Chicken Salad with Raspberry Dressing

This was a yummy salad. It used up some of the loganberries that I picked from my garden in the summer. I added the veggies to the salad as I needed to eat them and I love to throw green veg in anywhere I can!

Chicken Salad with Raspberry Dressing (adapted from Waitrose Kitchen Magazine)
(Serves 4)

2 tbsp oil
150g bread, torn into chunks
6 chicken thigh fillets
salad leaves
veg (beans, broccoli, peas), cooked and cooled
1 shallot, sliced
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
150g raspberries

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and add the bread, fry for 2-3 mins until golden.

Rub the chicken with 1/2 tbsp oil, season and fry for 4-6 mins on each side until cooked through. Cover with foil and set aside to rest.

Meanwhile, arrange the salad leaves and the veg on a platter, top with the croutons.

Add the last 1 tbs oil to the pan and fry the shallot for 2 mins, until softened. Add the vinegar and the raspberries, then warm over a low heat until the berries start to burst. Season, then slice the chicken and add it back in to the pan. Spoon over the salad and serve.

Peach Melba Slice

I made this to take to friends house and ended up giving the rest to some different friends as I didn't want the temptation of it at home! I really liked this cake, I changed the original recipe a little by using tinned peaches instead of fresh and using more than the original recipe stated. I also used more raspberries. I think if I was going to make it again I would use less sugar as I think, maybe 50g less.

Peach Melba Slice (adapted from Good Food Magazine July 2009)
(Serves 12)

250g butter
300g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large egg
200g self-raising flour
50g ground almonds
2 tins peach slices
150g raspberries

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Butter and line a 20 x 30cm roasting tin.

Gently melt the butter in a large saucepan, then leave to cool for 5 mins, add the sugar, vanilla and eggs, then beat until smooth with a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour, almonds and ¼ tsp salt.

Tip the mix into the tin, then lay the peach slices evenly on top. Scatter the raspberries over the top. Bake in the oven for 1 hr-1 hr 10 mins, covering with foil after 40 mins. Cool in the tin for 20 mins, then lift out onto a cooling rack, then cut into squares.

Super Berry Blitz

This was the first recipe I tried from my WeightWatchers cookbooks last week. It was just like the smoothies I have been drinking but using water instead of milk. It does fill you up and because it just contains fruit it has no points. You can use skimmed milk instead of water for 1 PP per person and add 80g oats to the recipe to make it a proper smoothie for 2 PP per person.

Super Berry Blitz (from Cooking the WeightWatchers Way)
(Serves 4)
(0 WW ProPoints Per Serving)

200g blueberries
200g strawberries
200g raspberries
2 bananas, sliced
1 tsp vanilla extract
425ml chilled water

Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Pour into glasses and serve.

Raspberry Breakfast Power Smoothie

I really enjoyed this smoothie, I was worried about the oats but you can't taste their texture at all, they just make the smoothie lovely and thick. I have changed the amounts of things from the original recipe and I added a lot less oats and honey as I feel that the fruit is sweet enough without adding too much extra sweetener.

Raspberry Breakfast Power Smoothie (adapted from The Guardian)
(Serves 2)

50g oats
1 small banana
2 tsp honey
125ml Greek yoghurt
150ml milk

2 big handfuls frozen raspberries

Put everything into a blender and whizz until smooth. Serve.

Summer Pudding

Not only is this blog a collection of things that I cook, I'm also trying to collect and keep some of the recipes that my Mum makes and that I remember from childhood, or things that she cooks that I love. This is one of them, she has been making Summer Pudding for as long as I can remember and I love it! Sometimes she makes a large one and sometimes several little individual ones. This recipe is very forgiving and she says that you just use as much bread and fruit to fit the size of your bowl, which is why the ingredients are in punnet size rather than weight. She usually uses a small Pyrex bowl. For an exact recipe Delia's is pretty good

Summer Pudding

Sliced bread
Punnet raspberries
Punnet black currant
Punnet red currants
Sugar to taste (I use approx 1 to 2 tbsp)

Separate the red and black currants from their stalks. Place the fruit and sugar over low heat in a large saucepan for 5 to 6 mins until the juice begins to run, add more liquid if required.

Line a basin/Pyrex bowl with slices of bread overlapping to fill holes. Put some of liquid over the bread making sure it soaks all the bread.

Pour in the fruit retaining some of the liquid, cover the top of basin with bread and pour over the remaining juice. Put into the fridge to chill for a few hours.

