Mini peach crumbles

I love a good fruit crumble, they were one of the first things I learned to cook, usually with fruit I had picked myself which more often than not meant damsons. I loved making them so much I was making at least 1 a week, I got so good at it I could have a crumble in the oven in less than 10 minutes!I might not make them quite that often any more, but at this time of year when it is getting cooler and darker my thoughts still turn to crumble. It is the perfect pudding for autumn, comfort food at it's best.
They are really easy to make and almost impossible to mess up, plus you can be creative with the filling. I once made a banana and strawberry crumble which was certainly an interesting combination!
I like to play around with the topping too, it's great with nuts for extra crunch and flavour, or oats for a different texture. I sometimes add spices as well, cinnamon is an obvious but delicious choice paired with apples.
This time I kept it simple, using peaches for the filling and a basic recipe of half the weight of butter to flour with sugar added to taste. How sharp the fruit is will affect how much sugar you need. For four people I would normally use 8oz flour, 4oz butter and 20z sugar.

• Rub the butter into the flour until I have a breadcrumb texture then stir in the sugar
• Place fruit in a baking dish with a little sugar
• Pour over the topping and bake at about gas 4/180C/350F until golden

Instead of making one big crumble like I normally would, I made individual crumbles in these ramekins which I've had for ages and never used. I like how it turned out, they look good and everyone got their own individual pudding.

What lies beneath?

This cake may look normal, if not spectacular. Things however are not as they seem, beneath the thick layer of cream cheese icing hides a secret. You see when I took the cake out of the oven it looked great, so I set it aside and left it to cool. I returned a few minutes later to check on my cake and aargh! there was a huge crater in the middle, my cake had collapsed! I don't know how it happened but the middle was still raw even though I checked it earlier.
After a bit of a panic I sliced it in half, cut out the raw cake, pieced it back together and slathered it in icing!
In the end it looked OK and still tasted good and I am very, very thankful for icing!

Local specialities

My home county of Leicestershire produces a range of speciality foods unique to the area, here's a selection of what's on offer...

Melton Mowbray pork pies are probably the best known food Leicestershire produces, rich and filling pork pies are always served cold, they are a popular as a snack or eaten for lunch and are well known all over Britain.
Made from uncured pork encased in a hot water pastry crust. This kind of pastry requires the dough to remain hot while it is being worked and is quite a skill to make well.

What separates a Melton Mowbray pork pie from regular pork pie is that a Melton pie must be hand raised, this means the pastry is formed by hand and not by a machine. They must also be baked without the support of a metal ring or hoop, this gives the finished pie a characteristic bowed shape where the pastry has sunk a little.

Picture taken fom Here

Pork pies are traditionally served at Christmas, although they are eaten all year round often as part of a buffet or with a ploughman's lunch.
The Melton Mowbray pork pie has just gained protected status from the EU, this means it is now illegal to label a pie as Melton Mowbray unless it is made within the area of Melton, it must also be baked unsupported without a hoop or tin.
The pork pie is hugely popular throughout England, there is even a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie association, members are passionate about their pies and seek to protect the pie from imitations.

Stilton cheese is a blue veined cheese similar to Danish blue or Roquefort, there is also a less well known White Stilton. Both varieties have been granted the same protected status as the Melton Mowbray pork pie, this means Stilton can only be called Stilton if:-

• It is made within Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire.
• It is made in a cylindrical shape
• Is allowed to form it's own crust
• Is un-pressed

Stilton is the kind of food you either love or hate, it provokes reactions of utter disgust a la my sister! or utter delight. The cheese is rich and creamy with quite a strong flavour, often served with crackers and Port particularly at Christmas time. It also makes excellent soup when partnered with broccoli and is a good match with fuit such as pears.
I love Stilton and always buy some for Christmas, the best I have tried comes from Quenby Hall. The milk for the cheese comes from an ancient breed of cattle which have huge horns, the cows scare me but the cheese is excellent!

