F1 day and Sunday Dinner

Today we had my step daughter and boyfriend over to watch the F1 (boring), we had a great afternoon and a lovely evening too.
I made a lovely roast beef dinner with a hot choc fudge cake with fudge sauce and ice cream. Needless to say Meagan ended up taking most of the left over cake home and ive got a feeling she wont be sharing much of it.

Potato Soup

• 6 slices Thin Bacon, Cut Into 1-inch Pieces
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
• 3 whole Carrots, Scrubbed Clean And Diced
• 3 stalks Celery, Diced
• 6 whole Small Russet Potatoes, Peeled And Diced
• 8 cups Low Sodium Chicken Or Vegetable Broth
• 3 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
• Black Pepper To Taste
• 1/2 teaspoon Cajun Spice Mix
• 1 teaspoon Minced Fresh Parsley
• 1 cup Grated Cheese Of Your Choice

Preparation Instructions

Add bacon pieces to a soup pot over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove the bacon from the pot and set it aside. Pour off most of the grease, but do not clean the pot.
Return the hot to medium-high heat and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the diced potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and Cajun spice.
Pour in the broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get tender. Whisk together the flour and the milk, then pour into the soup and allow the soup to cook for another 5 minutes.
Remove half to 2/3 the soup and blend in a blender/food process until completely smooth. Pour it back into the soup pot and stir to combine. Let it heat back up as you taste for seasonings, adding more of what it needs. Stir in cream, then stir in parsley, reserving a little for garnish.
Serve in bowls garnished with parsley, grated cheese and crisp bacon pieces.

Bacon and Stilton Rolls

Originally from Paul Hollywood’s Bread.
Makes 7 rolls.
500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
7g salt
10g fast-action dried yeast
60g unsalted butter, at room temperature
320ml cool water
130g dry-cure back bacon rashers, rind removed
150g Stilton, at room temperature, crumbled
1. Put the flour in a large bowl and add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the butter in small pieces and mix with your fingers. Add 240ml of the water and mix it into the other ingredients using the fingers of one hand and a clawing action. Now add the remaining water a little at a time until you have a soft, sticky dough and you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. You may not need to add all of the water; it will depend on the absorbency of the flour you’re using.
2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 5-10 minutes (or longer if you’re a beginner). It will become less sticky as you knead and eventually turn into a small ball with an elastic texture.
3. When the dough is smooth and stretchy, put it into a large bowl. Cover with cling film or a tea towel and leave to rise until doubled or tripled in size – at least 1 1/2 hours, but it can take up to 2 or even 3 hours.
4. In the meantime, heat your grill to medium-high and grill the bacon rashers for a minute or two on each side until cooked. Set aside to cool, then cut into small pieces (you need 90g).
5. Tip the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knock back by folding it in on itself repeatedly until it is smooth and all the air has been pushed out. Use your hands to mix the crumbled Stilton and bacon into the dough, really crushing them in so they are evenly distributed.
6. Roll the dough into a long sausage and divide it into 16 equal pieces. The easiest way to do this is to cut the roll in half, then cut each piece in two, then repeat twice more. You can weigh the dough to be sure the pieces are the same size, and they’ll cook evenly.
7. Now roll each piece of dough into a ball between the palms of your hands. Alternatively, you can shape each one into a ball by rolling it around on the work surface using the cupped palm of one hand (or use both hands to roll two balls at a time).
8. Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment or silicone paper, unless you have good non-stick trays. Place a roll in the centre of each tray and arrange 7 rolls around it, so they are almost touching. The rolls will come together as they rise to form a tear-and-share loaf.
9. Put each tray of rolls inside a large plastic bag, making sure there is plenty of space above the rolls so they won’t touch the plastic and stick to it as they rise.
10. Leave the rolls to prove, or rise again, until they have doubled in size and come together. This will take about 1-1 1/2 hours. The dough is ready for the oven if it springs back when you push a finger into it. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 220C.
11. Spray the rolls with water, using a spray bottle, and then dust with flour. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

English Muffins

Makes 8 muffins
25g (1oz) unsalted butter
2tsp caster sugar
300ml (½pt) whole milk
1 x 7g sachet dried yeast
450g (1lb 2oz) strong-white flour
A pinch of sea salt
50g (1¾oz) dry polenta

Put the butter and sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and pour in the milk. Whisk in the yeast and set aside.
Pour the flour and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and set the machine on its second lowest setting. Gradually pour in the milk and yeast mixture until fully combined and mix for 10 minutes. Turn the dough out into a large clean bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle the work surface with half of  the polenta and turn out the dough. Using your hands, gently flatten the dough into  a large rectangle, roughly 1.5cm (¾in)  thick, and dust the top with the remaining polenta. Use an 8cm (3¼in) round cutter  to cut out 8 circles of dough, re-rolling the scraps if needed. Space the muffins out evenly on a large non-stick baking tray and leave to rise for 20 minutes.
Heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and cook the muffins (you may need to do this in batches) for 10-12 minutes, turning occasionally, until risen and golden. Serve warm, cut in half and spread with butter.
If you leave them to cool, cut them in half and toast until golden before spreading with butter or topping with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce or with bacon, cheese and a fried egg

