Dirty Brownies

My thanks to Richard Hunt who discovered these online.  Apparently they originated in American colleges where students would make them with ready made cookie dough and brownie packet mix.  Essentially they are a chocolate chip cookie base with a layer of Oreo cookies topped with chocolate brownie and baked.  If you want to go one step further add a layer of caramel for Dirty Slutty Brownies.  Rich also gave me the recipe to make them from scratch so here it is, converted to UK measurements instead of cups and of course tested to make sure it works.  Be warned, the use of cocoa instead of melted chocolate in the brownie layer makes for a very intense brownie and you may find yourself craving chilled milk afterwards to give your palate some relief!

DIRTY BROWNIES

 

Brownie layer

• 150g butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 75g cocoa
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 100g plain flour

2 packets of Oreo cookies

Cookie layer

• 100g butter, softened
• 50g brown sugar
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 and 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
• 200g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100-150g chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas4
Line a brownie tin with foil and spray with cake spray or grease with soft butter

For the cookie layer:
Cream the butter and sugar
Add the eggs and vanilla, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl down
Add the dry ingredients less the chocolate chips and fold in well
Finally add the chocolate chips and press the mixture into the bottom of your brownie tin

Next add a layer of Oreo cookies, you will need more than one packet to achieve this.

For the brownie layer:
Melt the butter in a pan
Add the sugar and cocoa, beat in then remove from the heat
Add the salt and vanilla then the eggs a little at a time and beat in well
Fold in the flour and pour over the cookies

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes (took 40 in my oven) until the brownie layer is done.  A knife should come out clean from the centre.  Allow to cool in the pan then lift out on the foil.

When cooled cut into the size of brownie that you want.  These can be eaten warm of cold.  The centre ones will be well gooey but that is fine.

 

Banana ice cream and butterscotch sauce

So here we are at the end of the week again and once again no one has eaten the bananas that have nicely over-ripened in the fruit bowl.  Never mind because this is when they are at their sweetest and best for cooking.  This simple recipe here makes the best banana ice cream you have probably tasted unless you are within range of a very good gelateria.  Even then my wife still says this is the best banana ice cream she's had but she is biased, she loves me.  This recipe does use an ice cream maker but you could probably do it by the still freeze and beat method.  It also uses a syrup rather than just sugar.  You can find recipes for simple syrup all over the web but if you're going to make ice cream regularly you can find simple syrups in the alcohol section of your supermarket, they're used in cocktails.  This ice cream comes out of the machine quite soft and will firm up in the freezer but it doesn't go hard.
It goes very nicely with this simple butterscotch sauce and if you add crumbled biscuits to your bowl you've got a banoffee sundae.

BANANA ICE CREAM

 

 

• 4 or 5 ripe bananas
• 300ml double cream
• 225ml simple syrup
• 3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice, not bottled

 

In a food processor blend the bananas and lemon juice till smooth.

Add the cream followed by the syrup and blend well

Into your ice cream machine and make as you would normally

Transfer to your favourite ice cream carton and pop in the freezer to firm up some.

How easy was that?

 

 

BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE

 

 

• 8oz brown sugar
• 150ml double cream
• 3oz butter
• 1 tbsp. golden syrup

 

In a saucepan melt the butter gently then stir in the sugar, cream and syrup

Stir until the sugar has dissolved then bring to the boil

Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly

Serve hot or cold but don't lick the spoon straight away, you'll burn your tongue! 





Tuna Jalousie

How many times have you picked up a recipe card from the stand on the way out of the supermarket and done nothing with it?  Stuck it in the letter rack and thrown it away a few months later unused?  This recipe comes from a card that I picked up in 2002 and decided to revisit it for dinner yesterday.  This recipe is good hot for dinner or for a party or picnic eaten cold, in fact I'm snacking on it as I type this.  It is also really simple but delicious.  The relatively short cooking time means that the vegetables all stay crispy and interesting.
Whilst I am generally happy to make most pastries I agree with the TV chefs when they say that ready made puff pastry is just as good so long as you stay away from the pre-rolled sheets, they tend to be a bit plasticky.

