Category: recipes

The Red Folder

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Aubergine and Beef Curry receives rave reviews!

As you know by now a  recipe only goes in the Red Folder when it has been tried and tested and asked for repeatedly.  I recently supplied a little staff dinner for 35 and chose an aubergine and beef curry from my red bible.  It’s a Malaysian dish, the food from Malaysia is a rich blend of Chinese, Indian and of course, Malay.  Together these influences blend to make subtle and deep flavours which are not at once familiar.  For this reason,  I was worried about serving it.  I nearly went for a clay pot chicken which I have marked with a big red star at some point.

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This curry is equally at home as a midweek meal or a dish to impress dinner guests. Continue reading “The Red Folder” →

The Red Folder

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Filo Parcels – how to fold the perfect triangle

Anything in pastry sells at the canteen, so parcels of yummy, regularly appear on the menu, they sell out fast.  I alway use a triangle shape when using filo because it is easy, cooks well and has great plate appeal.  I churn them out without thinking but people are always asking me how to do it.  It seems so simple, I feel silly doing this but I guess unless you have been shown, you do not know.  Here we go then.  Kids make a batch of these, eat them hot, cold, dinner, lunch or picnic.

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The Red Folder

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Spanaka what?

The best way to eat spinach

We make this at work, the simple Greek pie sits, luring with its eggy greenness.   Customers point; what is that? I giggle and look at my colleague, ‘it’s spankapotitta, spanikapota, it’s spinach and egg filo.’

“I’ll have some,” they say,  sometimes they smile and try to pronounce it themselves, but mostly they just take the pie and go.

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Spanakopita, filo, eggs, onions, feta, just add spinach.

So seriously, I know that it is Spanakopita and pronounced SPANA KO PITA but I used to say SPANI KOPITA, unless I stop and concentrate it comes out like I am trying to spit out feathers.  It does not matter for it is delicious, cheap and good for you.

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The Red Folder

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Even big cheese stars need the chorus line

A quick and simple guide to cheeseboards

I recently put up a cheeseboard of mammoth proportions, hundreds of dollars worth of cheese on a board made from a 6ft table and a milk crate, it was epic.  Funny then, that most people commented on the small things that shared that space with the giant wheels, rounds, waxed and washed mountains of cheese.

It is a pretty standard rule for a cheeseboard something blue, something soft and a hard cheese, one piece of each is enough for 2 to 4 people.  As your guests increase so does the choice or quantity of the chosen ones, there is a mass of advice out there, you do not need me, choose what you love. Now, what makes your choices shine are the supporting cast to the big cheese stars, it is, after all, theater.

Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce you to Messrs date, pear, walnut, and biscuit.

 

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The Red Folder

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Bliss balls, providing perfect happiness in a bite??

Are Bliss Balls healthy?

I first made some little balls of goodness about 9 years ago, when I truly believed the children would eat them as an alternative to baking. I don’t know how to spell the noise the big fat red cross makes when Simon Cowell hits his button, but that’s  what I heard when I presented two hours of work to my two beautiful mini humas.  The boy one would not even try, I resorted to bribery in the end as he refused to even pick one up and the girl one took the smallest rabbit nibble possible. It was unanimous…………….Image result for x

I was to never, ever try to make them eat the yucky brown balls with bits in again.  SIGH.  I pushed the 24 balls around morosely and wondered how I could make anybody eat them, they were after all expensive to make and so very, very healthy.  My husband found them in the cake tin and heroically ignored them for a week and the kids were not fooled when they were reshaped and offered as biscuits, a base for a slice or cunningly disguised as a brownie.  The dog and I took one for the team, in retrospect I was a little heavy on the flax seed and the dog pooped out pumpkin kernels for days.

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The Red Folder

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Homemade Pastry – kids, have you forgotten how good it tastes?

A quick and simple guide to making pastry.

