Cheese Scones

My lovely Auntie has sadly had to go into full time residential care, she is a fantastic cook and I was honoured when she gave me her cook books. I was excited about all the lovely recipes she had attached to the inner pages of her books, some of which are very old. I am slowly going through the books and testing them out. I have a real love of scones especially when they have just come out of the oven. My favourite has to be cheese scones and this recipe was taken from Auntie Mu's Book, The Complete Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook. It is a real old book but I just love vintage recipes so here goes.

Ingrediants - pre heat the oven to Gas 7, 425F, 220C

225g/8oz Self raising white flour
Quater tea spoon of salt
75g/3oz of grated chedder (preferable mature)
50g/2oz butter or margarine
5 to 6 tablespoons milk

Method

1) Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, rub in the butter or margarine **
2) Stir in the grated cheese
3) Make a well in the centre and then add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time.
4) Mix to a soft, but not sticky dough.
5) Add a little flour to the work surface and turn out the dough.
6) Roll out the dough to just over 1cm/half inch thick.
7) Cut into 2inch rounds.

Place the scones onto a tray lined with non-stick baking parchment. Brush the top of the scones with some milk and place in the middle of the oven.
Cook at Gas mark 7, 425F, 220C for 12-15 Minutes.

Welcome back to my blog, I am still on the chinese theme and want to share with you another great recipe. This time the recipe is taken from Rachel's food for living. A book by Rachel Allen, I have changed some of the ingrediants such as Sirloin Steak to Rump because it was on offer at my local coop. There is no difference in taste and I recommend that you dont cook the meat for to long as this leaves it lovely and tender. The taste of this dish is lovely and the flavours will leave your mouth watering. Go on give it a try.

Korean Beef Serves 4

400g of Sirloin Steak, or Rump cut into thin strips
6 cloves of Garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tbsp of soy sauce
3 tbsp of sesame seed oil
2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tbsp of shaoshing rice wine (optinal)
10 Spring onions.
Pinch of salt.

Method

1) Prepare the marinade by mixing the soy sauce, garlic, sesame seed oil, rice wine vinegar light brown sugar fish sauce and the shaoshing rice wine in a bowl.
2) Cut up the steak into strips
Add to the marinade and leave for about an hour or overnight.

3) Put the wok on the heat and add a tablespoon of Oil.
4) Add the spring onion and gently stir fry until tender.
5) Add the beef and stir fry for 5 minutes all the time moving the meat around the wok.
6) Cook for a further 5 minutes or until the juices start to thicken.
7) Serve with some long grain rice.

Enjoy

Hey there and welcome back to my blog. I have a real love of chinese food but the take away version just leaves me feeling awful so I decided to add a couple of chinese cook books to my collection. I love the books written by Ching-He Huang, the recipes in her books are full of lovely fresh ingrediants and flavours. Here is a recipe from Ching's Chinese Food In Minutes Book. I Have varied the recipe to suit my family but it is still as delicious as the version in the book. The only difference is that I did not deep fry the chicken.

Sweet Chilli Chicken

Serves 3-4

1 packet of four chicken breasts
3 Tablespoons of cornflour
2 Egg Whites
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper.

For The Sauce
3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
2.5cm/1inch of fresh ginger peeled and sliced
1 Medium red chilli, seeds in for heat or out if you want it slightly milder
6 Tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce
Juice of 1 Lime
1 Tablespoon of light soy sauce
1 small handful of freshly chopped coriander

Method

1) Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and season with salt and pepper
2) Mix together the egg white with the cornflower to form a paste and add to the chopped chicken.
3) Add the Olive Oil to the wok and add the chicken pieces and cook through.
4) Combine the ingrediants for the sauce in a bowl and mix together.
5) Add the sauce ingrediants to the chicken and continue to cook under a low heat.
6) Let the sauce thicken slightly.
7) Serve with some steamed basmati rice.

So in the words of Ching "Chi hao he baozhong" (Eat well and take care)