Scones

 After I spent 10 days in Cornwall about 11 years ago, I wanted to prepare the perfect Cornish Tea.

During my drive all around Cornwall and mostly rainy weather, an afternoon stop in some Cafe that served Cornish cream tea, was the best way to end a day of exploring.

The clotted cream was a new experiance for me. That is something not available here at home. The quality of the Scones ranked from dry and edible to awesome.

I wanted to bake the awesome ones. I used the liquid or milk that was left over from the clotted cream. I think that was a good idea.

The recipe for the Scones is from Cupcake Jemma. But I did not prepare everything by hand. I blitzed the dry ingredients with the cold butter in my Thermomix. My hands are too warm and the butter gets to soft that way.

Recipe for 14 Scones:

425 g AP flour, 50 g sugar, 1/4 tsp salt

5 tsp baking powder, 125 g cold cubed butter

1 egg, 250 ml milk (or 1/2 milk and cream)

Some milk and egg to brush later. Flour for the surface.

The dough is sticky. Pat it or roll it out to 1 inch thickness. Take a ring cutter or a glass and press down. DO NOT turn the cutter around, that will close the outside of the scone. Just press down and take it out.

Bake at 170 C fan for 25 min. Check if the bottom of a scone is dry.

 

 

Strawberry Jam with pink Gin

It is finally German strawberry season.

The bright red fruits are still very expensive due to the long cold weather period and the hygene measures due to covid19.

But I could not resist to cook some jam. The is one of 3 parts of my Saturday treat of a Cornish Tea with Scones. While I was working on the jam, my oven was running the whole day to get me some Clotted Cream.

Recipe:

1 kg strawberries

50 ml pink Gin (,Wingston 77 Pink Edition)

1/2 lemon, pinch ground vanilla bean

280 g jam sugar 3:1

Hull the strawberries. Blend them with gin, lemon juice and vanilla. Add the special sugar and cook them with a rolling boil for 3 min. Use sterilized jars to fill the hot jam in.

Clotted Cream

I bought 600 ml of organic double cream this morning. 

I heated my oven up to 75 C and put a baking dish with the cream in a little water in it. This is the method made by Chef John from Food Wishes.com

Now I must wait about 10 hours.

After 10,5 hours I opened my oven and looked at the baking dish. It had a yellow layer on top, but it was very liquidy. I let it cool down to room temperature and covered it with cling film and stuck it in the  fridge over night.

In the morning I checked the progress. I drained the liquid into a jar for later and scooped out the cream.

The 600 ml double cream ended in 285 ml milk. 250 ml of it were used to make the scones and the rest was brushed in top for a shine.

Yeah! Clotted cream!

Pulled Beef Sandwich

Having a huge piece of slow cooked beef sitting in the fridge is a great thing to get creative. I made my own version of a steak and cheese sandwich.

On the top of the jar of sauce was sitting a 1 cm thick layer of fat. I scooped it out and used a bit of it to saute the veggies in. Getting the beefy flavouring that way. Before I added the shredded beef, I poured some of the sauce on one side of the pan and browned the insides of the baguette roll. Then I put the cold beef in the reaheat it insome more sauce.

Building the sandwich was not very easy. Lots of beef and veggies, pickled hot peppers and green herbs from my balcony topped with a slice of cheese.

Ingredients:

125 g pulled beef, shredded, beef stock, fat from the sauce

1 red bell pepper, 1 large spring onion, 6 pickled hot pepper

1 slice of cheese, fresh herbs

Chuck Roast Mississippi Style in a Crock Pot

Emmymade made that recipe on YT. A slow cooker meal on German holiday on a Thursday is great. The leftovers can be eaten over the long weekend.

I had a bit of a problem to buy the ingredients. They are so American. Ranch Dressing mix is not available in our supermarkets and the cut of beef called a chuck roast is done differently at our butcher shops. McCormick sauce packages are unknown here. But that is not a problem, we have Maggi and Knorr.

The jar of pickled hot pepperoni I have got from a Turkish supermarket. I bought two different jars and tasted them to choose the right brine and heat of the peppers.

These kinds of meat need a long time to get soft. Braising in liquid in a pot on the stove is one method. Putting the pot into the oven for a couple of hours is the other. But when you have a slow cooker or crock pot, a very long time on low setting will bring the best results. And that method is more or less hassle free.

 Ingredients:

1,4 kg Chuck roast (in Germany ask for Bug vom Jungbullen)

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix, 1 small container Knorr Braten Jus 

1 jar small green pepperoni in brine, use as many you like and 3/4 of the brine

100 ml water, 1 stick butter (115g)

Put the meat into the crock pot. No need to season it. Add the Ranch dressing mix and the Knorr jus. Chuck as many peppers into the pot as you like. Add brine and water. Set the piece of butter on top and close the lid.

Cook on low for 10 hours. Serve with boiled potatoes. 

Chicken Wings Masala spiced with Mango Chutney

Working from home still challenges me to put food on the table in a short time. A package of chicken wings comes in handy for such days. But only boring wings, no way. I wanted some more  spice to enjoy.

Last time I made chicken wings I breaded them and they were awesome. How could I improve that. The first thing I remembered was a jar of Mango Chutney in my dry storage. Then I saw my large jar of grilled Masala from Mauritius. Now I had the dish pinned down to a region.

I seasoned the wings and let them rest a bit while I made the breading station. I decided to put the masala seasoning into the beaten egg.

6 chicken wings separated, 1 egg with 1 heaped tsp Masala, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, oil to spray the airfryer, a jar of Mango Chutney

 

Bacon, Veggies and red Jasmine Rice

Bacon goes with basically everything. Last weeks veggies get a new shine with it.  Together with nutty red jasmine rice that dish is a winner. 

The rice needs a lot of water and two times the cooking time a regular Jasmine rice would need. It still has a bit of bite to it.

I started with the rice in my rice cooker. Then chopped onion and garlic and let it get cooking with the bacon bits.

That gave me enough time to chop courgette and eggplant and to quarter some squishi tomatoes. That was added one after the other into the pan. Stir often.

Now in with a stalk of rosemary, majoram, thyme and oregano. A bit of pepper is a good idea now. But be very carefull with salt. I added 125 ml of veg stock to the pan. That is salty too.

Place a lid on the pan and reduce the heat and let it simmer for 6 to 10 min or until zhe red rice is finally done.

Ingredients:

125 g smoked bacon bits, 2 spring onions, 3 cloves of garlic, fresh herbs,

1 courgette, 1 eggplant, 4 medium tomatoes, 125 ml veg stock, pepper, salt and a little olive oil.

1 cup red Jasmine rice