Apple crumble cheese cake

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/apple_crumble_cheesecake_79571.pdf

RONDO'S for Pam

250 g (all-purpose) flour
200 g butter, cold and diced
160 g soft white sugar
1/2 egg (about 25 g)
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp baking powder

300 g almondpaste
25 g water
17 amarena cherries, drained (the one you buy in syrup)(optional)
1/2 egg, beaten
17 almonds, whole

Mix the flour, lemon zest, baking powder, sugar and 1/2 egg in a bowl. Add the butter and knead this quickly in to a smooth dough. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the refrigerator. Preferably one day ahead.

Preheat the oven to 380ºF. Grease the rings and place them on a bakingsheet with baking parchment. Mix the almondpaste with the water until smooth.

Take the dough out of the fridge and give it a short knead. Roll out , about 1/6". and cut out circles that fit the rings. (if you use a muffintin, measure the bottom and the top diameter of the molds and cut out these two sizes.

Place a dough disk on the bottom and scoop (or use a pastry bag with a plain tip) a little of the almondpaste in the middle, leaving 1/4" free around the edge. Place a cherry in the middle. This is optional, but gives a great surprise of flavour if you bite into the rondo.
Put another circle on top. No need to push it down or cover the sides. Brush with the eggwash, place a almond on top and eggwash again. Bake the rondo's for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Take them out of the molds at once (carefully) and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

You're in for a real dutch treat...enjoy!

Upside-down Chicory Cheesecake

Passed on to me by Ingrid.

Serves 6 to 10
Difficulty - easy!
Preparation time - 20 minutes
Cooking time - 2 hours
Suggested wine - Fairview Viognier

Ingredients
3 medium-sized heads of chicory
1 cup cream
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
Grated nutmeg for seasoning
3 eggs
500 g low-fat cream cheese
1 tablespoon flour
50 g toasted breadcrumbs (I bought the ready-to-use ones, but you can make them yourself...)
⅓ cup Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra shavings for serving
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Chives or Italian flat leaf parsley for serving

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Line a 30 cm round springform or loose-bottomed cake tin with a round of baking paper. Cut two rounds of the same size and set one aside for later.
3. Cut the ends off the chicory, then slice lengthways.
4. In an saucepan over a medium heat, simmer the chicory in the cream, covered, for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until just cooked but still tender-crisp.
5. Strain over a bowl, reserving the liquid.
6. Arrange the chicory in the prepared cake tin.
7. Blend the eggs, cream cheese, flour and reserved liquid, and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
8. Pour into the tin. Mix the breadcrumbs with the Parmesan and melted butter, and sprinkle on top.
9. Butter the last round of baking paper well on one side, and place on top of the breadcrumbs.
10. Bake on a baking tray for about 90 minutes or until set. Turn off the heat and leave in the oven for another 10 minutes.
11. Remove and cool for a further 10 minutes.
12. Invert onto a serving platter, top with shavings of Parmesan and sprinkle with roughly chopped chives or flat leaf parsley. Serve warm.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

250g whole dates, pitted and chopped

175g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

60g soft butter

125g dark muscovado sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon black treacle

100ml milk

For the Sauce:

250g muscovado sugar

75g butter, diced

400ml whipping or double cream

1. Start the pudding the day before serving. Put the dates in a bowl with 150ml boiling water and soak for about half an hour. Set the oven at 160 degree C. Grease an 18cm square cake tin, line the bottom with non-stick baking parchment and dust the sides with flour.
2. Sift the flour and soda into a bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together in another bowl until fluffy and paler in colour. Beat in the eggs a little at a time. Beat in the treacle, then gently fold in the flour and milk using a large metal spoon Take care not to overmix.
3. Lightly mash the soaked dates with a fork then stir them into the pudding mixture. Pour into the cake tin and place in the oven on a backing sheet. Bake for a bout 45 minutes or until the top of the pudding feels springy when gently pressed.
4. Make the sauce. Put the sugar and butter in saucepan with half of the cream. Bring slowly to the boil over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer for 4-5 minutes until the sauce is a rich toffee colour, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the rest of the cream.
5. Remove the pudding from the oven and slowly pour half of the sauce over it. Cool, then cover the tin and leave the pudding to soak in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Keep the rest of the sauce in the covered pan in the fridge.
6. To finish, reheat the pudding in a 140 degree C oven for 20 minutes. Reheat the remaining sauce in the pan on top of the stove. Service the pudding cut n squares with the extra sauce and custard and/or vanilla ice cream.

Chinese Cabbage Salad

Ideal served with panfried marinated duck breasts

Thinly sliced:

Red cabbage

White/green cabbage

Red onion

Grated:

Carrots

Courgette

Optional:

Bean sprouts

Add:

Cashew nuts

Dressing:

Equal quantities of:

Soy Sauce

Japanese Mirin

White vinegar

Add to taste:

Honey

Salt & Pepper

Adjust seasoning by adding more of any of the first 3 ingredients to taste.

