Thai Sticky Chicken – Rachel Allen

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

 

Rachel made this recipe on her ‘Home Cooking’ series and we thought it looked really good. I made it again the other day as it was Thai New Year between the 13th-15th April!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I’ve made this twice now and made it slightly different both times:

• The first time I used the nam pla (fish sauce) and it completely stunk out the fridge, but it did make the chicken taste good. I marinated the chicken for 2 days.
• The second time I substituted the nam pla for ketchup manis (sweet soy sauce) as I hoped it would make the chicken sweeter and more sticky. I marinated the chicken overnight. I used the remaining marinade in some stir-fried noodles.

 

Both times I used less chicken than the recipe stated (so it would serve 2 people), but I made the right quantity of marinade so we’d have more sauce.

I don’t like coriander leaf (but funnily enough I like the seeds) so I omitted it completely both times.

 

The recipe says to ‘Remove the chicken from the fridge about 30–40 minutes before cooking to bring to room temperature.’ but I didn’t have time the second time I made it, so I nuked the chicken on high for 2 minutes, then cooked in the oven as normal.

 

TASTE TEST:

The chicken tasted much better the first time I made it. I don’t know if it was the extra marinating time or the nam pla, but the flavours (sweet, sour, salty) were just more intense. So I would definitely marinate it for 2 days and store the chicken in an airtight container to stop the stink of the nam pla taking over the fridge!

 

The recipe below is how I made it, you can find the original here.

 

• Serves: 2
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C

 

Ingredients:

• 500-700g chicken, drumsticks and thighs (2-3 per person, depending on size)
• 2 red chillies, seeds removed and chopped
• 2.5 cm piece of root ginger, roughly chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 stick lemongrass, outer skin discarded, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp soft light or dark brown sugar
• 2 limes, juice only
• 3 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla) or ketchup manis

 

Directions:

1. Using a sharp knife, cut slashes in the chicken drumsticks and thighs and place
   them in an airtight box.
2. Place the remaining ingredients in a mini chopper/food processor and blend to a rough paste, then pour over the chicken. Put the lid on the box and shake to evenly coat the chicken in the marinade.
3. Leave to marinate in the fridge, preferably for 2 days, shaking the box occasionally to redistribute the marinade.
4. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C.
5. Remove the chicken from the fridge about 30–40 minutes before cooking to bring
   to room temperature (or heat on high in the microwave for 2 minutes). Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade (reserving the marinade) and arrange in a single layer on a baking tray. Roast in the oven for 35–40 minutes or until the meat is coming away from the bone.
6. Arrange the chicken pieces on a warm serving platter and place the reserved marinade and any juices from the baking tray into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon and scrape any sticky bits from the bottom, until thickened and sticky.

Rachel Allen’s Irish Apple Cake

 

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

 

I’ve had this recipe on my blog for a long time (since August 2008) and according to my stat-counter, it is one of the most searched for recipes. I hadn’t made it for ages, so I thought it was about time I made it again and also updated the photo, because the old one was truly terrible and made the cake look really unappetising! To be honest, these photos aren’t that much better and don’t really do the cake justice!

 

This cake is really very good. It’s super crunchy on the outside, with a soft light sponge centre. Perfect with a cup of tea or equally delicious as a pudding drowned in custard.

 

 

I have made this both by hand and in the food processor. It is a sticky dough type cake, rather than a sponge batter, so I really recommend using a food processor, otherwise it’s a bit messy!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I make a few small changes to Rachel’s recipe. First of all, I only use 1 eating apple instead of 2 Bramley cooking apples. This is because I’m not a big fan of Bramley’s and also because we always have eating apples in the house that are past their best and this is a great way to use them up. Secondly, I use 1 Tablespoon of Demerara sugar on the top, instead of caster sugar, as I think it gives a crunchier topping.

