Crispy Duck Soup With All The Greens

Vietnamese duck stock cubes are great to use and cheap but if you can't get hold of them you can use chicken stock and add 2 x teaspoon of sugar, ginger, garlic and lemon grass- just fry up and add to stock.

I love a broth type thing and you can add any veg or beans you want to this one.

-NOTE Don't over cook the veg so once you're happy with your stock and you're meats cooked and ready to go add the veg so it only cooks for max 5mins.

Keeping an eye on things!

The soup and veggie bit

Cook the duck breasts by slicing through the fat of the duck and seasoning with 5 spice, ginger powder and salt & pepper.

- Cook them in a pan fat side down until golden- about 6mins

- Turn them over for a further 2 and let rest for 10mins then slice and add to soup.

SO GOOD

Garnish with coriander- add at the end of cooking so still has that fresh taste :-) I LOVE THIS

My housemate even said this is one of the best meals I've EVER made him!!! Pleased!

What to do (carefully) with left over and cold bread sauce....

Buffet Options...

Firstly make some mess...then get going with the cooking

I had some left over puff pastry from the edges of the tart quiche things so rolled it out then cut out little circles and made goats cheese and caramelised onion things. 

-Cut out pastry into circles place on baking tray, pricked each with a folk and cooked on 180 for 10mins then added a small chunk of goats cheese a bits of red onion I'd already slowly cooked in butter. 

-Put back in the oven for 5mins then sprinkle with fresh parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Smoked salmon & broccoli tart-

Left over sausage meat and paxo- add freshly sliced parsley 1 whisked egg and a big handful of breadcrumbs then mix and roll into sausage shaped chunks-cook for 25mins so they're crispy. White pepper always works with sausage meat.

Think I did 6 of these back back just to warm up before I got serious with the rest of the buffet! 

Nans sausage plat but a pie!
Sausage meat mixed with fried onions, parsley and salt and white pepper.
Then slice pastry into slices and weave in and out/over the top of each other and cover with whisked egg so it goes golden :-)
Cook for 35mins on 200

Crispy bacon & leek pie

Fry 2 large leeks in butter with salt & pepper until soft and sweet, 10mins on low heat.

Take leeks out of pan and fry thin slices of smokey bacon until crispy add some fresh thyme.

Dry bake your pastry case- get pre rolled shortcrust pastry and add to a buttered baking/pie dish

Prick the base of the pastry case then add baking beans or foil to make sure the pastry doesn't balloon up, cook for 15mins or until golden.

Whisk 6/7eggs season with salt & pepper add a big splash of milk then add everything to the pre cooked case and bake on 180 for 15/20mins.

Grate cheese over the top or parmesan :-)

Bruschetta Topping- Lightly fried rings of red onion- leave to cool then mix with sliced cherry tomatoes finely sliced parsley, basil and add a big splash of red wine vinegar and salt & pepper. Done.

Turkish flatbread can be a good one to use, large and flat once sliced in half, put under the grill for a few minutes until lightly toasted then cut a clove of garlic in half and rub the surface with this before adding tomato topping.

Wrap mozzarella with parma ham, sprinkle with parsley and season...

Chocolate Gooey Brownies :-) :-) :-)

I made a double batch here but normal amounts are:

225g Dark Choc (we improvised because the shop didn't have enough dark chock...mixing it worked out fine)

2 Eggs

2 Egg yolks

110g Plain Flour

1/2tbsp baking powder

70g cocoa powder

225g butter- let it go soft before you attempt to mix it up.

1/2tbsp Sal

200g caster sugar

Add pecan nuts / or chunks of unmelted choc white or dark

More mess

-Melt the chocolate over simmering water- don't over melt- just until it melts

-Whisk the eggs and egg yolks

-Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together

-in another bowl mix the butter, sugar and then eggs together so it's light and fluffy then add the chocolate and fold in the sifted flour and cocao and add nuts or chocolate lumps.

-Spread into a baking tin lined with baking paper and cook on 180 (preheat the oven) for 17mins, check it's done by poking a knife into it- it should come out with bits on it...leave to set and go cold.

Then eat them ALL

Boys at the bowl....

Dog and Mikey getting serious with the bowl!!

NAN'S MINCE PIES...ARE THE BEST!!

I LOVE my Nans mincepies so much, Christmas isn't Christmas without them.

That's Grandad NOT Nan!!

An arty shot of Nan as she starts my lesson in mince pie making (I get a box to take home EVERY year and aim to not share them) Nan's been making these for 'donkey's years' as long as I can remember. :-)

To make 36ish Mince pies

440g plain flour

1 x dessert spoon of icing sugar

Mix the above ingredients well (so Nan says)

Then add half the weight of the flour- 8oz/220g in a mixture of lard and hard cold cubes of margarine 

-Nan says keep the butter as cold as possible- She washes her hands in cold water so they don't melt the butter and stops the pastry going lumpy.

Nan says crumble together the butter & lard together into the flour- bring it up high over the bowl to get the air into it.

If it goes sticky then you've crumbled too far.

Add 1x whisked Egg and 2x tbsp of Water and mix with a knife until it all comes together in a ball, then kneed.

Add a tiny bit of water if the crumbs don't go so it all binds.

Nans fancy tin draw

Fruit slices to snack on.

Put the pastry in the fridge for it at least 30mins the roll out so its a couple of millimetres thick, make sure you roll it out evenly. then cut with a pastry cutter, re roll any leftovers and cut out what you can.

Butter your yorshire dishes/trays first

1 x teaspoon of fruit mince meat per pie- No more otherwise it will just spill out

Add the smaller lids and pat them down.

DON'T FORGET to prick each mince pie with a folk right the way through to the bottom of the pastry

Whisk an egg and cover all lids of the mince pies

Cook on 180 on the top shelf of the oven for 20/25mins

Remove the mince pies while they're still hot so they don't stick to the tin if there's been any spillages 

Sprinkle with caster sugar 

Nan with the batch :-)

Me Nan & Grandad

Love them <3

NAN'S MINCED PICES COMING...THE BESTEST EVER & IT'S NOT TOO EARLY, RIGHT???

TARTS...

Sweat the aubergine and leeks down so they're both soft and wilted. Add salt & pepper, you'll probably need to get the aubergines on the bottom of the pan with a fair bit of oil so they soften more easily and the leeks on top of them helping to steam/cook through the aubergine.

Add a lid to help speed up the cooking, my shortcrust pastry was still frozen so I left them on top of the pan lid to defrost.

My second option for the tart, leek and crispy bacon with fresh thyme and black pepper; melt down the leeks, with butter and fry the bacon in a pan until crispy. Once you've rolled out the shortcrust pastry evenly add it to the pan (make sure you butter the pan first) and gently press the pastry into the edges, with a fork then prick the bottom of the pastry so it doesn't bubble when you cook it. Add filling on top.

Cover with whisked eggs, 6 at least, with a large splash of milk and cover with cheese (you can use any cheese you like, mature cheddar, parmesan go for flavoursome cheeses, the strong ones), salt and pepper. I've used the back of a fork to make the edges look pretty.

Broccoli and feta, the aubergine went on top...follow the instructions above, perhaps steam the broccoli first for 5mins so it needs less cooking in the oven. Once you've added the egg mixture cook on 180/200 for 20 to 25mins keep checking to make sure you don't overcook it.

Tomato onion and balsamic salad.

YUM!!

YUM....AND YUM!!

PERFECT and DEFO easy to do