TUNA JALOUSIE

 

• 500g pack of fresh puff pastry
• 200g tuna, drained
• 100g closed cup mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• small tin of sweet corn, drained
• 1/2 red pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
• 6 anchovies, chopped
• 4 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp. fresh coriander, chopped or 1 tbsp. of coriander paste
• 1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6
Roll out the pastry to a square-ish shape about 30/35cm
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl except the egg

Pretty isn't it?
Spoon this over one half of the pastry leaving a 1 inch margin round the edges
Dampen the pastry edges with water and fold the clear half over the filling and press down the edges to seal.
Make three slashes in the pastry with a sharp knife and brush with the beaten egg

Bake for 35 minutes until golden brown and well risen.

Serve with vegetables or salad. 
You can make this a few hours in advance and leave in the fridge till you're ready to cook it.



Chocolate coffee baked cheesecake

Don't be put off this if you don't like coffee because neither do I.  In fact five people who tasted it couldn't taste the coffee and four of them don't like it either.  It does use one specialist ingredient which is coffee extract, I had to get mine from Lakeland but its one of my favourite shops so that was no hardship.  And no it wasn't the only thing I came out with either!
Baked cheesecakes have that wonderful cloying mouth-feel that the unbaked ones just don't have and they are really no harder to make.  You just have the courage to take it out of the oven whilst its still wobbly.

CHOCOLATE COFFEE BAKED CHEESECAKE

 

• 50g butter, melted
• 175g chocolate biscuits, Oreos would be good
• 250g cream cheese, I used Philadelphia
• 250g mascarpone
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 150ml double cream (standard pot)
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
• 1 tsbp plain flour
• 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• 2 tsp coffee extract

 

For the topping

• 15g butter
• 1 tbsp. crème fraiche
• 50g light brown sugar
• 150g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp coffee extract

 

Preheat your oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2

Grease a 22cm diameter springform cake tin

Crush your cookies and mix them with the melted butter

Tip into the tin and press down with the back of a spoon.  Leave to set in the fridge.

Put the cream cheese, mascarpone, cream, vanilla and flour into a large bowl and beat till smooth

Beat in the eggs and egg yolk

Dissolve the instant coffee in 2 tsp of hot water and beat into the mixture with the coffee extract

Pour onto the cookie base and bake for 90 minutes or until set with a slight wobble in the centre.

Cool completely in the tin then leave to set in the fridge for at least two hours
For the topping, put the butter, crème fraiche and sugar into a saucepan and heat gently till melted
Add the chocolate and coffee extract and heat gently till melted, stirring continuously
Remove from the heat then whisk well.
Cool for a few minutes then pour over the chilled cheesecake.

If you don't want to buy a whole tub of crème fraiche for one spoonful I'm sure you'd get the same effect with double cream and adding a bit more would make a softer topping, this one was quite brittle.

 





Jerk chicken with rice and peas

So how did you enjoy Father's Day?  I went to work then came home and cooked dinner for ten.  Okay so I did the hard work the day before but hey, aren't we all entitled to a little whinge?
Everyone from the Caribbean has a favourite recipe for both components of this popular meal but I'm from Swindon which is a lot further East and this is the one I use.  My wife's father is from St Vincent and had never had jerk chicken until I cooked it for him.
There are two ways to prepare jerk meats, either on the grill or in the oven like here.  The advantage of doing it in the oven is that you can do a bigger meal all in one go.  Many recipes use chicken breast but I prefer the moistness and taste of chicken thighs.  Use whatever you prefer.  You can use this marinade on the grill too but you might like to use chicken with the skin on.  This is so simple there is really no reason other than convenience to buy jerk seasoning.

