Category: Recipes

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Recipes Sides

Korean Cauli Roast

Here’s a delicious side dish that is built for sharing as part of a spicy banquet or feast, ideally with some cold drinks. Give everyone a fork each and let them tuck in, choosing a roasted floret or two and twirling it round to become coated in the spicy Korean Sauce.

The recipe for the Korean Sauce can be found in my Korean Pulled Pork Sandwich post. Although I made the Sauce originally to pour over pulled pork, I found it goes equally well with other dishes, as shown here with roasted cauliflower florets. If you’re not making the pulled pork, or if you want the Sauce to be vegetarian or vegan, just add water in place of the pork juices.

Servings

Served alongside other sides and mains, this will feed 4.

Timings

5 mins to steam the cauli, then 20 mins to roast.

You Will Need

  • 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
  • a saucepan of Korean Sauce (vegetarian version)
  • 3 – 4 scallions
  • half a carrot
  • a handful of sesame seeds

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180C.
  2. Put the cauli florets in a steamer basket over a pan of boiling water for 5 mins (I find this helps the cauli become tender and succulent in the roasting process).
  3. Warm the Korean Sauce on the hob or in the microwave.
  4. Remove the cauli from the steamer and lay out on a roasting tray.
  5. Brush all over with the Korean Sauce, and put in the oven for 20 mins.
  6. Remove the roasted cauli and place in a serving bowl. Drizzle over some generous spoonfuls of the Korean Sauce, and garnish with chopped scallions, carrot sticks and sesame seeds.

Customise It!

There will already be chopped chilli in the Korean Sauce, but you can add a bit more as a topping if you want an extra fiery kick. Matchsticks of cucumber also work well as a topping, and give a kind of antidote to the heat!

Here’s an old track I heard in a friend’s car the other day, and which I hadn’t heard in years. It has a really catchy chorus, so you may find yourself humming it, as I have been this week. This is Dr. Feelgood with Don’t You Just Know It.

Categories
Mains Recipes

Korean Pulled Pork Sandwich

I ordered this for lunch recently in a hipster cafe-bar that had a very tempting variety of dishes on the menu. I thought it was amazing so decided I would try to recreate it myself.

I’ve roasted pulled pork before in my electric slow cooker, but hadn’t really created anything I could call a Korean sauce.

After a bit of reading up, I treated myself to a couple of specialist ingredients I hadn’t bought before, but which seemed to be quite key to the whole concept: rice vinegar and Gojuchang paste. The rest of the ingredients, such as dark soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger and so on, are things that I tend to have in usually.

I’m glad I invested in the specialist foods – particularly the Gojuchang paste, which has a distinctive dark and smoky taste with a chilli kick. I found both in the Asian aisle of my local Sainsbury’s.

Servings

A meal for 4 with some left over for lunch the next day.

Timings

20 mins to prepare the pulled pork, then 6 hours in a slow cooker. It took me about 25 mins to make the sauce while the pork was finishing off.

You Will Need

For the Pulled Pork

  • Joint of shoulder of pork between 1kg – 1.4kg
  • sea salt and black pepper
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 1 500g carton of tomato passata
  • 60ml cider vinegar
  • 1tsp paprika
  • 1tsp ground cumin

For the Korean Sauce

  • oil
  • 1 small red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 2cm piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 red chilli, chopped into fine rings with seeds removed
  • 60ml dark soy sauce
  • 2tbsp rice vinegar
  • 50ml runny honey
  • 1tbsp Gojuchang paste
  • cornflour
  • water

To Serve

  • Brioche rolls
  • spring onions
  • half a carrot

Method

  1. Switch on the slow cooker and turn to a high setting.
  2. Heat a little oil in a wok or large frying pan and sear the pork on all sides. When nicely browned, transfer to the slow cooker bowl and season with a few twists of sea salt and black pepper.
  3. Put the other ingredients into the wok or pan, and stir to combine in the heat. When warmed, pour over the joint of pork. Put the lid on the slow cooker and leave on a high heat for 30 mins. Then reduce to medium setting and leave for 5 and a half hours more.
  4. Start making the sauce about 40 mins before the pork is due to finish.
  5. Heat some oil in a saucepan and add the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli. Leave until sizzling and softened.
  6. In a jug, combine the soy, rice vinegar, honey and Gojuchang paste, then pour into the saucepan. Give it all a stir and leave to simmer.
  7. When the pork has completed its 6 hours, remove it from the slow cooker and leave to rest in a rectangular serving dish.
  8. Tip the juices from the slow cooker into the saucepan and stir.
  9. Add a paste of 2 tbsp cornflour and 1 tbsp water, stirred so it forms a creamy liquid. Stir it in and watch the sauce thicken. Do this again until the sauce has a thickish consistency so it will cling to the pork when poured over.
  10. Using 2 forks, dive into the pork joint and pull it apart from the centre. You should have lovely soft, flaky fibres of tender meat. Pop one in your mouth to appreciate how good it tastes.
  11. Pour the sauce into a jug and serve alongside the dish of pulled pork.
  12. Serve with the rolls, halved and lightly toasted on the inside, with a garnish of chopped scallions and carrot sticks.

