Bibbidi Bobbodi Boo - Sweet Tooth Time (Fudge Recipe and Egg-less Cookies)

Hello food.....

Sweet Tooth Time

Sometimes it is essential to find a  form of entertainment that does not involve much money.... some baking maybe? But what if you don't have everything needed in the house for cakes and brownies and cookies? In this case I had a serious lack of eggs! So here are a couple of ideas of things to make that contain just ingredients most people have in their house anyway.

Egg-less Cookies

Egg-less Cookies

What do I need?

• 200g Softened Butter or Marg
• 120g Icing Sugar
• 1 Tsp Bicarb of Soda
• 180g Plain Flour (Self-Raising can be used if needed)
• 80g Porridge Oats
• 120g Chocolate chunks/chips
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Essence

What do I do?

1. Cream together the butter and icing sugar.
2. Sieve in the flour and bicarb of soda and combine.
3. Add oats, chocolate and vanilla.
4. Place small blobs of mixture on a lined baking tray and bake at 180 degrees C / gas mark 5 for 15 minutes (until golden brown).
5. Et voila - Cookie time. (Leave to cool slightly before taking off baking tray)

Fantastical Fudge

Fantastical Fudge

What do I need?

• 300g Milk
• 350g Caster Sugar
• 100g Butter (unsalted)
•  1 Tsp Vanilla Essence

What do I do?

1. Place milk, sugar and butter in heavy based saucepan and heat on a low heat until sugar has dissolved and butter has melted, stirring all the time.
2. Bring to the boil and keep boiling for about 20 minutes, stirring continuously until it reaches the 'softball stage' 115 degrees C on a sugar thermometer.
3. When at the right temperatue, take off the heat and stir in vanilla essence. Leave to cool for 5-10 mins.
4. Beat for a minute or so until thickens, and pour in a lightly oiled tray to cool (not in fridge).
5. Cut into cubes and serve. 

The above recipes can be created very easily within an hour or so! Fantastic if you're craving sweet things, or just want to do a quick bit of baking!

ENJOY!! 

A fantastic student

Hello food.....

Sarh Pasta Making

Lovely Sarah Howlett (better known as Sarh) came for a Jess's Messes cooking lesson. We made: Fresh Pasta with Zingy Salsa Verde to start, followed by Seabass wrapped in Parma Ham with Dauphinoise potatoes and Tomato Ragout. Finally a lovely Chocolate Fondant with Creme Anglaise.

Sarh was the perfect student and made some absolutely wonderful food! I will be sending her all the recipes so she can make everything again! :)

Lovely!

Recipe of the Week: Fresh Pasta with Zingy Salsa Verde

Hello food.....

It was time to play around with the pasta machine again and make some sort of starter ravioli thing. I had limited supplies in the fridge, so the filling was just a simple cheddar cheese and spinach, therefore it was really important to have a tasty, tangy sauce. Therefore pasta with salsa verde was tested, and I must say went down pretty well.

What do I need?

Fresh Pasta with Zingy Salsa Verde

(Serves 4)
 
Pasta

• 2 Eggs
• 100g '00' flour
• 100g Semolina
• 10ml Olive Oil
• 30g Cheddar Cheese
• Handful Spinach (torn)
• Salt 
• Pepper

Salsa Verde

•  50g Basil
• 50g Parsley
•  50g Coriander
• 50g Chervil
• 1 Shallot
• 1 Lemon (zest and juice)
• 10ml Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Caster Oil
• Salt and Pepper

What do I do?

1. Place the flour and semolina in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Add eggs and olive oil and combine together using hands. When all combined and shiny place in the fridge.
2. Place all salsa verde ingredients in a bowl and blend using a stick blender.
3. Roll the pasta with a rolling pin and then keep rolling through the pasta machine until you can basically see through it, then cut with any shaped cutter you want your ravioli to be.
4. Combine together the cheese, spinach, salt and pepper in a bowl and place in your ravioli - stick each side of ravioli together with a little bit of water, or egg.
5. Place pasta in boiling water for 2 minutes, or until it rises to the top.
6. Serve straight away with salsa verde, a drizzle of olive oil and some cracked pepper.