Mmm! Saturday Recipe Photo How To | Cooking up a storm! How to make… Nan & Grandad’s Homemade Profiteroles

As weekends go in our family, there is always a LOT of cooking and baking to be done. Ever since I was born, and for a gazillion years before that, my Nan and Grandad have cooked up a treat for our large family.

On any given Saturday you will find my Nan & Grand, Betty and Eric to you, pottering away in the kitchen mixing and stirring, slicing and dicing, and dishing up yummy treats for anyone of the family who happens to pop by.

Saturday is Lentil Soup day. Homemade Lentil Soup day. This is often accompanied with those warm part-baked fresh bread rolls and lashings of butter, slathered on with the cream old-fashioned butter knives that my mum picked up on a trip to the Lake District. Either those rolls or ‘Baby Bread’ aka Warburtons Milk Roll. Mmm! My Nan and Grandad are also AMAZING pudding makers! Over the years, we’ve all been spoilt rotten every Sunday with a selection of around 3 or 4 puddings to choose from following our BIG FAT Sunday Roast! The usual homemade suspects include: Steamed Syrup Sponge Pudding and Birds Custard, Steamed Chocolate Sponge Pudding and Dairy Milk Chocolate Creamy Custard, Apple Crumble, Strawberry Flan and cream, Scones, Coconut cake and of course… Profiteroles!

There are usually 10-14 of us squeezed around their trusty Ercol circular dining table, with a few spare IKEA JEFF chairs being brought out for good measure. Some of us often end up sitting in the front room with dinner on our laps. We don’t care where we eat it, it still tastes great! Dinner is a raucous affair but one that we all cherish dearly.

Oh how I miss it now that I don’t live up north anymore!

Profiteroles… Mmm! Choux Pastry.

Makes over 20!

Ingredients:

• 75g Plain Flour
• Pinch of Salt
• 150ml of water
• 50g butter
• 2 standard eggs, well beaten

1. Sift flour and salt, twice.
2. Put butter and water into a saucepan, heat slowly until butter melts and then bring to brisk boil.
3. Turn down the heat slightly and tip in the flour.
4. Stir briskly until the mixture forms a stiff ball and leaves the sides of the pan clean.
5. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly for around 10-15 mins.
6. Add eggs gradually and beat firmly until mixture looks shiny, smooth and firm enough to stand up in soft peaks.
7. Use immediately, or keep in saucepan and cover with a lid to stop the pastry from drying out.
8. Use spoons to dollop profiterole-shaped balls (ping pong ball size) of the glossy mixture onto a greased baking tray.
9. *BBC FOOD suggests: “Before closing the oven door, pour half a cup of water into the roasting tin at the bottom of the oven, then quickly shut the door. This helps to create more steam in the oven and make the pastry rise better.” But my Grandad doesn’t do this any they are still delish!
10. Bake for 25-30mins or until golden brown.
11. Remove from oven and pierce the base of each profiterole to let out the steam. CAREFUL NOW!
12. Return to oven for 5 mins to dry out centres.
13. Remove from oven for final time and whip up some cream for the centre. Some people suggest adding flavours to your cream - for example, a hint of coffee or orange zest!
14. Once profiteroles have cooled - fill then with cream - you can use a piping bag if you have one, however, my Gan and Grandad are more hands-on and make a cut in the side and fill it with cream that way. Taste’s just as good!
15. My Nan and Grandad melt Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of hot water. They then top the cooled profiteroles with lashings of melted chocolate.
16. Serve piled high and be prepared to fight off family members for the last one!

BLOGGED #TriedAndTested @FollowGousto Perfect for people stuck in a recipe rut! Fancy something fresh, fast, healthy & a spot of homecooking?

I was recently contacted by Gousto, a brilliant new home-delivery food/ recipe concept ideal for people who are short of time, in need of inspiration, who care about the food that they eat! 

Like many people our age, at 26, with busy full-time jobs, no dependents to speak of and an active social life - you could say our lives lack routine. A ‘weekly’ shop often turns into a bi-monthly splurge, and before you even get to that point you find that you’re eating out at every given opportunity, until you realise that you actually should do a shop and top up your bread, milk and store cupboard staples because you can’t make a cup of tea for the boyfriend’s mum when she pops round unexpectedly… oops!

So, if you’re sick of cooking your ‘usuals’, fancy injecting a little excitement into your dishes, or perhaps want to try out a few new ingredients… then THIS IS FOR YOU!

