Easy cheesey corn quiche

I have been making this quiche for parties for many years and it always attracts favourable comments.  Quiche is easy to make anyway and this one can be as easy as you want to make it.  Buy ready made pastry but please don't buy the ready rolled stuff, its like plastic.  You can buy your onions chopped and your cheese grated, how easy can you make it.  The relatively low ratio of liquid and the addition of sweetcorn makes this a dense and filling quiche suitable for any meal.

 

EASY CHEESEY CORN QUICHE

 

 

• 10oz pastry
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 bacon steaks, diced
• 4 eggs
• small pot of cream
• 10oz grated cheddar
• 11.5oz tin of sweetcorn, drained
• salt and pepper

 

Preheat your oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5

Roll out your pastry and line a 12" flan dish, I like to use a loose bottomed one so I can turn it out easily

Fry the onion and bacon together till lightly browned then place in the flan case

Beat together the eggs, cream, cheese, sweetcorn and seasoning

Pour into the flan case

 

Bake until golden and set, at least half an hour
Serve hot or cold





Cinnamon Bread

This is a recipe I found on another blog from across the pond and have translated into English measures for you.  The original recipe made two loafs so I have also halved it here.  It is simplicity itself as it isn't really a bread at all but a cake made in a loaf tin.  It is also very sweet but cinnamon needs sweetening so no complaints here.  This really does need to cool in the tin as the sugar makes it quite fragile and it needs to solidify a bit.  I also found that the top rose to a crust then dropped a bit when cool, it didn't affect the taste and as in most cases the crust is the best bit.  

CINNAMON BREAD

• 4oz butter, softened
• 8oz sugar
• 1 egg
• 284ml pot of buttermilk
• 8oz self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 6oz sugar mixed in a bowl with 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4

Butter a loaf tin generously or use a tin liner

Cream the butter and sugar then beat in the egg

Add the flour and baking powder alternatively with the buttermilk

Spoon half of the mixture into your tin then sprinkle 3/4 of the sugar and cinnamon mix over the top

Spoon in the rest of the cake mix and top with the remaining sugar mix

Swirl the mixture with a knife or the handle of your spoon

Bake for an hour or until a tester comes out clean.  Our American cousins seem to favour a toothpick but I use a skewer.

Allow to cool in the tin for at least half an hour before you turn it out.

It will be quite fragile!

In this last picture you see where the top has dipped in the middle.  Rest assured it made no difference to the taste.

Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake

This is a Nigella recipe that I made last weekend for my son's birthday because he is mad about peanut butter.  It is a handsome looking cheesecake that is fit to grace a smart dinner party but remember to make it the day before so it can set fully.  It cuts very cleanly and sets nicely without the need for gelatine.  It will keep in the fridge for days.  The peanut butter flavour is not overwhelming, in fact a few people thought the peanut base was stronger.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE

 

 

FOR THE BASE

• 200g digestive biscuits
• 50g salted peanuts
• 100g plain chocolate, chopped
• 50g butter, softened

 

FOR THE FILLING

• 250g mascarpone cheese
• 250g Philadelphia or similar (light is fine)
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 200g caster sugar
• 125ml sour cream
• 250g smooth peanut butter

FOR THE TOPPING

• 250ml sour cream
• 100g milk chocolate
• 30g soft brown sugar

 

 

 

Preheat your oven to 170c/325f/Gas 3

Put all the base ingredients into a food processor and blend till it comes together and starts to clump

Press into the base and up the sides of a 23cm spring form tin and chill whilst you make the filling (the base that is, not you!)

 

Wipe out the bowl of your processor and blend the filling ingredients to a smooth finish

Pour into the tin and bake for about an hour but check after fifty minutes.  The top should be set and dry with maybe a very slight wobble in the centre.  If the centre is obviously still liquid underneath then it isn't ready, mine took an extra twenty minutes at Gas mk 2.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

 

Warm the topping ingredients gently together in a pan over a low heat whisking to blend then remove from the heat.  Pour over the top of the cheesecake and smooth out.  I did this the following day so there is no rush. 

 

 

Refrigerate overnight but remove from the fridge about ten minutes before you want to serve it.  Don't let it get too warm or it will be too gooey to slice easily.

