Austrian Coffee Cake

INGREDIENTS

170 g caster sugar

170 g margarine

170 g self raising flour

3 beaten eggs

1/2 pint strong coffee (3 heaped tsp coffee)

2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp cherry brandy
100 g  Icing Sugar - sieved 
Approx 30ml Water

DIRECTIONS

Cream margarine, sugar and eggs. Gradually add flour. Pour into a well greased sponge ring tin and bake in the centre of the oven, at 190 °C for 30 mins. 

Mix together coffee, cherry brandy and the remaining sugar. When the sponge is cool, pour mixture evenly over the cake. 

Finally,place the sieved icing sugar in a mixing bowl, add the water and  beat until smooth and thick enough to thickly coat the back of a spoon.

If you find the mixture is too thin, add  more sieved icing sugar. If it's too thick add more water a few drops at a time as a little liquid goes a long way.

Glaze the cake, ready to serve.

Easy Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS 

750ml of single cream
5 egg yolks, beaten
150g caster sugar
100g fresh mint
25g chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Wash the Mint and puree it in a jug using a hand blender.  Make a simple custard by pouring the cream into a sauce pan with the beaten egg yolks and sugar. Put this on the cooker and heat on a medium heat stirring frequently to prevent the bottom burning. You need to bring this almost to the boil but not quite. This ensures the egg is cooked into the mixture and the sugar has all dissolved. Pour into a cold jug and leave to cool down. When cool mix in the mint puree and chocolate chips. Either put the mix into the Ice Cream Maker, following the manufacturer's recipe timing, or alternatively you can freeze it in the freezer but Ice Cream makers freeze more quickly producing smaller ice crystals.

Elderflower Champagne

2 Heads of Elderflower
1 1/2 lb White sugar
2 table spoons of  White-wine vinegar
1 gallon of Water
1 Lemon

Pick the Elderflower heads when in full bloom and put into a bowl
followed by the lemon juice, cut up rind (no white pith), sugar and
vinegar. Add the cold water and leave for 24 hours. Strain into
strong bottles, cork firmly and lay them on their sides. After two
weeks it should be ready to drink.

This is a summer drink, rather like lemonade, rather than a wine.

Source: Home Made Wines, Syrups and Cordials. by the National
Federation of Women's Institutes, 1957

Photo courtesy of www.blagger.com

All American Potato Salad

INGREDIENTS

3 lb. potatoes

2 large onions

1 large bell pepper

8 large sweet pickled gherkins

1/2 dozen eggs

2 tablespoons American  mustard

2 cups of Miracle Whip salad dressing or Mayonnaise

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

DIRECTIONS

 

Boil potatoes with skin on; chill overnight. Peel the potatoes and dice. Finely chop the onions, bell pepper and gherkins and add to the potatoes. Hard boil the eggs. Shell, roughly chop and add to potatoes. Next add the mustard, salad dressing, sugar and salt.  Mix well and refrigerate.

Pimms No 1 Fruit Cup

INGREDIENTS

Pimm's No.1
Lemonade
Mint
Orange
Strawberry
Cucumber

DIRECTIONS

Mix 1 part Pimm's Number 1 with 3 parts of lemonade over ice. Add strawberries, slices of orange and cucumber and garnish with a sprig of mint. 

Simples.... 

Chicken and Chorizo Paella (serves 15)

INGREDIENTS

1.5 kg Chicken Meat (Leg, Thigh or Breast meat diced into bite-size pieces - keep the skin & bone on for extra flavour)

1.5 kg Spanish Paella Rice

500g diced Chorizo

500g Chopped French green beans

8 medium, ripe tomatoes

About 3 litres of boiling chicken Stock

Large Pinch of Saffron

2 tsps of Sweet Paprika (Pimenton Dulce)

2 Red peppers, sliced & roasted if possible

Extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

Salt to taste

A few sprigs of Rosemary

2 lemons (cut into wedges for decoration)

Large handful of fresh chopped parsley 

DIRECTIONS

Heat a few tablespoons of the olive oil in the Paella Pan and part cook the chicken pieces a little (longer if they contain bones).

Make up the stock and add a good pinch of the saffron stamens. Let them infuse for about 15 mins.

To make the "Sofrito", one of the most important parts of the Paella, first sweat the onion in the Paella Pan until soft. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry over a high heat. Keep stirring. As the mixture reduces, it will start to thicken up to a thick dark paste. When it is this dark red paste you have the perfect sofrito !

Add the chorizo, paprika and about half of the peppers. Mix around thoroughly and continue fry for few more minutes.

Next pour the hot stock into the paella pan. Taste for seasoning. It needs to be quite well salted, but if using stock cubes, then you will probably not need any extra salt.

Add the beans and bring to the boil and leave for several minutes for all the flavours to mix in with the stock.

Now add the rice, mix around briefly and make sure all the rice grains are under the surface of the liquid. DO NOT STIR the rice after this.

After about 10 minutes the rice should start to appear though the liquid. Turn down the heat and continue to simmer for about another 10 minutes until the rice starts to absorb the stock.

Once most of the liquid has been absorbed, taste the rice. It should be cooked "al dente", still with a slight nutty taste.

Cover the Paella pan with foil and turn up the heat for a minute or so. (You will hear the rice "pop" as it is caramelising on the bottom of the pan). This is called the "Socarrat" the most highly prized part of the Paella. Covering the pan at this stage also helps finish off the cooking of the top layer of rice.

Turn off the heat. Decorate with lemon wedges, the remaining red peppers, the sprigs of rosemary and the chopped parsley. 

Recover and leave for a good 10 minutes to rest.

Serve directly from the pan,  remembering to scrape to the bottom to get the "socarrat."