Honey oat biscuits

I made these the other day and they turned out quite nicely. I got the recipe off the internet, but modified it a bit, because it didn't have nearly enough honey. One of the drawbacks of internet recipes is that they are sometimes written by people who still measure in cups (and presumably live in caves or something), but I've done my best with it. It makes about 30 biscuits.

Ingredients:

• 125g butter or margerine
• 125g sugar
• 4 Tbsp honey (or more)
• 125g flour (I used plain flour)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger
• 135g oats

Method:

•  Preheat the oven to 180 C and line baking trays.
• Cream butter, sugar and honey.
• Mix in flour, baking powder and spices.
• Mix in oats. You'll probably want to add a bit more honey at this point. 
• Roll mixture into balls and place on trays. Flatten with a fork.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

They don't spread out too much while baking, so you can fit quite a few on each tray.

Cherry and walnut cake

Yesterday, Rainbow Fish and I baked this very tasty cake. (The rentals are back in Rosyth for a flying visit, but are heading off on their cycle tour of France later today.) It was very nice, so I decided to share the jealously-guarded family recipe.

 

 Ingredients:

• 225g self raising flour
•  50g wholemeal flour
• 175g light brown soft sugar
• 225g soft margerine
• 3 large eggs
• 1tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp milk
• 150g glace cherries
• 75g walnut pieces
• grated rind of one orange

Method:

• Grease and line tin (27x17.5cm) and turn oven on to 180 C/GM4.
• Beat all ingredients (except cherries and walnuts) together in a large bowl.
• Stir in cherries and walnuts.
• Pour mixture into tin, level, an bake for 45 minutes.
• Turn onto cooling rack and (if you want to make it fancier) paint with a mixture of orange juice and icing sugar while still warm.
• Eat!

 

I think the wholemeal flour gives it a nice texture, not too fluffy. If you want to be decadent, put in extra cherries and walnuts. 

It went down very well, as you can see.

Steak and chocolate

As we were in a carnivore's paradise, we had to have steak. Last night we went to Brad's Grill for a meaty feast. I had a lamb shank - delectable and falling off the bone, but the rest of the party had steak with a chocolate and chilli sauce. It sounded odd to me, but the combination really worked! The plates went back to the kitchen absolutely clean!

Comfort food

After a stressful morning, the call was for comfort food. H had been craving macaroni cheese for days, so when we saw a recipe in the newspaper for the ultimate mac cheese, we had to make it. It was more work than the usual recipe, but it was worth the trouble. The clan gathered around the glorious pasta dish and there was much hilarity.

Hot salad, cold wind

First up, a really quick recipe for a hot salad I had the other night. It's tasty, easy to make, and healthy without being boring.

 

 The only things you have to cook are some new potatoes and an egg or two. While these are boiling, put tinned tuna, lettuce, cucumbers and any other vegetables you fancy on a plate. Then slice the potatoes and eggs and eat with the dressing of your choice (or just lots of pepper).

I was raised on tinned tuna, as most of our family recipes involve it in some way. One of my university friends, investigating my kitchen cupboards and finding tins and tins of it, accused me of being a cat in disguise.

 

The sky is really lowering this evening, so I took a picture. It's actually quite chilly, with a fairly strong wind, but I like this kind of weather. It took quite a lot of manoeuvring to get both the bridges into the picture but not the conservatory! The thing I like most about Rosyth (apart from being able to spend lots of time with my wonderful family, of course) is how big the skies are here. Being in a city means your horizons are very closed, so I think we have the best of both worlds here.  

It is tough trying to blog when one is only intermittently online! I can assure you that silence does not mean that we are not eating well!

Pan-fried haddock

This is an incredibly simple (but tasty) meal which I made the other night. We are lucky enough to have a fish man who comes around in his van every Tuesday evening, so Tuesdays are usually fish nights.

The potatoes were slightly mashed when Blistering Barnacle tried to drain them and dropped them all in the sink, but still tasted good!

The fish is very nice with boiled new potatoes and steamed broccoli (which is even tastier with lemon butter drizzled on top). 

Before I fried the haddock (in butter, which Rainbow Fish recommends (and which makes it really delicious)), I patted it dry on some paper towels, then rubbed in a bit of olive oil and sprinkled each piece with oregano before dipping it in flour and frying. It doesn't take very long at all, and the hardest part is getting it onto the plates without it falling apart (which, as you can see, I rather failed at).

That's all for now, as the sun looks like it is finally going to come out after several hours of heavy mist.