 

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 40-50 minutes
• You will need: 20cm/8inch springform/loose-bottom cake tin, lightly greased and lined
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Oven shelf position: middle

 

Ingredients:

• 225g (8oz) plain flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 100g (3.5oz) cold butter, cubed
• 100g (3.5oz) caster sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 100ml (3.5 fl oz) milk
• 2 medium Bramley cooking apples (or 1 eating apple)
• 1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven and put a baking tray in the oven to heat.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, then rub in the butter with your fingers until the texture resembles breadcrumbs (alternatively whizz up in a food processor).
3. Mix in 100g of the sugar, the egg and enough of the milk to form a soft dough - you may not need it all.
4. Spread one half of the dough into the cake tin - it's quite sticky so this part is a bit messy!
5. Peel, core and chop up the apple into 2cm squared pieces and place on the dough in the tin.
6. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar and the cinnamon.
7. Gently spread the other half of the dough on top of the apples to cover them completely.
8. Sprinkle over the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar. Bake on the baking tray for 40-50 minutes (mine only took 40 minutes in a Gas oven) until golden and crunchy on the outside.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• Even if the recipe doesn’t say to do so, I always sift my flour and baking powder to introduce air for a lighter sponge.
• When greasing and lining your tin, make sure the disc of greaseproof is well stuck to the bottom, as it will make it much easier when you come to spread out half of the dough on the base. I am quite mean when I spread the first half of the dough, so that I know that I will have enough to cover all of the apple with the other half. I find the best utensil for this is a small plastic spatula.

Dauphinois Potatoes

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:
I used the Rachel Allen recipe for Garlic Layered Potatoes from her book Rachel’s Favourite Food for Friends (which Steve bought for me many moons ago and I am sorry to say that I haven’t used very much!) for the ingredients and quantities, but I changed the method. This was mainly because I wanted to speed things up and also because I thought her way required too much faffing about with lots of layering of the potatoes and dotting with the garlic and butter. My way is a lot more slap dash, but at least you won’t want to commit hari-kiri before you’ve even put it in the oven and it still tastes great.

Even though I was only cooking for Steve and myself, I made a full quantity which should serve 5-6 people because I love potatoes and I knew that any leftovers would be just as good reheated. We ate half of the whole thing with steak and asparagus and the other half with a chicken, mushroom and pea dish that I made up (a recipe might get posted if I can remember the quantities!).

The photo above is of the reheated half and as you can see it really is a dish that doesn’t suffer from a night in the chiller. 30 minutes at Gas 6 should do the trick and keep it covered with foil if it is already quite brown from its first visit to the oven.

• Serves: 5-6 (but more realistically 4 greedy people)
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• You will need: a shallow wide gratin/ovenproof dish (I used a 10x10 inch square dish)

Ingredients:

• 250ml (8¾ fl.oz) double cream
• 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• 25g (1oz) butter
• salt and pepper
• 800g (1¾ lb) peeled potatoes (weigh when peeled), sliced ½cm (¼ inch) thick
• 2 small pinches of freshly ground nutmeg (I left this out)
• 40g (1½ oz) finely grated Parmesan Cheese (I used Twineham Grange)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Grease your ovenproof dish liberally with butter.
3. Place your cream, butter, garlic and salt and pepper in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil.
4. Add the potatoes and heat for a few minutes until the potatoes have absorbed some of the cream.
5. Pour the potatoes into your ovenproof dish (arranging the top layer as neatly as possible!), then scatter the Parmesan over the top.
6. Cover with tin foil and place in the oven for 1 hour, removing the foil after 30 minutes. The potatoes are done when you can easily stick a knife into them and the top should be golden brown.

COOK’S NOTES:

• Use a mandoline or V slicer to slice the potatoes to an even thickness. Go and look in the back of your cupboards, I’m sure you have one gathering dust!
• Use a dish that is big enough so that the potatoes are only about 3 layers deep, otherwise it will take longer to cook.

Steve’s Birthday Chocolate Cake

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

Today was Steve’s birthday!