Red Leicester cheese is well known throughout the world, it originated in Leicestershire as a way to use up milk left over from Stilton making. The cheese is similar to Cheddar but with a milder flavour and crumbly texture, it owes it's red colour to the plant extract annatto.
It is a very versatile cheese, used in everything from sandwiches to quiches or on pasta and potatoes.Surprisingly until 2005 there was no one making Red Leicester in Leicestershire! Now there is one farm producing it in the traditional way. I don't really like Red Leicester although I probably should as that's where I live! I find the supermarket varieties bland and boring. Sparkenhoe Red Leicester however is delicious, it shows that when made properly it is an excellent cheese.

I would to hear about different foods from around the world. Is there something only available or only made where you live? leave a comment!

Roast banana ice cream

I was walking around the market last week searching for one of my absolute favourite fruits, the greengage. Every year when autumn comes around I await their arrival, Scouring the shops and market looking for the first fruit of the season. They make what is possibly the very best of jams as well as excellent pies, tarts and crumbles. I like to eat them straight out of the paper bag.
Alas I had no luck this time, I couldn't find any. not one! So I bought a mountain of almost gone off bananas instead, as you do!
It was only once I was home that it dawned on me what a job it would be to use them all before they turned into banana sludge. So I got baking and two banana cakes later I had only used half of them!
Reaching banana overload I searched everywhere for a recipe that would use the last of my bananas and came across a recipe over at Butter, Sugar, Flour for roast banana ice cream. The original recipe is by David Lebovitz whose recipes are always great. The fact that I had all the ingredients to hand settled it.

To make Roast Banana Ice Cream you will need:

• 3 bananas (the riper the better, as in the picture is good)
  
• 75g brown sugar
• 1.5 cups (375ml) Single/light cream
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar (not pictured)
• 1.5 teaspoons lemon juice
• half teaspoon vanilla extract
• quarter teaspoon salt

Method:

1. First heat your oven to 200C/400f/Gas 6
2. Chop the bananas and place in a baking dish mixed with the brown sugar
3. Roast the bananas for 40 minutes turning halfway.
4. Blend the still hot bananas with the syrup from the tray along with the caster sugar, lemon juice, salt, cream and vanilla. When blended chill thoroughly in the fridge.
5. Churn in an ice cream machine until frozen (it will probably need a couple of hours in the freezer to firm up)

Roasting the bananas gave this ice cream an incredible intense banana-caramel flavour and a wonderful toffee colour. I served mine with toffee sauce but it would pair very well with chocolate desserts or with fruit.If you don't have an ice cream machine you can still make this recipe, instead of churning it you can freeze the mixture for about two hours then beat well with a fork and return to the freezer, repeat about once an hour until frozen.

Discovery Tequila and Lime Salsa: A review

Recently I was sent a jar of Discovery's new Tequila and Lime Salsa to try, the blurb on the back of the jar describes it as "Fiery Mexican salsa made with tomatoes, onions, jalapeño pepper, tequila and lime juice. No nasties just lots of zingy chunks" It certainly sounded good and a quick check of the ingredients revealed there were definitely no "nasties" and yes it did contain real tequila. So far so good.So what did I do with it? I'm sure this would be great as a dip or an accompaniment to almost any Mexican food, as usual though I had to do something a bit different!
I made my own "Mexican style" burgers by adding cumin, garlic and coriander to the burger mixture, I served them in burger buns with lettuce, tomatoes and Discovery's new salsa.The burgers were a great success with the family and everyone loved the salsa. They thought it "had just the right level of heat" was "fresh tasting" and looked good. Personally I was very impressed with this, I don't usually buy ready made food but I would buy this. I thought it tasted like it had just been made, it had a fresh, clean flavour which was a perfect partner to the burger.
The only downside to this product is that none of us could really taste the lime or the tequila which is a shame as it sounded like a nice twist on the usual salsa. I also wouldn't describe it as fiery, there is a very mild heat which was perfect for me, if you like hot food though you might find this a bit on the mild side.
As far as I am aware this is only available in the UK but if you like Mexican food and can get hold of this I would recommend it highly. Overall 4/5

