Yummy yummy yummy
You may remember I was asking about buckwheat pancakes recently. I had a go at making those on Saturday. The batter was waaay thicker than the usual one so I had to add extra milk which meant that I ended up with more pancakes. Damn. They didn't look too much different to normal pancakes at all, I was expecting them to be quite a bit darker. They weren't too bad, they were light and did at least taste like pancakes although the buckwheat flavour will take some getting used to. They were definitely better than the ones I'd made with gluten-free flour though. The worst bit was that they absorbed the maple syrup immediately and then were rather dry. Mental note for next time: don't pour it over the top!
I also did a bit of baking on Tuesday as there were a couple of recipes I wanted to try: pizza rolls and lemonade scones.
I made the lemonade scones first as they would be quickest. It was a pretty simple recipe with just three ingredients - self-raising flour (four if you used plain flour and baking powder as I did!), lemonade and crème fraîche. The mixture was supposed to be rolled out and then cut out with pastry cutters but it was just too wet. I almost used an entire box of flour in it so in the end I just dolloped spoonfuls on a tray, spread them out a bit and baked them. They didn't turn out too badly. The main downside to gluten-free flour is that it's very very white so the scones looked incredibly weird when they were cut open. They looked much better once covered with butter and jam! They didn't taste too bad either with a little hint of lemon and the texture was very much like a proper scone. Unfortunately, I had one two days after they'd been made and it was incredibly dry and didn't taste as nice at all.
The pizza rolls were made with a refrigerated pizza base rolled out into a rectangle - I couldn't find a refrigerated base so I got a packet mix for the base and used that instead. The original recipe had it topped with barbecue sauce, grated cheese, a shredded rotisserie chicken, chopped red onion and parsley. I used a tomato and basil sauce, grated cheese, finely chopped barbecue chicken, chopped white onion and a bit of a leftover yellow pepper and a sprinkle of oregano. Then you roll it all up, cut it into slices, and bake them in the oven. I think I'd rolled my base too thin so there wasn't much holding the filling in and they rather collapsed on the tray as seen in the top photo. But I had one and an end piece for my dinner and it was actually rather nice!
And just to make you even hungrier, here's a couple of other things I've made recently.
Lemon chicken schnitzel on a bed of coleslaw with crispy potatoes:
The schnitzel and coleslaw were handmade and quite the pain in the arse. The crispy potatoes were courtesy of Sainsbury's. It was a really tasty meal, just a shame it was so time-consuming to make. There's also a lot of waste. It's one of those recipes where you coat chicken in flour, dip it in egg and then roll it in breadcrumbs so you have to have quite a lot of flour, egg and breadcrumbs. But once it's all done, there's nothing else you can do with it all so you have to throw it away. I really don't like all that waste.
Apple gingerbread pudding:
This is really quite simple but so incredibly good. Sliced apples sprinkled with sugar, topped with a sponge flavoured with cinnamon, ginger and mixed spice. It's really a cold weather pudding served with custard but it's actually not bad cold with ice cream.
Cauliflower rice with herby chicken:
I'd seen cauliflower rice in the supermarket and had no idea what it was so I had a look online for information. I found this simple recipe that turns it into a sort of egg fried rice dish. I thought the cauliflower might be rather overpowering but it wasn't and was actually really tasty. There was some leftover which I had cold for dinner the following day which wasn't too bad but much better hot. The chicken was sprinkled with a Schwartz chicken spice mix and cooked in the oven.
Citrus almond cake:
This is a Middle Eastern recipe. It's made upside down with slices of orange, lemon and lime put on the bottom of the cake tin, then topped with a sponge made from ground almonds, zest and juice of the three fruits. It's surprisingly refreshing. Bit fiddly to make though, mainly because of all the juicing and zesting!
Ten minute Lemon chicken:
We've had Uncle Ben's lemon chicken sauce for years but it's disappeared from the supermarket and seems to have been discontinued. I happened to see this recipe and thought I'd give it a try. It's fairly quick and easy but very lemony! The first time I made it, I marinaded the chicken for 8 hours but that ended up making it really dark. The second time I marinaded it for about 20 minutes and added extra honey, ginger and a pinch of chilli flakes and that was much nicer. I'd usually serve it with a mix of white and wild rice, but I'd run out of wild rice!