Customise It!

I will be posting other recipes that use the Korean Sauce, but which will be vegetarian or vegan. For these, don’t add the pork juices, and use water instead.

Here’s a track for the Playlist from The Wedding Present. I’ve seen them live a few times and they are always worth the ticket price. Their sound is a cross between Buzzcocks and Orange Juice, so no surprise that I’m a fan. This is My Favourite Dress.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Spiced Apple & Oat Muffins

I still have lots of apples from the garden around for baking with at the moment – you’d almost think they grow on trees…..

Even after making my Dorset Apple Cake, there were still plenty more to combine with oats and spices in these tasty muffins, shown in my main photo above. Great with a cup of tea, for dessert or breakfast, and lovely with a few spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt on the side.

Servings

12 muffins.

Timings

10 mins to prepare, 25 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need

  • 190g plain flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • half tsp salt
  • 1 and a half tsp mixed spice
  • 120g caster sugar
  • 170g finely chopped apple
  • 60g sultanas
  • 1 egg
  • 60g oats
  • 150 ml milk
  • 90 ml vegetable oil

Method

  1. Warm the oven to 180C and grease a muffin tin or mould.
  2. Sieve the flour, baking powder, salt and mixed spice into a bowl. Add the sugar, chopped apple and sultanas, and mix so that the fruit is coated in flour.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, oats, milk and veg oil.
  4. When the oven is up to temperature, combine wet ingredients with dry, and stir to mix. Spoon into the muffin tin or mould and bake for 25 mins. Cool on wire rack before serving.

Customise It!

Cinnamon or nutmeg will go just as well as the mixed spice if you wish. A handful of toasted chopped nuts would be a good addition.

With a number of posts recently featuring spice, it’s amazing that I have thus far managed to avoid adding a track by the Spice Girls to the ADK Playlist. This probably has something to do with the fact that I am not a massive fan. This song, which I do like, comes fairly close, however. Bryan Adams and Mel C (aka the Sporty one) with When You’re Gone.

Categories
Bakes Blog

I am a Bake-Off Winner!

This week I’ve received the exciting news that I have won an award in the Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off 2023!

My Spicy Veg Strudel was joint winner in the Savoury Bake category, along with a magnificent Courgette and Mint Tart. You can check out all the award winners here.

I very much enjoyed entering the Bake-Off for the first time, and winning an award is, shall we say, the icing on the cake.

Well done to Mel and Gary for organising and hosting such a fun event, and Jeanne for judging. Massive praise to all our Bake-Off entrants: you demonstrated the creativity and innovation of the online baking and foodblogging community, with such a consistently high standard of bakes.

So here’s a well done message to all involved in customary ADK style: Fatboy Slim with Praise You.

Categories
Breakfast Desserts Recipes

Spiced Plum Compote

A plentiful supply of fresh plums has been arriving off the trees and into the ADK kitchen recently – I guess it’s that time of year. Here’s a very quick and easy way of cooking them up for use either as a breakfast topper, on oats or muesli, or as a dessert, with milk or natural yoghurt (see above). There are only 4 ingredients and the whole exercise will take about 10 mins.

And it’s delicious.

Servings

At least 6 servings.

Timings

10 mins.

You Will Need

  • 9 – 10 fresh plums
  • 1 tbsp demerara sugar
  • 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
  • juice of 1 lemon

Method

  1. Chop the plums and discard the stones. Place in a saucepan with the other ingredients.
  2. Bring to a boil and stir, then reduce to a simmer for 5 – 10 mins. Switch off.
  3. Allow to cool, and serve over oats, nuts and seeds or muesli, with milk or natural yoghurt, as a breakfast or dessert dish.

Customise It!

If you don’t have 5 spice, then mixed spice, cinnamon or nutmeg will be fine. Another idea is to chuck a cinnamon stick into the saucepan as the compote is cooking, if you wish.

