MY RECIPES
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Since
1986 I have earned my living as a professional Chef in various aspects
of the catering industry. For a few glorious years my husband and I were
the proud owners of a beautiful and well known restaurant in Northamptonshire.
We then entered private service...yes, it's a long story! However it has
been a happy and fulfilling experience, and sometimes an hilarious one.
These
are some of my favourite recipes,
with a little anecdote to each for flavour.
In March 1994 we took our second plunge into
private service, the first only lasted 3 months. This time for a Lebanese
family, living in Marlow. They had a newly built house of vast proportions
and it was far from finished when they had their first weekend guests.
It was snowing quite heavily and the site outside the house was full of
builder's rubble and equipment ….a Sea of freezing mud. At the very
last minute we were informed that the food would be barbecued. They then
produced a whole lamb to be cut up and skewered on kebab swords. Thinking
that they had built an indoor barbecue somewhere, I deftly performed my
most impressive butchery and presented the great silver trays of kebabs
"where is the barbecue? "I inquired; the crestfallen faces made
me realize that we were expected to light the only barbecue we had seen
so far....300 yards away, on the building site........IN THE SNOW. My
husband the butler, quickly dashed out to do this and in the meantime
I set out to make a few canapés to fill the hungry whilst they
waited....at that point one of the numerous Lebanese aunts produced some
small frozen pastries on large square trays. "Here, cook these they
wont mind waiting" she said sympathizing with my dilemma, after a
few moments the most delicious smell came from the oven and shortly I
had my first ever taste of LAHEM BIL-AJEEN. The Barbecue went well in
the circumstances and we both did our best trudging back from the snow
scene with large trays of cooked meat, trying to keep it hot, and then
trying to look elegant whilst we served it wearing our ski suits. That
is, it went well until the second trip where the building site opened
up and a disused drain hole swallowed one of my legs and brought me crashing
to the ground. It was ok though; I didn't drop the meat. Auntie gave us
a whole plateful of her beautiful Lahem bil-Ageen and we went home to
our little cottage after all the guests had left and pigged out in front
of the fire.
Lahem bil-Ageen
makes about 20
You can be traditional and use bread dough but for
convenience and time saving, puff pastry makes
a perfectly suitable substitute.
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9oz 250g strong white bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon easy blend yeast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 fl oz tepid water
Make a well in the centre of the sifted flour and salt on a pastry board
and mix in the modern easy blend or fast action dried yeast (don't use
active dried yeast) Add the oil and work in with your finger tips until
completely blended. Add the water gradually while you kneed the dough
with the palm of your hand pushing it into the board until it is smooth
and elastic and has a slightly shiny surface. Leave covered in a warm
place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Better use a bowl unless you
have a HUGE pastry
board). Divide the dough in two and flour well, then roll out on the board
and cut as many circles as you need with a small round pastry cutter about
jam tart size. Place on flat baking trays ready to add the filling.
Filling for Lahem bil-Ageen
| 1 medium white onion,very
finely chopped 1 large tomato diced small salt to taste 5 oz lean minced lamb 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped mint 9oz 250g strong white bread flour /2 teaspoon finely chopped parsley 1 teaspoon lemon juice or to taste 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon black pepper pinch cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon pine nuts |
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Mix onions and tomatoes in a bowl and drain off any excess moisture add all the other ingredients and mix with your hands until well blended do NOT do this in a food processor. Place a teaspoon of the mixture on each bread or pastry round and press down into the dough slightly. Turn up the edges of the bread rounds with your fingers and pinch all around so they look like little tarts. Bake in a pre-heated oven (hot) 10- 12 minutes until the bread and nuts are golden brown. Serve hot or warm with a squeeze of lemon. You will probably have more yeast dough than filling but you can freeze it for next time.
BANBURY CAKES
When
I was a child growing up in an Essex village...
yeah!yeah!yeah! I'm blonde with big tits too...so what! I was sent every
Thursday afternoon to the bakers shop with a list of cakes that we were
all allowed to choose for tea. My choice was always a Banbury cake because
of the crumbly sugary pastry and the delicious rich filling. I have
always loved these cakes and they are a wonderful way of using up the
trimmings of wedding and other rich fruit cakes, or even leftover Christmas
pudding.
Some people in the Banbury area think that these cakes were the original
mince pies but that isn't true (the lahem-bil-ajeen were more likely
to be). They were originally fertility cakes given away at weddings
and springtime feasts and the cuts were not diagonal but a single one
down the centre! The Victorians put paid to that about the time that
Toll piddle had its name changed to Toll puddle. Oh well! Fun never
lasts long.
Makes 12
| 1 Pack frozen unsweetened
puff pastry (Saxby's preferably) Leftover rich fruit cake, Christmas pudding or light fruit cake and some mincemeat. 1. Egg yolk Small glass milk Small glass brandy or rum Granulated sugar Icing sugar
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| Wiz up the fruit cake egg yolk and brandy in a food processor until the consistency of mincemeat. Roll out the pastry on a floured board and cut 12 squares about 4ins x4ins and place a spoonful of the above mixture into the centre of each square. Fold the first two corners in slightly and the other two over each other and seal with milk or egg, making a torpedo shape as in the picture below. Turn the folded sides down on a greased baking tray. Paint all over with the milk and sprinkle the sugar liberally make three diagonal cuts on top. Bake in a hot oven until golden and slightly caramelised on the edges. Cool on a tray for about one hour then completely cover with a dusting of icing sugar, as illustrated. | |||||
DoroWat
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Whilst People starve in Ethiopia this recipe has become a favourite at many dinner parties.Funnily
enough it gets people talking and helps us to all understand what
happens in these countries when governments allow dubious agricultural
practises to jeopardise the people's health and well being. I know
several lovely kind Ethiopian people and can see how easily they
can be exploited so unscrupulously. No country should be allowed
to grow crops for sale to the rest of the world unless it's own
citizens are fully catered for first. Teff grass, which grows in
drought or rain, provides the staple bread of Ethiopia, yet it is
eradicated as a weed for the production of coffee and other luxury
goods for the West. Coffee won't sustain you in a drought, Teff
will. |
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DORO
WAT
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2
Tsp Cumin Seed
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Berbere Sauce (Ethiopian)
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Ethiopian Flat BreadInjera, a spongy crepe-like bread (slightly sour), is almost always eaten with Ethiopian stews.Mix
all the ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and leave for 1
hour or more until Foamy. Wisk in more water to make a thin
batter, like pancake mix. Cook in non-stick frying pan WITHOUT
OIL over medium or medium-high heat. Use 2 oz batter per Injera
for a 12-inchpan or 1½ oz batter for a 10-inch pan.
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