His Mum usually makes him a cake, but this year we agreed I would have the honour. Even though I’m pretty confident at knocking out a cake or batch of biscuits for afternoon tea, making a celebratory cake was a bit daunting as you want it to be perfect for the special occasion!

So I didn’t want to try anything too ambitious, but I still wanted it to be special. I wanted to make him the Ultimate Chocolate Cake from the BBC Good Food website, but a mix up with the food shopping meant that I didn’t have any buttermilk which is a vital ingredient. So instead I used the sponge recipe from the Chococcino Cake which I loved as it was moist and dense and it didn’t require any special ingredients. I didn’t have any mascarpone to make the icing, so I just made a chocolate buttercream which I nicked from a Rachel Allen recipe and it worked well. I tried to make chocolate curls but failed – I think the chocolate needed to be a bit warmer, but it’s such a cold rainy day today and the central heating hadn’t kicked in properly yet.

The cake still looked and tasted good so I was happy. I’ve also made him his favourite for dinner: Thai Massaman Curry. For dessert he requested Crème Brulee, which I made slightly differently so check out that recipe to read the verdict!

• Makes: 1 8-inch round cake
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• You will need: 2x 8-inch (20cm) round loose-bottomed sandwich tins

Ingredients for the sponge:

• 200g soft, butter, plus extra for greasing (I used Stork)
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 140g self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 85g good-quality cocoa powder (I used Bournville)
• 2 Tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. Heat oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Grease 2 x 20cm non-stick round sandwich tins.
3. Place the butter and sugar into a food processor and whizz until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, whizzing after each egg until it is incorporated (you can add a tablespoon of flour with each egg to prevent it from curdling). Add the flour, cocoa and baking powder and process until smooth. Then add the milk and whizz again.
4. Divide the mix between the cake tins (use your spatula to create a slight dip in the middle so that when it bakes the top is level), then bake for 20-25 mins until it feels springy to the touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. When cool enough to handle, remove the cakes from the tins but leave on the bases to cool completely on a rack.

For the icing:

1. Place 75g room temperature unsalted butter in a food processor with 1 Tablespoon double cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and whizz until smooth. Then add 175g icing sugar and 1 Tablespoon good quality Cocoa powder and continue to mix until well incorporated. If it’s a cold day, you might need to add a little bit more cream to make it a spreading consistency.
2. Spread the icing over both of the cakes, then stack them.
3. Use a vegetable peeler to make curls of chocolate from a bar, this should work better if the chocolate is slightly warm.

Mandy’s Millionaire’s Shortbread

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

I had loads of leftover Butterscotch Sauce that I’d made hanging about in the fridge, so I decided to make Millionaire’s Shortbread. The Butterscotch Sauce is Rachel Allen’s recipe that I got from her book Rachel’s Favourite Food for Friends. The sauce is much runnier than in your usual Millionaire’s Shortbread, but it was still absolutely delicious!

The Shortbread recipe I used was the one on my blog and it worked really well. Obviously because it was thicker and cooked in a tin it wasn’t as crunchy, but it still had a really good texture.

• Makes: 16 squares
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• You will need: a large mixing bowl, an 8-inch square baking tin

For the Shortbread:

1. Make the shortbread as directed in the recipe, then press it into your 8-inch square tin, using the back of a spoon to smooth it flat. Bake on the top shelf for 20 minutes at Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C until light golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin. Meanwhile you can make the sauce.

For the Butterscotch Sauce:

• 125g golden syrup
• 75g light brown sugar or muscovado
• 50g white sugar, caster or granulated
• 50g butter
• 100ml double cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place all the ingredients into a small saucepan and melt slowly, stirring all the time, then simmer for 2-3 minutes until smooth.
2. Pour the sauce over the cooled shortbread (you probably won’t need the whole amount, as remember I used leftover sauce. You can store any extra covered in the fridge for weeks.) then put in the fridge so it can set a little bit (or if you’re really impatient like me, chuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes!).

