Saturday 19 May 2012

New Things, Pork & CAKE



The new thing...Poppy Skipp, the latest addition to the family. The smallest & sweetest peaceful little thing and her older sister Lily.


Then the slow roasted pork belly. 
Slice into the skin then rub with lemon juice, sunflower oil and rock salt.
Cook on 220/250 -basically high for 25mins so the skin blisters (yum!!)
The turn the temperature down to 160 and cook for 5/6hrs without doing anything else this will fall apart.


The avocado wasn't quite ripe enough for a guacamole so we improvised and added kidney beans, onion, coriander, chilli, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. Still yum.


Salsa- Cherry tomatoes- as ripe as possible, coriander, lime, white onion, red wine vinegar, tsp sugar, salt, pepper and chilli.


I can't even look at this without dribbling a bit!


Wholemeal wraps in an attempt to keep things healthy...ish!

Sour cream, mature cheddar, tortilla chips with melted cheese and chilli.


And then there was the make it yourself birthday cake / get it in your gob before the decorations even go on, she couldn't help herself.


Strawberry frosting- philidelphia, icing sugar, double cream and strawberry flavouring
Fresh sliced strawberries
4 x 100's & 1000's -to mix it up a bit. Girly sparkly stuff.


Here they are...


Kind of yum....colourful at least. Not only because I'm obsessed with the chocolate guinness cake but it keeps really nice and moist for ages, I made it a couple of days before going home and getting it decorated. A bit of handy prep.


Big smiley face :-)



So gorgeous...the most gorgeous and hilarious little niece <3 



Oh she's into it!!


And she loves her Grampa


Sorry....cake more!!




And then a bit of modelling even on a full stomach!




Thursday 17 May 2012

CURRY & CAKE :-) Mums great work!!

Beef Vindaloo

Mix all the ingredients listed in a blender or in a pestle and mortar and then cook it off on the hob so the spices release all their flavours, your kitchen should be fragrant and stinking, cook for about 5 mins on a medium heat, you shouldn't be browning the onion/spice mixture just cooking it through on a medium heat.
Add the beef and cook this in the spices for around 7/10mins minutes so the meat browns, add the 1/2 pitn of water and cook in the oven for 1.5hrs on 180, keep checking it as you may need to add more water so it doesn't dry out.

This was delicious by the way!



Tandoori Chicken


Tandoori Chicken- mix it all up and ideally leave over night in the fridge....always in the fridge!

Ingredients lazily listed below-


Sorry about the bad pics, but you get the gist! I did't make this, but it was amazing, my Mum nailed it!




Garlic & Coriander Naan


The Garlic and Coriander Naan.





Sweet & Sour Raita
This you have to try, so so good, perfect with any spicy meaty dishes, lambs and moroccan style foods.

Super simple and worth making yourself...it all is.


Sweet & Sour Raita
The instructions




Get in my gob.


A selection of mums chutneys, mango, a spicy lime and mango and sweet chilli.



This although simple always turns a curry round for me, fresh white onion and fresh coriander, both need in  abundance.



Make a full on meal from it...I had about 4 of these (probably 5) so then obviously I struggled through main course and chocked down dessert.


So pretty and easily pleased :-)


So delicious and all the dishes tasted so different...sometimes it doesn't work out that way. GO ON MOTHER!!!


A improvised veggie option. I can't remember what we put in this, but we cooked off the onions garlic and spices then added tomatoes, chick peas and let it cook slowly for half an hour. Loads of fresh coriander and chilli always wins me over.


This was amazing, I did that annoying thing of constantly eating it throughout the cooking process as opposed to waiting and then really really enjoying it.


This was probably the best thing I've ever eaten, Mum nailed it!


Our home made naan breads with coriander and onion :-) Not quite as great as the restaurant ones, slightly heavier!!


The perfect plate...love the white onion and fresh coriander...WANT IT all over again.


Getting serious with his meal...this was my bros birthday dins, he had to go first at helping himself and everything and NO I wasn't happy about it!


The perfect combo of everything, so SO good. Everything being so fresh makes it stand out against take aways (unless you've got a good one-which I think we might have...that's another post that's coming)




Left overs...surprisingly!! We did cook for about 8 of us so we made quite a big dent in it.



Mum cheating us out of half of a cake...take one round sponge and cut in half, fill with thick double cream and raspberries and eat the whole lot. 


Still looks good, Mother has excelled herself!!



YUM YUM YUM