JERK CHICKEN

 

• Allow at least three chicken thighs per person
• 225g/8oz onions, peeled and quartered
• 1-1.5 scotch bonnet or other chillies according to taste, halved and deseeded
• 50g/2oz root ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 tsp Allspice
• thyme
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 120ml/4 fl oz white wine vinegar
• 120ml/4 fl oz soy sauce

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until it is as smooth as you can get it
Place your chicken in a large shallow dish, pour over the marinade and cover
Refrigerate overnight
Next day you can either cook it on your barbecue or place the tray in the oven at 190C/375F/Gas 5 for at least an hour.  When I had my workmates to lunch one of them was half an hour late and this didn't spoil because of the amount of moisture in it.  On Father's Day I doubled the amount and cooked a tray of 25 pieces of chicken.

RICE AND PEAS

 

 

This rice and peas recipe is so moist that it goes perfectly with the jerk chicken which doesn't produce a sauce.  Once again I just doubled it on Father's Day and it would easily have fed a dozen people.  The coconut milk produces a creamy texture without adding flavour which is good as dad in law doesn't like coconut.  This is an absorption method so stick to the quantities stated.

 

• 4 tbsp. olive oil (I use garlic flavoured) 
• I onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 200g/8oz long grained rice
• 400g tin of kidney beans
• 400g tin of black eye peas
• 500ml/1 pint of vegetable stock
• 200ml/7 fl oz coconut milk

 

Heat the oil in a large pan then fry the onion for five minutes.

Add the garlic and then the rice, cook for another minute, stirring

Add the beans and pour in the stock and coconut milk and season well

Bring to the boil, cover, then cook on very low for 25 - 30 minutes till the rice is just cooked

Give it a good stir and serve.  I could eat this on its own it is so good.

 

Butterscotch tart

Here is another recipe that I wrote down by hand probably twenty years ago and never made.  I am working my way through my handwritten cookery books and trying all these recipes I meant to make one day.  The filling of this tart is like a butterscotch version of the filling in lemon meringue pie and the pastry brings a distinct touch of cinnamon to the proceedings.  It is not difficult and everyone enjoyed it, one thought it could be more butterscotchy and another thought it could be sweeter but no one complained.

BUTTERSCOTCH TART

 

 

Pastry

• 60z plain flour
• 4oz butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk

Filling

• 40z soft dark brown sugar
• 2 heaped tbsp. cornflour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 pint of milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2oz butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

 

1/4 pint of whipping cream and a Caramac to decorate

 

Oven temperature 200C/400F/Gas 6

Place all the pastry ingredients in a blender and pulse to a smooth but not sticky dough

Bring together and wrap in cling film then chill for 30 minutes

Roll out on a lightly floured surface and use to line an 8" fluted flan tin

Bake blind for 10-15 minutes

Remove the paper and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until pale golden brown

Leave to cool

This pastry is quite brittle so if you want to remove it from the tin wait till it is full of filling and well chilled.  The set filling will hold it together.

 

Place the brown sugar, cornflour and salt into a pan
Add the milk gradually to make a paste then blend in the rest
Cook over a gentle heat stirring all the time till thick and completely free of lumps
Remove from the heat and gradually beat in the egg.
Cook for a further 2-3 minutes stirring continuously
Remove from the heat again and beat in the butter and vanilla essence
Beat till smooth and glossy.  You could add butterscotch essence as well if you like.  I found some in the ethnic aisle of Tescos.
Pour into the flan case, smooth the top then chill for 2-3 hours

Whip the cream till thick and pipe rosettes round the edge and grate Caramac or chocolate over the top.





Olive oil bread

Not for nothing is bread known as the staff of life.  Every culture has bread and if you can cook it then you need cook nothing else really.  I've been playing around with bread for ages but could never get a recipe I really liked.  I could get the flavour but it always seemed a little heavy.  I know there is nothing like the smell of fresh baked bread but its got to have the right texture as well.
I was looking on Google recently to find out how long I could safely leave my dough rising when I came across mention of a book called 'Five minute bread' by an American couple called Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.  They claimed that you could make bread without kneading or proving the dough.  Their dough was made to be left in the fridge for up to a fortnight and when you wanted fresh bread you just cut off a chunk and cooked it.  Sounds to be good to be true right?  Well I've made bread from their recipe four times lately and this one is definitely my favourite.  On both occasions I have filled the dough and folded or rolled it.  On the first occasion I rolled it out, spread it with tomato sauce and sprinkled it with grated cheese before folding it twice and making two half pound loafs.  Today I rolled it out and sprinkled it with Tesco's Mexican Style Cheese Filler.  I then rolled it up into a tube and cut it into eight rolls.  Tasting it still warm was definitely one of those culinary OMG moments.  The bread is light and full of flavour and the chilli cheese was the prefect accompaniment.
Here then is there recipe using a quantity to bake twice.  Prepare in advance and try to make it the day before your first bake as the dough is easier to handle refrigerated.