For the Chocolate Topping:

1. Simply melt about 100g of milk or dark chocolate (minus any squares you have eaten!) in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, then pour over the set butterscotch sauce and spread – you will have to work quickly as the chocolate will harden as it cools on the cold sauce. 100g of chocolate will give quite a thin layer of chocolate. If you want a thicker layer, use a couple of bars!

I keep this covered in the fridge. The butterscotch sauce stays runny, so it’s a bit messy to eat!

Mini Chocolate Tarts

MUNCH RATING: 4 OUT OF 5

This is from Rachel's Favourite Food for Friends book and it uses half of the pastry batch made from using her Sweet Pastry recipe. You can make this as one big tart by blind baking a whole batch of the pastry and doubling the chocolate filling quantities. A big tart takes 17-20 minutes to bake.

• Makes: about 18 mini tarts
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Oven shelf: middle
• You will need: 2 shallow bun/mince pie/mini bun trays 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 quantity Sweet Pastry

CHOCOLATE FILLING

• 75 g (2.5 oz) milk chocolate, chopped
• 75 g (2.5 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
• 100 ml (3.5 fl oz) cream
• 75 ml (2.5 fl oz) milk
• 1 egg, beaten 

Directions:

1. Roll the pastry very thinly, to about 2 mm thick (putting the pastry in between 2 sheets of cling film). *I found the easiest way to roll it thinly was to divide the pastry into 3 balls and then roll those out separately.
2. Cut into rounds to line the bases of the tins. *Use a cutter which is just slightly bigger than the holes of your tins.
3. Freeze the pastry (for about 1 hour) till frozen (this means you don't have to use baking beans). *I found that my pastry did rise in places, so next time I will try pricking the bases before baking.
4. Pop into a preheated oven at Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C and bake for about 8 minutes or until pale golden.
5. To make the chocolate filling: Heat the cream and milk to almost boiling point, then remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir to melt all the chocolate. Let cool slightly for a few minutes, then stir in the beaten eggs.
6. Pour the chocolate mixture into the pastry shells. *I found the easiest way to do this was to put the mixture into a Pyrex jug and pour from that.
7. Cook the tarts for another 8 minutes or until they are just setting.
8. Take out of the oven and allow to sit in the tins for 10 minutes before taking out. *They might look quite undercooked but if you leave them for a couple of hours the filling will set more.
9. Dust with icing sugar and serve. *This is optional as I found them sweet enough as they were.

Rachel Allen’s Carrot Cake

MUNCH RATING: 1/5

I saw Rachel Allen make this cake on TV the other week and it looked really easy to make and quite delicious. It was easy to make however the quantities for the icing was far too much and I only needed about one third to cover the whole cake.

I had very mixed reviews on this cake, some people really liked the sultanas and others weren’t too keen, as they said it was too much like fruit cake. I personally thought it was OK, but it definitely tasted better the following day. I’d kept it in the fridge because of the cream cheese and I think it being served slightly chilled made a big difference.

For a totally awesome Carrot Cake recipe check this out!

Ingredients: 

For the cake:

• 140ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
• 2 eggs
• 200g soft light brown sugar
• 300g grated carrot, (grated weight)
• 100g raisins (I used sultanas instead)
  
• 75g pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 180g self-raising flour
• 1 pinch salt
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp mixed spice 

For the cream cheese icing:

• 250g cream cheese, chilled
• 50g butter, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 275g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 orange, zest only

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 2/300°F/150°C. Oil and line a 13 x 23cm loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then add the oil, brown sugar, grated carrot, raisins and chopped nuts. 
3. Sift in the rest of the dry ingredients and bring the mixture together using a wooden or large metal spoon until well combined.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, smooth the surface and bake in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
5. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tin for about five minutes before removing. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving. 

For the icing: beat the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl until well combined. Add the vanilla extract, icing sugar and finely grated orange zest and mix until the icing is smooth and thick. Using a palette knife, spread the icing evenly over the cooled cake, dipping the knife into a bowl of hot water if the icing is hard to spread out. Cut into slices to serve.