Pistachio Macarons with Raspberry Buttercream

Yesterday my Mum and I went on a macaron making course at the Waitrose Cookery School to see if we could do better than the not quite right macarons of Daring Cooks! It was fantastic, the whole experience was really good, the staff were brilliant and the macarons worked and were delicious! I feel really pleased with myself and I feel as if I've learnt a new technique that I could use again and again.

Pistachio Macarons with Raspberry Buttercream (from Waitrose Cookery School)
(Makes 20 large macarons)

For the Italian meringue
275g caster sugar
1/2 tbsp green food colouring
59g egg whites (about 3 eggs)

For the paste
275g ground almonds
275g icing sugar
95g egg whites (about 3 eggs)

For the buttercream
120g raspberry coulis
45g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
200g unsalted butter, diced and chilled

50g peeled chopped pistachio nuts

Weigh out the ingredients and preheat the oven to 140C. Line two baking trays with parchment paper cut to fit.

To make the Italian meringue; place the sugar and 100ml cold water into a small saucepan and stir to dissolve. Add the green food colouring and place over a medium to high heat with a sugar thermometer inside.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a food mixer, set with the whisk attachment.

When the sugar syrup reaches 110C start whisking the egg whites on medium speed. Once the termperature has reached 114C, turn the mixer onto full speed, remove the thermometer and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl into the egg whites, mix for about 5 mins, until the mixture is whipped and glossy.

Meanwhile make the paste. In a separate bowl, combine the ground almonds and icing sugar. Add the egg whites and mix with a wooden spoon until you have a stiff paste.

When the meringue is ready (with soft peaks) gently combine it with the paste in three stages. For the first addition of the meringue to the paste mix vigorously, with a wooden spoon, to ensure there are no lumps. For the second addition,  use a spatula to fold the meringue in gently. The final addition must be extremely gentle.

The macaron mix is now ready to be piped. Using a spatula, half-fill a piping-bag and pipe a little of the mixture into each corner of the baking trays in order to stick the parchment paper down. Then pipe circles in straight lines going from left to right, leaving a 2cm gap between wach macaron. Sprinkle over the pistachios.

Cook for 17-19 mins in the preheated oven, opening the door halfway through to release steam, then remove the trays and leave to cool.

Meanwhile make the raspberry buttercream. Place the raspberry coulis in a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat.

Place the caster sugar and egg yolks in a bowl and whisk together.

When the coulis begins to boil, add about half into the egg mix and whisk together. Transfer back to the pan with the rest of coulis and continue to stir over a low heat. When the mixture coats the back of a spatula, remove from the heat and pour into a food mixer with the whisk attachment on a medium speed.

After 2 mins, gradually add the diced butter piece by piece. When all of the butter has been added, continue to whisk for a further couple of mins or until it become thick smooth and shiny.

Use a spatula to transfer the mixture into a piping bag ready to pipe on the macarons.

To assemble, arrange the macaron shells in columns, matching the size of the shells. On alternate columns pipe the buttercream in the centre of each shell, then sandwich together.

Honey Cloud Pancake with Lemon and Raspberries

This is a rather late post for which I apologise. I wasn't going to bother with pancake day. At the most I was going to use some shop bought frozen lemon and sultana pancakes but that was it, I was on my own that evening, late back from work and couldn't be bothered! Then everyone started talking about the pancake parties they were going to, or the pancakes they were making and I wanted pancakes too! So I started looking and found this recipe for cloud pancakes which I had never heard of before and the recipe was for one, perfect!

It wasn't really a pancake in the sense of what I would call a pancake. It was more like a sweet Yorkshire pudding with fruit but it made me feel a bit more in the spirit of the day!

Honey Cloud Pancake with Lemon and Raspberries (adapted from Things We Make)
(Serves 1)

1 large egg
60ml milk
30g flour
1 pinch of salt
2 tsp of honey
1 dash of vanilla extract
1 tbsp of butter
handful raspberries
zest 1/2 lemon
Honey

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

 

To make the main batter, in a bowl, mix the egg with flour, salt, honey, and vanilla then whisk in the milk.

Heat a small 6″ oven proof frying pan. Melt one tablespoon of butter in the hot pan.

Pour the batter in and cook on the hob for a few minutes until starting to set at the very edge.

Sprinkle the raspberries and lemon zest on top and bake in the oven for10 mins until puffed up and golden.

Drizzle with honey and serve.