Pastry is the first grown up thing I can remember making.  The delight of rubbing the cold hard lumps of fat into the flour to create a light, crumbly sand texture, with mum, sits with me still.   Why make your own I can hear you groan, because kids, it has a certain crumbly deliciousness that is hard to replicate in bulk.  Eaters always ask oooh yummy did you make this pastry, I rest my case. I make mine in the food processor now, it lacks the romance of making by hand, but I am time poor. Processor pastry tastes almost as good as mum’s buttery crisp crusts and is cheaper and tastier than the bought, so I am happy to pass this method on, in case you have forgotten my early teachings, and want to show your own children, just once, please!crowdedmind.co

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The Red Folder

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What’s the difference between Muesli and Granola? The answer is grainy.

Quite often found jostling for the same supermarket shelf space, what is the difference between these two cereals? The difference between muesli and granola is simple. While both are an assembly of pure grains, fruit, seeds and nuts, muesli is eaten in its raw form and is usually soaked in milk or other liquid. Granola is mixed with oil and a sweetener and baked before we eat it.  It can be eaten with or without any liquid. The other point of difference it that my family will eat granola by the handful while the muesli sits woefully untouched in the cupboard.  No amount of yoghurt, fruit or honey will make my children eat it. Aviary Photo_130968819121782045.pngMy husband does so grudgingly in an attempt to fill his body with the antioxidants and vitamins A and C contained in the fruit. Nuts bring protein and omega-3 oils to the table and we all know grains provide rich carbohydrates, B vitamins, iron and fiber. Unless you are intolerant.  It also stops me nagging him.  The problem I have is that most of what is out there to buy is very expensive and overly sweet, containing more sugar and salt than I would like.  The answer, of course, is to make it yourself.  This prospect has always seemed so drudgingly boring and I have dipped in and out of various recipes all too much time for too little result. Then I had a moment.  I sighed inwardly and tried yet another recipe, the result was spectacular and I quickly wrote it’s secrets down and put into my red folder.  I have adapted it to suit our tastes, you can start here and do the same

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The Red Folder

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Red Folder recipe – Millefeuille the posh custard square!

A classic pastry, seen in every French patisserie window that I have ever longingly pushed my face into.  I present it here in it’s simplest form, but you can ice the top, add fruit, make a spectacular large round, to dazzle your friends.  This recipe will make 5 individual pastries and as they are best eaten the same day,  it is just enough for us.

millefeuilleThere is something delightful about cutting through the ultra crisp pastry layers and melting into the smooth velvety texture of the filling.  This little stunner is so versatile, and can be filled with flavoured cream, curd or chocolate and layered with or without any soft fruit of your choosing.176944045_a6fbb37058

 

You can even make a savoury version, include a soft cheese and if using a vegetable par boil or your tower will not hold in the eating. Make it your own, but make it you must.

 

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The Red Folder

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A dangerously light, melt in the mouth, short biscuit, which ticks all the boxes

Red folder recipe – Netball biscuits

I think these were originally called almond crescents when they came to me from America.  I took a batch to my daughter’s netball game once and pleads for those netball biscuits came in often from her friends.  The name stuck.  They are a little time consuming to shape (you do not have to shape them), but this recipe will make 40 plus so you can smugly fill your containers for the week.  They keep really well, and you can finish them differently too.

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The Red Folder

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Red Folder Recipe- Baklava

I think I have found it, the ultimate Baklava recipe

Where I used to live in London there was a thriving greek community and from a corner shop, the owners’ mum would sell tiny, aromatic and sweet, diamond filo pastry mouthfuls of heaven, straight from the baking tin.  I discovered later that the men used to sit at the back drinking black coffee and smoking waiting for the tray to come out of the oven as eagerly as I did.  I used to beg for the recipe and she would always shake her head no and say that if she told me I would not buy from her!  Of course, I know how to make Baklava but I could never capture that taste from London E17.P1110768 (2)

If I see Baklava in a cafe I will always try a piece, I do this with lemon tarts too, but that is another recipe.  Then a friend of a friend of a friend said, “try this”, and handed me a photocopy of a handwritten  list of ingredients and instructions. It is the closest thing I have made so far, so I popped it in the red folder and marked it E17 Baklava.  It is  toothache-sweet, and uses more sugar than I would use in three months, so I usually make a hybrid of the school cookbook version and the E17.  I leave you both here.  Be warned cut into small pieces, but you will keep going back to the tin. Continue reading “The Red Folder” →