Today’s addition to the Playlist is a track that came on a few days ago while I was driving. I’d forgotten how great it was, especially with the unmistakable jangling sound of Johnny Marr on guitar. Add in Bernard Sumner from New Order on vocals and you have one mighty Mancunian supergroup. This is Electronic with Get the Message.

Categories
Mains Recipes

Kale & Puy Lentil Curry

Here’s a medium curry that is both vegetarian and vegan. While the base comprises a number of fresh vegetables and spices, the undoubted stars of the show are two particularly healthy ingredients.

Kale grows in our garden and seems to keep on producing new crops as the seasons progress. It is a source of fibre, calcium, vitamins and antioxidants, which help us stay well by removing toxins from the body.

Lentils are a good source of protein for anyone following a meat- or dairy-free diet. Puy Lentils are the variety that pack the most protein per calorie.

Servings

A meal for 4.

Timings

25 mins to prepare and cook.

You Will Need

  • a little oil
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • half a red chilli
  • 2 cm piece of root ginger
  • 2 – 3 mushrooms
  • 2 tbsp curry powder (I’m still using my Qatari Spices)
  • 8 – 10 tomatoes (I used fresh as we have lots growing in the garden)
  • 1 400g can of coconut milk
  • 8 leaves of kale
  • 60g Puy lentils
  • a handful of nigella seeds
  • 6 – 7 cardamom pods
  • 1 tbsp garam masala
  • basmati rice

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a wok, and add the crushed garlic. Chop the onions, chilli, ginger and mushrooms and add to the wok. Chuck in the curry powder and give it all a stir.
  2. Let it sizzle for a few minutes, then quarter the tomatoes and add in. Let them squash down in the heat, then add the coconut milk.
  3. Fill the empty coconut milk can with water and pour in to the wok. Chop the kale leaves into 3 or 4 strips, and add in with the lentils. Check the liquid level at this stage, and top up with more water if necessary – there should be just enough liquid to cover the veg. It will reduce down to a creamy consistency as the kale and lentils cook.
  4. After about 10 mins, add in the nigella seeds, cardamom pods and garam masala, giving it all another stir.
  5. After another 10 mins, spoon out a lentil to check it is cooked. You should just be able to bite through without it becoming too soft or mushy.
  6. Switch off and serve with steamed or boiled basmati rice.

Customise It!

It’s a vegetable curry, so add in whatever veg you have to hand or like to use. Peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots – all will go well.

I’m going to be off on my travels again soon, this time exploring Scotland. More of this in upcoming posts, but for now I’ve been getting in the mood and listening to some great tracks from Scottish bands. Here’s one of the best, Glasgow’s Franz Ferdinand with Do You Want To.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Dorset Apple Cake

This time of year finds apples growing on the trees – fresh, crisp and a joy to bite into. Below is a photo of some I picked this week from the trees in our garden.

Having recently returned from a stay in the county of Dorset (see Dorset Calling) I had the idea of incorporating some of our apples in a classic British bake – the Dorset Apple Cake. You can see it in my main photo at the top of this post. It went down well with the family – there were already a few slices cut from it before I could take the photo!

Serve it on its own with a cup of tea, or with a few spoonfuls of Greek Yoghurt.

Servings

Around 16 slices.

Timings

15 mins to prepare, 1h 25 mins to bake.

You Will Need

  • 225g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • 140g light brown sugar
  • 150g spread or margarine
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 medium sized crisp eating apples
  • demerara sugar to sprinkle over
  • flaked almonds to sprinkle

Method

  1. Switch the oven on to 160C and grease/line a 20 cm diameter baking tin.
  2. Put the flour, baking powder, salt, and mixed spice in a bowl and stir with a spoon. Add the apple, chopped, and stir again so that all the apple pieces are coated in the floury mix. Add in the sugar, spread and eggs, and use an electric mixer to combine.
  3. Tip into the prepared tin and level with a spatula so it reaches the sides. Sprinkle the demerara over.
  4. Place in the oven for 1 hour.
  5. Remove and sprinkle the flaked almonds over. Put back in the oven, still at 160C, for 20 mins.
  6. Remove and leave to cool off in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices (see photo below) to serve.

Customise It!

If you wish to cut down on the sugar content, feel free to omit the demerara topping. I left the peel on the apple so that the cake included a little more fibre, but you can remove it with a peeler if you prefer.

