rain is warmer, You're going where there's swine fluuuu, You've seen it in the movies, Now let's see if it's truuuuue.. Lots of laughter on our summer holiday, Now back where the sky is really blue, Sun and rainstorms on our summer holiday, Managed to survive the swine fluuuuu, But only for a week or two...!! [we're going back!!]

Picked a lot of plums on Saturday so after making a plum torte, clafoutis and stewing some, I decided to make plum ice cream from a recipe on the Good Food site. Forgot to take any photos as I went along, but this is the finished ice cream and it is delicious. Plum ice cream - makes 1 litre 450g ripe plums, stoned and quartered 125g light muscovado sugar 4 egg yolks 125g icing sugar 284ml pot double cream Put plums in a pan with the muscovado sugar and 300ml water. Bring ro the boil, cover and simmer for about 10 mins. till plums are cooked. Pass the stewed plums through a sieve. Chill the puree in the fridge for 20 mins. Put egg yolks and icing sugar in a bowl and stand it over a pan of simmering water. Whisk with an electric beater till the mixture has just warmed through. then take bowl off the heat and keep beating till the mixture hasd tripled in size. Chill in the fridge. Whip the cream with 2 tbspn iced water till just holding its shape. Churn in an ice cream maker or pour ...

I am a great fan of Nigella, so when I decided to make an apricot crumble today, I looked in her 'Forever Summer' book and found this one. It's a bit different from the norm, as she adds grounds almonds and flaked almonds to the crumble. I doubled the quantity of crumble as we love it thick! serves 4-6 750g apricots [or any other stoned fruit] - quartered and stoned 75g butter diced 100g sr flour 25g ground almonds 75g caster sugar [I used soft brown] 50g flaked almonds preheat oven gas6/200C/400F Put the apricots in one layer in a shallow dish. Rub the butter into the flour and grounds almonds till it looks like breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar and the flaked almonds. Sprinkle this over the fruit and bake for about 30 mins. Serve with creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream. From 'Forever Summer' by Nigella Lawson

I decided to make this tart for some friends and neighbours who are coming for lunch tomorrow. It's from a French cookery book called 'Sweet and Savoury tarts' - 'Tartes sucrees et salees' - by Margot Stephan. Serves 6-8 1 pack ready made puff pastry 6eggs 200g cooked and peeled prawns 250g smoked salmon pieces 2 tbspns creme fraiche 150g grated cheese [I used Gruyere] s&p flan tin 28cm [11"] Preheat oven gas6/200C/400F Roll the pastry out and line the tart tin. Spread the prawns and cooked salmon pieces onto the pastry. In a bowl, separate yolks and whites of 2 eggs and beat the whites till stiff. In another bowl, mix the cream in with the 2 egg yolks and the other 4 eggs. Beat together and season to taste. Then add most of the cheese and the beaten egg whites and fold together. Pour into the tin and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

I know this isn't anything to do with cooking, but thought I'd show what Bob found on the potatoes [food link!!!] when he was digging them up yesterday. Having done some research, I've discovered that it's a death-head hawk moth caterpillar. It's big - about 11cm long and the biggest one in the UK and here too I expect. Sorry the photo isn't too clear.

I've been a big fan of the great 'Chocolate and Zucchini' blog for a while http://chocolateandzucchini.com/ so when Clotilde published a book of the same name, I knew I had to buy it. I'm ashamed to say that I've never cooked from it till today. We had a lot of courgettes [zucchini] to pick in the garden, so I decided to make her chocolate and courgette cake. It serves 12 110g unsalted butter, at room temperature or 120ml extra virgin olive oil 240g plain flour 60g cocoa powder 1teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 180g light brown sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 3 large eggs 350g unpeeled grated cougettes [zucchini] 160g good-quality chocolate chips I used a bar of 70% dark chocolate and broke it into pieces] Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas4 Grease a 25cm springform caketin/pan with butter or oil. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder...

I live in a village bordering on a lovely area called the Marais Poitevin. It's also called 'Green Venice - La Venise Verte - as there's a network of canals bordered by trees.

Hello and welcome to my blog. I'm a keen cook who loves baking and who has way too many cookery books! Don't we all? I started this blog to encourage myself to cook at least one recipe from all these books, so hope you'll enjoy sharing some of these recipes with me. Thought I'd start with one of my favourite recipes - a bit of a cheat as I've done it many times before. It's from our lovely Delia's site and is her easy wholemeal bread. The reason I love this recipe is that there is no kneading - which is a chore. Mind you, when I was teaching, I used to take all my frustrations out on the bread dough while kneading, instead of on the little dears at school! The resulting bread was very good too! This recipes makes 1 large [as above] or 2 small loaves. 570g wholemeal flour 400ml handhot water 2 teaspoons salt [I use fine sea salt] 1 teaspoon soft brown sugar 2 teaspoons easy- blend dried yeast [1 packet] Put your flour into a bowl,...