The BEST thing about the Gousto way of cooking is that EVERYTHING you need to cook the recipe is delivered to your door in a fantastic cardboard ‘cool-box’. It’s actually quite exciting just waiting for the delivery guy to knock on the door with your delectable food parcel! 

Their unusual recipes are devised by top chefs and combine seasonal, organic and very fresh ingredients. I’d describe them as the kind of dishes that you’d usually order and have cooked for you in a restaurant. However, with Gousto’s pre-measured quantities and fun step-by-step ‘collectable’ photo-illustrated recipe cards, you can create your own high-quality, fresh and tasty meals in the comfort of your own kitchen WITHOUT the trawling around the supermarket worrying whether you need to buy one jar of this or two…

It’s kind of like food ‘adultery’ but without any of the guilt that is usually associated with foregoing the legwork needed to source fresh ingredients for the ease of a pre-cooked microwave meal.

I decided to try two of their yummy recipes, the choice of recipes available change every week giving you plenty of gastronomic choice! Free delivery on a Wednesday 6-10pm in London or Free Delivery on a Thursday 9-5pm Nationwide, in a ‘stay-fresh’ wool insulated cool box. 

The Almond, Rosemary and Pepper Lamb Ragu and Tamarind Prawn dishes, both were quick and extremely easy to prepare with hardly any mess or washing up afterwards!

The recipe cards even have wine recommendations. It really does take the stress out of cooking leaving you with only the therapeutic parts and the tasty end results!

So… how much does it cost?

Veggie Box Option

2 meals a week for 2 people = £28

3 meals a week for 2 people =  £39

4 meals a week for 2 people = £48

Gourmet Box Option

2 meals a week for 2 people = £30

3 meals a week for 2 people =  £42

4 meals a week for 2 people = £52

Or what about a fancy dinner party made easy? Perhaps you have friends staying over for the weekend and want to cook them something tasty AND impress the pants off them at the same time. A meal out for 6 people on a Friday AND Saturday night could be pretty pricey. So, if you went for the Gousto 2 meals for 6 people option it would cost you £132 and you’d have EXACTLY the right quantities of food needed. PERFECT! 

**** Keep your eyes peeled on Friday and Saturday for my photo recap on both of the recipes we tried cooking at home! DELISH!!! ****

24.05.12 :: Home-made Simple Summer Fishcakes Enjoyed Al Fresco.

This is the BBC Good Food Simple Fish Cake recipe that I used. Click the image for recipe.

Tonight I wanted to make something that was tasty, summery, and could be conjured up using the few ingredients that I already had in the fridge/ cupboard or garden. I didn’t have any fish fillets as the BBC Good Food ‘Simple fish cakes’ recipe suggests, instead I had two frozen battered cod fillets which I carefully peeled the batter off and then placed into a pan of milk with a finely chopped red onion to boil away nicely.

I made my mash potato using the two remaining jacket spuds sat forlornly on my shelf and decided to root some fresh herbs from the garden to add a bit of tasty goodness to this simple dish. I opted for lemon thyme and parsley with some finely chopped red chilli and 5 finely sliced spring onions. I added this herby mix to the mash potato and flaked fish to form the basis for the fish cakes.

They were a little bit sloppy and so I needed to dust them with quite a bit of flour before dunking them in the beaten egg and covering in a dusting of fresh brown bread crumbs. I used 4 slices of toasted brown bread, finely grated, to make my crumbs. I then popped them in the fridge for 30 minutes as instructed to firm up a bit and then set about making Roasted Red & Yellow peppers stuffed with a simple lemon and herb cous cous, then popped them in the over with a drizzling of olive oil for around 25-30 mins.

We then fried the fish cakes on each side for a few minutes until heated through and golden brown on each side.

Finally, to accompany our fish cakes, we both had sliced cucumber and green salad, toasted pitta bread, garlic & red pepper houmous, guacamole and a drizzle of sweet chilli dipping sauce. mmm.

They were delicious! I think they tasted even better eaten in the garden whilst sipping on a glass of brandy and dry ginger.

To see my step-by-step photos of how I made them read on…

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14.05.12 :: Step-By-Step Photos of My First Time Baking Red Velvet Cupcakes

I’ve just followed the Joy Of Baking Red Velvet Cupcakes Recipe and was pretty pleased with the results!

Mmmm! Want to see how I made them?

Check out my step-by-step photos below:

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