Many countries and cultures have their own recipes for apple bakes, including this one for Austrian Apple Cake posted previously on ADK.

Time to add another track to the ADK Playlist. I saw this band a few weeks back when they were supporting the Arctic Monkeys, and they were great. I did say I would feature them, so here they are: this is The Hives with Hate to Say I Told You So.

Categories
Recipes Sides

Tahini Dressing

The garden is now chock-full of sun-warmed tomatoes on the vine and cucumbers that seem to grow bigger by the day – see my photos below.

There’s enough to provide sides to meals for a little while to come, so I’ve been looking out ideas for tasty dressings to vary things up a little.

I’m a big fan of tahini – the spread that is made from ground roasted sesame seeds. In fact, tahini on a slice of wholemeal toast is one of my favourite snacks. Its taste is reminiscent of peanut butter, but without the sugar. It is said to have a number of health benefits in a diet, being a good source of fibre, protein and healthy fats.

I’ve used it in a stir fry sauce before, and wanted to incorporate it in a salad dressing. Following some research, I settled on a recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. A tablespoon of tahini is added to core ingredients of olive oil, runny honey and cider vinegar. Shake it up in a jar till it’s rich and creamy, then drizzle over your salad, with a sprinkling of sesame seeds to top it off.

Servings

This should be enough to go with a couple of week night meals for 2 – keep the screw top jar in the fridge and use as you wish.

Timings

10 mins to prepare.

You Will Need

  • a clean screw top jar or container
  • 1 tbsp tahini
  • 4 tsp cider (or white wine) vinegar
  • 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp runny honey
  • a couple of twists of sea salt and ground black pepper
  • half a clove of garlic, crushed (optional)
  • sesame seeds to sprinkle

Method

  1. Put all the ingredients (other than the sesame seeds) in the screw top jar and shake well to combine. Pour over your choice of salad and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.
  2. Er, that’s it.

Customise it!

Add more black pepper if you wish. A squidge of lemon juice might be nice. If the consistency is too thick, just add a few more drops of olive oil. Why stop at salad – drizzle it on a baked potato, or use as a dip for fries.

Here’s a song I heard on the radio this week, which I hadn’t heard in a long time. The band who recorded it are now in their 45th year, no less, with a hectic tour schedule this summer. I very much liked UB40 in their early years, and went to see them live in their home town of Birmingham. I remember the thudding bass and drums of their reggae beat, and that they did extended dub versions of some of their tracks. I do feel they lost their edge a little when they started doing cover versions of older songs, though it clearly brought them commercial success.

This is one track from those early years – One in Ten.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Cranberry & Pistachio Cookies

What to do on a summer’s day by the beach when the sun doesn’t shine? Why, bake cookies, of course!

Regular readers will know that I do like being by the beach (searching ‘beach’ via my site search bar throws up no less than 10 different posts).

This week I am staying by the beach on the English south coast, and have already been for a dip in the sea. However, today it’s rather overcast and a little drizzly – hey, it is the British summer after all! Sun is forecast for the rest of the week so, for this one grey day, I decided to pursue other activities.

Which naturally involves some baking. Not wanting to stock up unnecessarily on ingredients, I had the brainwave of shopping at the local refillery – Almond & Co in Westbourne. They have a terrific range of staple foods and will sell as much or as little of each as needed, to take away in your own refillable container.

I decided to make a batch of cookie dough, using their organic dried cranberries and organic shelled pistachios. Here is the haul from my visit, all items individually weighed, priced and bar-coded.

I bought just the right amount of organic plain flour, and to make things a little different, added organic buckwheat flour at a ratio of 1:3 to the plain. My dough also contains the zest of one of their organic, unwaxed lemons.

Notice any trend here? Yes, everything sold is organic. As a refillery, they are also free of plastic packaging. I think it’s good to support a shop that is trying to help us all live and eat more sustainably.

I’m pleased with the results – see my main photo at the top of the post. It just shows that being away from home does not have to mean missing out on home baking, as long as there is a good refillery nearby.

Servings

Makes about 18 cookies.

Timings

15 mins to prepare, 15 – 20 mins to bake (shorter if you like your cookies soft and chewy, longer for crisper and more biscuity).