Pizza Bread

Here’s what you’ll need:
2 teaspoons yeast
1 ½ cups warm water
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
2 ½ cups favorite toppings, diced (I used pepperoni, sun-dried tomatoes, green onions, black olives, red pepper, green pepper, and roasted garlic.)
½ cup Parmesan
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 jar of marinara sauce for dipping

Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a large bowl. Let it sit for 3 minutes. Add in flour, salt, and sugar. Mix using a spoon just until it comes together. (There’s no need for a big stand mixer here.)
Add in the toppings and Parmesan and combine well. The dough will be tacky. Dust with a bit more flour if it feels too tacky. Let rise for about 1 hour, then put in the refrigerator to continue rising for another hour.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Flour your countertop, then roll out the dough into a rectangle about 11×17”. Sprinkle mozzarella over top. Then, fold along the long side, like an envelope. Seal sides so cheese is not exposed. Let your loaf rest while you preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Bake the bread, either on a pizza stone or baking sheet, for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. About halfway through I added a piece of aluminum foil to the top of my loaf to prevent it from getting too dark. About 3 minutes before taking it out, lightly brush the top with olive oil and let it finish baking. Let rest on a wire rack to cool slightly before slicing.

Quick potato bread rolls

These are a very soft roll, they dont taste of potato just makes them so soft
Quick Potato Rolls
Makes 12 Rolls
3-1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 envelope of yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup instant potato flakes or buds* (I used the instant flakes)
2 eggs
In large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water, milk, and butter until very warm (120o to 130oF). Stir in potato flakes; let soften 1 minute. Stir into dry ingredients. Stir in 1 egg and enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes. Cover; let rest on floured surface 10 minutes.Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece to 12-inch rope. Coil each rope to make “snail” shape. Arrange rolls in a circle on large greased baking sheet with sides barely touching. Place large shallow pan on counter; half fill with boiling water. Place baking sheet on pan. Cover; let rise 15 minutes. Lightly beat remaining egg; brush over rolls. Bake at 375oF for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from sheet; let cool on wire rack.

Nayaras Birthday cake

Breakfast out

Jeannette and i enjoying a very large full English in a cafe in Brunsum, this place has the best English breakfast...its huge and i didnt finish it but gave it a good go....haha

Turkey, stuffing & cranberry chelsea buns

	Ingredients
500	g/1lb 2oz strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
50	g/2oz caster sugar
10	g/1/4oz salt
40	g/11/2oz unsalted butter cut into small pieces, plus extra for greasing the tin
2	free-range eggs
2	x 7g sachets fast-acting dried yeast
150	ml/5fl oz lukewarm milk
90	ml/6 tbsp lukewarm water
280	g/10oz cranberry sauce
300	g/101/2oz roast turkey, shredded
200	g/7oz leftover sage and onion stuffing

1.	Preparation method
2.	Place the flour, caster sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter, eggs, yeast, milk and warm water.
3.	Mix the ingredients with your hands until a rough dough is formed.
4.	Tip the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead well for ten minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
5.	Place the dough into a clean, oiled bowl , cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for one hour.
6.	Tip the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface.
7.	Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 50x28cm/20x11in. Turn the dough so that the longer edge is closest to you and “tack” the dough to the work surface by pressing it down firmly with your finger.
8.	Spread cranberry sauce onto the surface of the dough with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the shredded turkey and stuffing on top.
9.	Roll the long side of the dough towards you quite tightly, forming a spiral inside. When rolled up, release the tacked edge and place it onto a floured part of the surface. With a sharp knife cut the sausage shape into 5cm/2in rounds.
10.	Place all spiral rounds, swirly side up, into a large, deep roasting tin or baking tray greased thoroughly with butter, leaving a 1cm/½in space between each one. You want them to be close enough so that they will bake with their sides touching.
11.	Cover with a damp tea towel and set aside in a warm place to rise for an hour. They should have expanded and be touching each other.
12.	Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
13.	When the buns are ready, put them in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
14.	After removing the buns from the oven, let them cool slightly before removing them from the tin and placing on a cooling rack.
15.	When ready to eat, pull the buns apart to reveal the soft edges.

Goulash Soup for slow cooker

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 lb / 500g braising beef

1 tsp white sugar

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp hot paprika

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes drained

2 carrots, thickly sliced

500 ml beef stock

1/2 tsp caraway seeds

1 red paprika sliced

1/2 lb / 250 g new potatoes, cubed...optional

After heating the stock on high for 20mins in slow cooker, i put everything straight into the slowcooker minus potatoes and cook on high for an hour then turn to low for the rest of the day...min 7hrs..30mins before serving i add the potatoes..