Perfect Roast Pork Belly

• 
  

  2kg boneless pork belly, skin scored

• 1 onion, cut into chunks

• 1 carrot, cut into chunks

• 1 celery stick, cut into four pieces

• 4 sprigs flatleaf parsley

• 2 sprigs thyme

• 3 star anise

• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half

• 110g butter

• 2 tbsp honey

• 110ml red wine

• 250ml beef stock

• salt and freshly ground black pepper

  
  

  For the apple sauce

  25g/1oz butter

  1 large Bramley or 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, roughly chopped

  For the apple sauce, heat the butter and Bramley apples in a lidded saucepan over a gentle heat. Cover and cook for 2-4 minutes, or until the apples have collapsed and are soft and fluffy. Stir the mixture to form a smooth purée.

  
  

  Preparation method

  For the pork belly, place the pork belly, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, star anise and cinnamon sticks into a large saucepan. Cover with cold water until the pork is just covered.

  
  

  1. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for two hours.

  2. Remove the pork belly from the mixture and place between two heavy baking trays. Chill in the fridge for at least two hours.

  3. Preheat the oven to 225C/450F/Gas 8.

  4. Remove the pork from the fridge and cut into four squares.

  5. Heat an ovenproof frying pan until hot, add half of the butter and the pork belly pieces, skin-side down. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

  6. Carefully turn the pork belly pieces over and pour over the honey. Roast the pork belly in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the pork skin is crisp.

     
     

     Meanwhile, bring the red wine and beef stock to the boil in a saucepan and cook until the volume of the liquid has reduced by half. Whisk in the remaining butter and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Traditional Lasagne al Forno

Serves 8

450g no-cook dried lasagne sheets (+-24 sheets) or fresh if you prefer

400g Mozzarella, diced or grated

110g Parmesan, freshly grated or shaved

For the Ragu

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, peeled

200g sliced pancetta (or streaky smoked bacon)

2 fat cloves garlic chopped

350g minced beef

350g minced pork (use all beef if you don't want to use pork)

175g finely chopped chicken livers (trimmed and rinsed under cold water and dried thoroughly with kitchen paper)

1 x 400g tin Italian chopped tomatoes

1 x 230g tin chopped tomatoes

6 tablespoons tomato puree

175ml red wine

1/4 whole nutmeg

15g fresh basil

salt and freshly milled black pepper

First of all begin by making the ragu. Heat a tablespoon of oil in your largest frying pan over a medium heat and gently fry the onion for about 10 minutes. While it is softening, chop the pancetta. Add this to the pan along with the garlic and continue cooking the whole lot for about 5 minutes. Transfer this mixture to the casserole.

Next, add another tablespoon of oil to the pan, turn up the heat to its highest, then add the minced beef and brown it, breaking it up and moving it around in the pan; when browned tip it into the casserole to join the onion mixture, then heat another tablespoon of oil and do exactly the same with the minced pork. Transfer to the casserole too. Finally, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and cook the pieces of chicken liver, adding these to the casserole as soon as they have browned nicely.

Place the casserole over direct heat, and give everything a really good stir. Then add the contents of both tins of tomatoes, the tomato puree, red wine, a really good seasoning of salt and pepper and about a quarter of a nutmeg, grated. More stirring, then allow this to come up to simmering point. While that happens, strip the leaves from the basil, tear them into small pieces and add to the casserole. As soon as everything is simmering, place the casserole on the centre shelf of the oven and leave it to cook slowly, without a lid, for exactly 4 hours. It's a good idea to have a look after 3 hours to make sure all is well and to have a good stir, but what you should end up with is a thick, reduced, concentrated sauce, with only a trace of liquid left in it. When that happens, remove the casserole from the oven, taste to check the seasoning, then strip the remaining leaves off the basil, tear them into small pieces and stir them it.

For the cream sauce:

175ml double cream

1.5 litres milk

175g butter, plus a little extra for greasing pan

110g plain flour

1/4 nutmeg

salt and freshly milled black pepper

Place the milk, butter, flour and some seasoning in a large thick-based saucepan. Place this over a gently heat and whisk continuously with a balloon whisk until the sauce comes to simmering point and thickens. Then, with the heat as low as possible, continue to cook the sauce for about 10 minutes. After that beat in the cream , taste and season if needed and grate in another quarter of the whole nutmeg.

Assembly:

25.5 x 30 x 7.6 cm roasting tin/ovenproof dish, well buttered

Now spread about a quarter of the ragu over the base of the dish. Cover this with one fifth of the sauce followed by a quarter of the mozzarella, then arrange a single layer of the lasagne. Repeat this process three more times, finishing with a final layer of sauce, then cover the whole lot the the grated parmesan and the lasagne is ready for the over. All this can be done well in advance.

Then when you are ready to bake the lasagne, pop it on to the top shelf of the over, pre-heated to gas mark 4, 350 F (180C) for 45-50 minutes, or until it's bubbling and turning slightly golden on top.