Rachel Allen’s Sweet Pastry

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

This pastry is really easy to make, especially if you use a food processor, but you can also make it by hand.


Ingredients for the pastry (these quantities makes enough for two 8-inch tarts, so you can freeze one portion raw for another time):

• 250g (9oz) plain flour
• 125 (4.5oz) butter, diced and softened*
• 75g (3oz) caster sugar
• ½ – 1 egg, beaten

Directions for the pastry:

1. In the food processor place the flour, butter and sugar and whizz up for a few seconds.
2. Add half the beaten egg and continue whizzing. You might need to add a little more egg, but don’t add too much – it should just come together (I used a whole egg).
3. Tip the mixture onto a board* and with your hands flatten out the ball of dough till it is about 3 cm thick.
4. Wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Putting it on a metal baking tray will speed up the chilling process (it will keep well for a couple of days in the fridge, or it will freeze).

* My butter wasn’t very soft as I made this tart on the day that it heavily snowed so it was really cold in the house! I’m sure this is why the mixture didn’t come together into a ball in the processor (it stayed like breadcrumbs) so I had to bring it together on the board which took a few minutes.
 
To roll the pastry:

1. Take the pastry out of the fridge (and split into two portions if doing two tarts).
2. Place one portion of the pastry and place it between 2 sheets of cling film bigger than your tart tin.
3. Using a rolling pin, roll out a circle no thicker than ¼ cm.
4. Removing just the top layer of cling film, place the pastry upside down (cling film side facing up) in the clean tart tin.
5. Press the pastry into the edges, cling film still attached and, using your thumb, ‘cut’ the pastry on the edge of the tin.
6. Remove the cling film and pop the pastry in the freezer for at least 10 minutes before baking blind.

To bake blind:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C*
2. Line the pastry with greaseproof/parchment paper, leaving plenty to come up the sides.
3. Fill with baking beans, or dried pulses (I used a mixture of red lentils and rice).
4. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until the pastry feels dry to the touch (you can prepare the filling whilst you’re waiting).
5. Remove the paper and beans. At this stage you can brush the base with a little left-over beaten egg (I didn’t do this as I didn’t have any left-over egg).
6. Return the pastry base to the oven for another 5 minutes.

COOK'S NOTES:

• I accidentally cooked the pastry at Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C as that is what I’d set the oven temperature to for my Blueberry Pear Crumble Topped Tart and it worked out fine.
• Pastry freezes perfectly when it's raw, so it's handy to have some in the freezer. If the pastry is completely frozen going into the oven, and is not in any way too wet, you can actually cook it without the paper and beans. But if the pastry is not frozen, or is too wet (i.e. with too much egg), it will fall down the sides of the tin while it is cooking.
• The reason for baking the pastry blind is to prevent the tart from getting a soggy base - so when making a tart with a 'custard' filling (as in eggs and milk or cream), it's essential. But for other tarts such as a Chocolate and Pear Tart, baking blind doesn't seem to be necessary.

Tzatziki

The first time I tried tzatziki was in Rhodes in Greece with some fantastic meze. I wasn't sure if anything I could create would taste as good as we're lacking essential holiday ingredients of sun, sea and sand in the UK but I was very impressed that this tasted quite authentic.

I first made this as an accompaniment to spatchcock roast chicken, which is a great way to roast chicken as it cooks faster and results in lovely juicy meat.

For the tzatziki I adapted a recipe from Rachel Allen's book "Rachel's Favourite Food for Friends". Her original recipe included 1 heaped tsp freshly chopped mint and 2 tbsp cream but I didn't have any so I left them out.

The recipe serves 10-12 but any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

1 crisp cucumber, halved lengthways, deseeded & diced into 3/4 cm dice
salt & pepper
dash of lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
450ml Greek Yoghurt

1. Put the cucumber dice in a sieve, sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for about 30 minutes.
2. Dry the cucumber on kitchen paper. Put it in a bowl and mix together with the garlic, lemon and the yoghurt.
3. Season to taste.