 

 







An Amazing Chilli

No I'm not being a big head, this is the genuine reaction I got from the chilli I made for a party at the weekend.  The original recipe was called Spicy Party Chilli with Scotch Bonnets and Tequila from 'Simply Stews' by Susan Wyler.  I initially changed the recipe by replacing stock with beer as recommended by my friend Richard Cussen but the end result was just too hot still.  All we could taste was the chilli burn so I played about some more and the end result was pronounced by all as 'amazing'.  It had bite and flavour and a very clean taste.  The recipe was meant to serve twelve but we seemed to be serving bowls of chilli all evening and even had a bowlful for the next day when it tasted even better. 

Sorry, no pictures of this one, it looks boring anyway!

AMAZING CHILLI RECIPE

 

 

• 3lbs of boneless pork shoulder, diced
• 3lbs minced beef
• 4 onions, chopped (buy it ready chopped from the supermarket)
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped (or 4 tsp Lazy Garlic)
• 60ml vegetable oil
• 2 Scotch Bonnet peppers (or habanero), deseeded and chopped small
• 1.5 tbsp. cumin
• 150ml of mild chilli powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 2 275ml bottles of Mexican beer (or lager)
• 4 beef stock jelly pots
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tins of pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 150ml tequila (optional, I didn't think it added anything)
• big squirt of tomato ketchup
• big squirt of Lingams chilli sauce or Thai sweet chilli sauce
• 100g plain chocolate

 

In a very large pot cook the onions in the oil over moderate heat, for 3 minutes

Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, till golden (about 5 minutes)

Add the garlic, Scotch Bonnets and cumin and cook stirring often for about 2 minutes

Add the chilli powder and cook, stirring constantly, for a minute

Add the meat, oregano and salt and cook, stirring often, until the meats are no longer pink (about 10 minutes)

Add the tomatoes, beer, cayenne and bay leaf and bring to the boil

Add the stock jelly pots and stir well then simmer partially covered for 90 minutes

Remove and discard the bay leaf

Add the beans, crushing some of them against the side to help thicken it

Add the tequila if using it and season with additional salt and cayenne to taste

If like me you like a hint of sweetness then add a big squeeze of tomato ketchup and chilli sauce

Finally grate in the chocolate, you won't taste it but it adds colour and richness

Simmer uncovered for ten minutes

If the chilli is too runny for you then thicken to taste.

 

It tastes even better the next day and will freeze well for up to 3 months apparently.

Easy corn bread

I made chilli at the weekend and cornbread always goes down well with our crowd.  The first batch disappeared at dinner time but as the evening wore on it turned into a party and we ran out of snacks and my wife started to panic so at 11 o'clock I knocked up another batch in about five minutes, that's how easy this is.  The plate of hot cornbread disappeared in five minutes flat and so I was back to the kitchen but hey, that's life and entertaining...

EASY CORN BREAD

 

• 6oz plain flour
• 6oz yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 284ml pot of buttermilk
• 2oz butter, melted
• 60ml honey or maple syrup
• 2oz sugar

Preheat your oven to 400f/200c/Gas 6
Butter a 9x9" pan
Combine the flour, cornmeal and salt in a large bowl
In another bowl combine everything else
Tip the wet into the dry and mix until the flour is moistened, about 10 seconds, the mixture should be lumpy
Pour into the pan and cook immediately for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean



Moist chocolate cake

When I was a teenager my mum gave me a Woman's Own cook book that was published in 1964.  This was one of the recipes I wrote down in the back and never made so it is at least 40 years old.  You'll have to excuse the decoration for this cake as it was requested by my gorgeous 4 year old grand daughter.  The cake is delicious and has remained moist for at least three days as I write this.  It is not a particularly rich cake and if you don't put chocolate ganache in the middle as I did would be suitable for a delicate stomach.

MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE

 

• 4oz plain chocolate
• 6oz butter, softened
• 10oz soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp coffee essence (optional)
• 3 eggs, lightly whisked
• 6 fl oz milk soured by adding juice of half a lemon
• 10oz plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsps. bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 108C/350F/Gas 4
Line the base of two 8 - 9" cake tins with a disc of baking paper
Melt the chocolate in your preferred method
Cream the butter, sugar and essences till light and fluffy
Thoroughly beat in the eggs and chocolate
Add the milk alternately with the flour  etc
Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-40 minutes till well risen and springy to the touch (my oven took 50 minutes)
Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes then turn out onto your cooling rack

The height of this cake in a 9" pan is 3.5".  I made a simple ganache from 4oz plain chocolate and a small pot of double cream for the filling and spread melted milk chocolate on top.  The finishing touch for Chloe was of course the Smarties.