You Will Need

  • 175g spread or margarine
  • 85g caster sugar
  • 170g plain flour
  • 55g buckwheat flour
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 75g dried cranberries
  • 75g shelled pistachio nuts

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180C.
  2. Put the spread and sugar in a bowl and beat together, using a wooden spoon or electric mixer if you have one.
  3. Sieve in the flours, add the lemon zest and mix again.
  4. Chop the pistachios in 2 and add to the bowl with the cranberries.
  5. At this point you need to get your hands in there and squidge all the ingredients together into a ball of dough. Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap in cling film, and leave in the fridge till the oven is up to temperature.
  6. Line a baking tray with some kitchen parchment. Tear chunks off the dough and shape into a ball between the palms of your hands. Flatten to a disc the width of about 1cm and place on the tray. Place in the oven for 15 – 20 mins until done.
  7. It isn’t necessary to cook all the dough at once. I used half and made 9 cookies, leaving the other half in the fridge to make up another batch later.

Customise It!

This baking idea involves using the resources available while away from your usual kitchen. It is easily adaptable to include other kinds of dried fruit or chopped nuts that you may be able to get your hands on. I swapped in buckwheat flour for a quarter of the plain flour, because the refillery I was shopping in had an excellent range of flours that I wanted to take advantage of. However, you can stick with all plain flour if you wish. I found the buckwheat gives the cookie a slightly darker colour and makes it crisper.

All being well, by this weekend’s post I will be able to report the return of the sun. Maybe I’ll take some cookies to enjoy at the beach. The next track added to the ADK Playlist needs no explanation – Kate Bush with Cloudbusting!

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Blackberry & Coconut Crumble Squares

If you venture down to our local woods at the moment, you may get something of a surprise. No, not those pesky bears picnicking again – the hedgerows are laden with blackberries, and most of them are ripe for picking.

Why is that a surprise? Well, around here, picking blackberries is usually an end of August/early September activity. However, many of these plump beauties have been ripe and ready since mid-July, with plenty more yet to ripen – see my photo below. I should be harvesting these for a few weeks to come.

I mentioned in my recent Plum & Almond Slices post that our plums are also ready much earlier than usual. We hear a lot these days about how our climate is changing, so I guess this is just one more example.

Ever the opportunist, I sprang down to the woods with my bowl and came back with a good 300g, see below.

Within a matter of hours they had been incorporated in a traybake with desiccated coconut, the berries bursting as they bake to release all that lovely jammy juice into the cake. It is topped with a crumble mix and sprinkled with nuts and seeds (see my main photo at the top of this post).

I based this substantially on a recipe I found in BBC Good Food, although it’s been adapted to my tastes in the usual ADK way.

Servings

This makes 20 squares.

Timings

25 mins to pick the berries, 15 mins to prepare and 30 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need

  • 300g fresh blackberries
  • 250g self-raising flour
  • 25g oats
  • 140g soft brown sugar
  • 200g baking spread or margarine
  • 75g desiccated coconut
  • 2 eggs
  • a few handfuls of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and chopped nuts

Method

  1. Wash the blackberries in a sieve under running water, and drain.
  2. Turn the oven on to 180C. Grease and line a baking tray. Mine is 22cm square.
  3. Sieve the flour into a bowl and add the oats, sugar and spread. Mix it all up with the fingers of both hands till it forms little clumps of crumble mixture. Remove about enough to fill a mug or small cup, and set aside.
  4. Add the coconut to the bowl and stir in to mix, then add in the eggs. Stir to combine.
  5. Scrape the mixture into the tray and spread out with a spatula so it meets all four sides. Spread the berries in a layer on top.
  6. Next pick up the pieces of crumble that you set aside and dot them over the berries. Finally, sprinkle over a few handfuls of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and chopped nuts. Aim for an even and consistent spread of crumble and sprinkles across the whole of the traybake.
  7. Bake for 30 mins or until done i.e. when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean with no wet mixture attached. Remove and allow to cool substantially in the warm tray, before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
  8. When cool, cut into squares. Eat while fresh – they will all be gone within a day or two!

Customise It!

A large part of the fun of this dish is picking the blackberries, and then baking and eating them while they are so fresh. If you don’t have blackberry bushes to hand, however, you could still use other soft fruit, like raspberries or blueberries.

You can also vary the sprinkled topping to incorporate any particular faves. Next time I make this (and there will be more blackberries to come) I am tempted to add some broken up squares of white chocolate.

What music has been playing in the ADK Kitchen this week? Fear of Music, the great album by Talking Heads has been having a few plays, as I hadn’t heard it for a while. It really is a classic and I could choose many tracks to add to the Playlist. I’ll settle on this one, which I especially like for Tina Weymouth’s bassline – Cities by Talking Heads.