OLIVE OIL BREAD

 



• 675ml/14 fl oz lukewarm water (1/3 boiling : 2/3 cold)
• 3/4 tbsp. granulated yeast
• 3/4 tbsp. salt
• 1/2 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 450g/1lb strong white flour

In a large bowl mix everything except the flour.
Tip in the flour and use a wooden spoon to combine well until there is no flour visible.
Cover the bowl with cling film and poke a few holes in it so its not airtight.
Leave to rise at room temperature for 2-5 hours until it is well risen.
The dough can be used immediately but I then put it in the fridge where it can be kept for up to twelve days and used as you wish.  How easy was that?

When you're ready to bake sprinkle some flour on the work surface and over the dough in the bowl. 
Using a serrated knife cut the dough in half and take one half out.  Re-cover the rest and put it back in the fridge.
Roll out the dough thinly and spread whatever filling you want over it then fold or roll it up.
You will need extra flour as this is a very soft dough.

Place your bread on a baking tray lined with parchment and rest for an hour covered loosely.
After 30 minutes preheat the oven to 200C/400f/Gas 6
Just before baking pour a cupful of hot water into a dish in the bottom of the oven, this helps the crust.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes till done then try to resist them till they cool down.
I did the two loaves on a pizza stone but the cheese can ooze out and burn so the paper is probably a better option.

Next I shall try this dough as a pizza base.  It was would be could filled with pesto, fried onions, meatballs, the list is as endless as your imagination.

Here's the link for the book, its worth having in your collection

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Minute-Bread-revolutionary-kneading/dp/0091938945/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370618839&sr=8-1&keywords=five+minute+bread

White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake

So when are you entitled to call a recipe your own?  One food writer I read said that if you change any part of a recipe it becomes yours.  This indulgent cheesecake is a combination of parts from three different sources so I think under that criteria I can claim it as mine. 
Things made from white chocolate often don't really taste of it, they assume a generic creamy sweet vanilla taste but this one definitely works and it improves in flavour over a few days in the fridge if the leftovers last that long!

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE

 

Base



 

• 300g bourbon biscuits
• 50g dark chocolate, chopped
• 50g soft butter

 

Filling

• 300g white chocolate
• 200g soft cheese like Philadelphia, at room temperature
• 25g caster sugar
• 500ml double cream

 

Topping

• 150g raspberries
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 sheet of gelatine

 

Put all the base ingredients into a food processor and mix well.  Spread into the base of a 23cm loose bottomed or spring form tin and chill whilst you make the filling.  This makes a lovely smooth base with little chunks of chocolate in it.

 

Melt the white chocolate in your favoured fashion and allow to cool to tepid.
Beat together the cream cheese and sugar till smooth then stir in the cooled chocolate.
Whip the cream into very soft peaks then fold into the chocolate mix.
Spoon over the base, smooth the top and refrigerate for at least three hours or preferably overnight.
Meanwhile spread the raspberries and sugar over a baking tray and place in the oven till juice is released and the sugar starts to melt.
Pop into a bowl and blend to a jam like mixture.
Put the gelatine into a bowl of cold water for five minutes.  Remove and squeeze out any excess water then stir into the fruit mixture till dissolved.
When cool spread over the cold cheesecake mixture and return to the fridge.  It should set to a soft gel.
Take the cheesecake out of the fridge about fifteen minutes before serving.
I use a tin with a glass base that I can leave in place for ease of serving.