The Omnivore's hundred

I first saw this over at Sylvie's Blog A Pot Of Tea And A Biscuit, now I keep seeing it everywhere so I thought it was about time I joined in!
Andrew from A Very Good Taste has come up with a list of 100 foods he thinks every omnivore should eat in their lifetime. He asks that you take a look and mark out the foods you have tried, those you haven't and those there's not a chance you would ever eat!

So here goes, the items in bold I have tried, the items in normal type I haven't and those in red are foods that I just couldn't bring myself to eat!

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush (I really want to try this)
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses (smells like feet but tastes so good!)
17. Black truffle (when I'm a millionaire)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (I'm not that crazy!)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal (I don't like really hot food)
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (Not worth dying for!)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (A long long time ago!)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini (the cheap lumpfish variety)
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (We found a pheasant once, it seemed fresh!)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (yes but it's disgusting)
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Well I've tried 39 which is actually surprisingly low, I'll have to make an effort to try more things. It's been really interesting reading other peoples lists so if you want to try it this is what to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

Sticky Chelsea Buns

In England we are blessed with a long history of baking. Every region has it's own specialities such as the Eccles cake from Eccles, the Bakewell tart from Bakewell and the Bath bun from... well you get the picture!
It seems to me that our history is being lost, I rarely see these regional treats for sale any more. The supermarkets seem to favour muffins and cookies over our traditional baking. As much as I like muffins and cookies I would like to see English cakes as well.
Yesterday I did my bit to keep British recipes alive, I made Chelsea buns.
The Chelsea bun was invented in the 1700's and sold from The Bun House in Grosvenor Row in London. They became incredibly popular, apparently even King George couldn't stay away! Unfortunately the Bun House was demolished in 1839 so I can't sample the original.
I can make my own though, these are deliciously sticky buns made from an enriched bread dough that is rolled Swiss roll style with dried fruit spices and sugar in the middle they are glazed with sugar, syrup or honey.

I used a recipe from BakingMad and modified it a bit, this is my version:
Ingredients

For the dough
250g / 9oz Strong White Bread Flour
5ml/ 1 tsp salt
5ml/ 1 tsp white sugar
5 ml / 1 tsp Dried fast Action Yeast
25g / 1 oz butter, diced
100-120ml / 3-4 fl oz warmed milk
1 egg, beaten
For the filling
125g / 4 ½ oz mixed currants, sultanas and raisins
50g / 2oz Demerara sugar
15g/ ½ oz butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Method

1.Grease an 18cm / 7 inch square shallow cake tin. Sift the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a large bowl. Rub in 25g / 1oz butter.

2.In a bowl, mix together the milk and egg. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and stir in the liquid. Bring the mixture together with a round bladed knife and knead for 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until the dough is smooth and elastic. If the mixture is sticky add a little more flour.

3.Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to a 30 x 23 cm/ 12 x 9 inch rectangle.

4.Prepare the filling: Mix the dried fruit with the soft light brown sugar and spices. Melt the remaining butter and brush over the surface of the dough. Scatter the fruit mixture over the buttered dough, leaving a 2.5cm/ 1 inch border around the edge of the dough.

5.Starting at the long side of the dough, roll it up like a Swiss roll. Pinch the edges together to seal and then cut into 12 slices.

6.Place the rolls cut edges uppermost in the tin. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

7.Pre heat the oven to 190ºC/ 375ºF/ Gas Mark 5. Bake for 30 minutes or until risen and golden.

8.Remove from the oven and brush with honey and sprinkle with Golden Caster sugar whilst they are still hot. Then cool on a wire rack.

I've entered this into the I Love Baking event over at what's cooking? check it out here: http://whatscooking.us/forum