If anyone wants any recipes, let me know! ;)
I also did a bit of baking on Tuesday as there were a couple of recipes I wanted to try: pizza rolls and lemonade scones.
I made the lemonade scones first as they would be quickest. It was a pretty simple recipe with just three ingredients - self-raising flour (four if you used plain flour and baking powder as I did!), lemonade and crème fraîche. The mixture was supposed to be rolled out and then cut out with pastry cutters but it was just too wet. I almost used an entire box of flour in it so in the end I just dolloped spoonfuls on a tray, spread them out a bit and baked them. They didn't turn out too badly. The main downside to gluten-free flour is that it's very very white so the scones looked incredibly weird when they were cut open. They looked much better once covered with butter and jam! They didn't taste too bad either with a little hint of lemon and the texture was very much like a proper scone. Unfortunately, I had one two days after they'd been made and it was incredibly dry and didn't taste as nice at all.
The pizza rolls were made with a refrigerated pizza base rolled out into a rectangle - I couldn't find a refrigerated base so I got a packet mix for the base and used that instead. The original recipe had it topped with barbecue sauce, grated cheese, a shredded rotisserie chicken, chopped red onion and parsley. I used a tomato and basil sauce, grated cheese, finely chopped barbecue chicken, chopped white onion and a bit of a leftover yellow pepper and a sprinkle of oregano. Then you roll it all up, cut it into slices, and bake them in the oven. I think I'd rolled my base too thin so there wasn't much holding the filling in and they rather collapsed on the tray as seen in the top photo. But I had one and an end piece for my dinner and it was actually rather nice!
And just to make you even hungrier, here's a couple of other things I've made recently.
Lemon chicken schnitzel on a bed of coleslaw with crispy potatoes:
The schnitzel and coleslaw were handmade and quite the pain in the arse. The crispy potatoes were courtesy of Sainsbury's. It was a really tasty meal, just a shame it was so time-consuming to make. There's also a lot of waste. It's one of those recipes where you coat chicken in flour, dip it in egg and then roll it in breadcrumbs so you have to have quite a lot of flour, egg and breadcrumbs. But once it's all done, there's nothing else you can do with it all so you have to throw it away. I really don't like all that waste.
Apple gingerbread pudding:
This is really quite simple but so incredibly good. Sliced apples sprinkled with sugar, topped with a sponge flavoured with cinnamon, ginger and mixed spice. It's really a cold weather pudding served with custard but it's actually not bad cold with ice cream.
Cauliflower rice with herby chicken:
I'd seen cauliflower rice in the supermarket and had no idea what it was so I had a look online for information. I found this simple recipe that turns it into a sort of egg fried rice dish. I thought the cauliflower might be rather overpowering but it wasn't and was actually really tasty. There was some leftover which I had cold for dinner the following day which wasn't too bad but much better hot. The chicken was sprinkled with a Schwartz chicken spice mix and cooked in the oven.
Citrus almond cake:
This is a Middle Eastern recipe. It's made upside down with slices of orange, lemon and lime put on the bottom of the cake tin, then topped with a sponge made from ground almonds, zest and juice of the three fruits. It's surprisingly refreshing. Bit fiddly to make though, mainly because of all the juicing and zesting!
Ten minute Lemon chicken:
We've had Uncle Ben's lemon chicken sauce for years but it's disappeared from the supermarket and seems to have been discontinued. I happened to see this recipe and thought I'd give it a try. It's fairly quick and easy but very lemony! The first time I made it, I marinaded the chicken for 8 hours but that ended up making it really dark. The second time I marinaded it for about 20 minutes and added extra honey, ginger and a pinch of chilli flakes and that was much nicer. I'd usually serve it with a mix of white and wild rice, but I'd run out of wild rice!
If anyone wants any recipes, let me know! ;)