Jess's Messes Perfect Picnic Pack

Hello food.....

Coming soon... The Jess's Messes Perfect Picnic Pack

Joe's amazing design!

I've got a few ideas for this pack: Eton Mess Kit, Mini Quiches, Crackers with a Dip, Ginger Biscuits, Lemonade.

If anyone has any other ideas what they would like to see in a perfect picnic pack, let me know: jess@jesssmesses.co.uk 

www.jesssmesses.co.uk
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Leftover Stale Bread Recipe

Hello food.....

Cheesey, Oniony, Bready Bake

Fondue!

Mmmmm cheesey!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a feast of Cheese Fondue - with bread, garlic bread, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, grapes, pineapple and more... (with red wine of course)!




Today I had a lot of leftover stale bread. I could have used this for croutons on a soup or salad, but there was a hell of a lot, so that meant gallons of soup or tonnes of salad. Therefore this Jess's Messes invention was born. It's a really quick and easy thing to make, and genuinely uses leftovers/essentials that the majority of people have anyway! Not like my Jess's Poncey Leftovers! Give it a go!

Cheesey, Oniony, Bready Bake

What do I need?

1/2 a Stale Baguette broken into pieces
1 Red Onion (sliced)
1 White Onion (sliced)
20g Butter
Pinch of Thyme
200g Cheddar Cheese (grated)
50g Parmesan Cheese (grated)
2 Eggs
100ml Milk
Salt and Pepper

What do I do?

preparation

1. Place the butter in a frying pan and melt, then add both onions, with a pinch of salt and the thyme. Fry slowly until soft, then turn up heat to get some colour and crispyness on the onions.
2. Crack the eggs and add the milk, a pinch of salt and a good amount of pepper to a bowl and whisk.
3. Place each bit of bread in the egg mix and cover the bottom of your baking dish, add a layer of onions and small layer of cheese.
4. Continue to layer up your dish in this order - bread, onion, cheese.
5. When complete, pour the remaining egg mix over your bake and squash down with a spatula.
6. Optional - add more cracked black pepper on the top.

time to bake

7. Bake at Gas Mark 5 (190 degees C) for 20-25 minutes.
8. Serve.

So unbelievably quick and easy and cheap, and ensures there is no wastage of stale bread.

Enjoy!

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Fanciful Flavoured Meringues

Hello food.....

So, I may have been off the radar for a little while, I've still been Jess's Messes experimenting though - this time with flavoured meringues.

Normal meringues (Merry Meringues at Christmas time) were what really started me off with cooking, and within the teeny, tiny world of the Barrowclough family I am quite famous for them, therefore I decided to expand on this and see what weird and wonderful creations I could come up with.... Now I share them with you.

Banoffee Pie Meringue (Banana Meringue, Caramel, Cream and Chocolate Shavings)

After Eight Meringue (Mint Meringue, Chocolate Sauce)

Lemon Meringue Pie (Lemon Meringue, Lemon Curd, Popping Candy)










Chocolate Orange Meringue (Chocolate Shavings and Orange Meringue)

 
Salted Caramel Meringue (Plain Meringue, Salted Caramel Topping)

Apple and Cinnamon Meringue (Apple Meringue, Cinammon Cream)

A selection of fanciful flavoured meringues for Mother's day

Including Eton Mess (strawberry meringue, cream, strawberry pieces) and improved Chocolate Orange

So, hopefully now I have got your tastebuds tingling... I am just investigating ways of delivering and storing these, so I can begin to sell them. It's a great idea for a gift, as they are slightly unusual - however sticking with classic flavours that everyone knows work!

Let me know what you think, or suggest your own idea and I will create: jess@jesssmesses.co.uk 

Easy Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Now, my lovely pal Sarh (known as Sarah to many) may think this has been put on here to humour her disaster outs attempt at ganache, this is not so, as many people have asked me for a quick and easy ganache recipe.

It's great for chocolate fudge cake, for chocolate cupcakes and needed for Jess's Giant Jaffa Cake and most importantly it's so quick and easy to do - if you following the method correctly (try doing that Sarh!! Hehe!)

What do I need?

250g dark chocolate
250ml double cream

What do I do?

1. Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a heatproof bowl.
2. Pour the cream into a pan and bring to the boil slowly.
3. Pour boiling cream over chocolate and whisk until all chocolate has melted.
4. Place in fridge until spreadable.
5. Et voila - une chocolate ganache!

P.S. note the recipe does not melt the chocolate in a pan, it is melted by the boiling cream!

Sarh has learnt from her mistake and now has her very own 'chief ganacher' badge! :)

Pizza Party Pleasure

I had the lovely DriveWorks ladies over to my house on Red Nose Day to make some tasty Jess's Messes pizza creations completely from scratch, along with red drinks and red clothes and red lipstick!

I organised the most important thing first, the cocktails:

Ice
Strawberries
Vodka
Prosecco

- blend the ice strawberries and vodka together, until slush, place in glass, top with prosecco!

 Then it was time to concentrate on food. So I got making the base and Nicola made a fantastic tomatoey, garlicky, oreganoey sauce! As we waited for the dough to rise there was plenty of time to eat crisps and my famous Jess's Messes Slightly Spicy Salsa - that appears at every party I do!

Time now to make pizzas - so we all made the based - Sarah making a fantastically shaped one - very impressed!!!! Then it was time to add the best bit, the toppings. Maria had brought along some lovely deli meats, so we included them on the meaty pizza, whilst Jane piled on the mushrooms to the veggie pizza.

 After 20 minutes or so in a medium oven the feast could begin, it truly was fantastic, and I was so so impressed with everyone! It all tasted fantastic! The red drinks kept flowing, pink champagne, red wine etc... Pizza really is such a great solution when you have a mixed group of people: veggies, picky people (me and sarah) and meat eaters, as everyone can make their own perfect pizza!

I hope they all enjoyed the evening as much as me and will come back again soon!