Corn and Cheese Chowder

If you are anything like me, when it is cold outside you crave stodge and comfort food. If this is the case, then the following dinner will hit the spot!

Corn (or sweetcorn) chowder is a well known and simple dish, but here it is made extra tasty with the addition of some salty bacon lardons, and instead of potato to thicken it, we use cheese.

If you are making this for guests, then you can really wow them by serving it in their very own edible bowl in the form of a Boule.

Ingredients:

• 80g Butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 150g bacon lardons
• 450g sweetcorn kernels
• 3 bell peppers, finely diced
• 45g plain flour
• 500ml chicken stock
• 400ml single cream
• 160g grated cheese (any kind, I used mature cheddar and edam)
• 30g spring onion, chopped

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a large pot, and add the onions and cook for a few minutes
2. Add the bacon and allow to cook for a little more
3. Then add the peppers, and cook further for a few minutes
4. Now add the sweetcorn, and cook for a minute
5. Sprinkle the flour over the top and stir to combine
6. Pour in the chicken stock, and stir well. Allow to the mixture to thicken a little, then reduce the heat to low
7. Pour in the cream and cover the mixture, allowing it to thicken for 15 minutes
8. The add the cheese and spring onion.
9. Stir until the cheese is melted, and serve 

Servings	4
Calories per serving	791 kcal

Boule - a Bread Bowl

Boule is French for ball, and is a traditional French shape for French bread.

It is usually made from a sour dough starter, but if you can't be bothered with that, then it is perfectly acceptable to make it with normal breadmaker's yeast. I won't tell - it will just be our secret.

The Boule, apart from being an attractive little loaf, makes a perfect edible bowl for serving thick soups and chowders.


Ingredients:

• 750ml warm water
• 1½ teaspoons instant yeast
• 1½ teaspoons kosher (cooking) salt
• 1000g strong bread flour

Method:

1. Add the yeast to the warm water  and leave for a few minutes
2. Add in all the flour and salt
3. Mix until the flour is fully incorporated. You should be left with a fairly wet and loose.
4. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse, or at least flattens on the top, (about 2 hours depending on the room's temperature and the initial water temperature). Alternatively, you can let it prove for up to 24hrs in a fridge.
5. If you did the prove at room temp, it is a good idea at this point to refrigerate the dough for a few hours as it will be a lot easier to work with.
6.  Sprinkle a baking tray with a little cornmeal to prevent your dough from sticking.
7. There is no need to knead this dough as you want to keep the air in. Just cut it into 4. 
8. Take one of the quarters, and shape it quickly into a ball by smoothing and stretch the top with your floured hands and pushing the under itself.
9. Place your shaped ball onto your dusted tray and allow it to rest uncovered for 40 minutes.
10. Place a roasting tin in the bottom of your oven, and heat to Gas Mark 8 / 450 F / 230 C
11. Dust the top of your boule liberally with flour, then slash a shallow cross in the top
12. When you slide your bread into the centre of the oven, pour a cup of water into the roasting tray and quickly close the door to trap the steam. 
13. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the top starts to brown and is firm to touch.
14. Allow to cool on a wire rack

TIP:
If you are making the boule to use as serving bowls for chowder, or soup, you may wish to divide the mixture just into two loaves, instead of 4.

Servings	4 x 1 lb loaves
Calories per serving	846 kcal

Chicken and Chorizo with Pesto and Mozzarella

It is not often that Mr Madnad makes the dinner. It isn't that he cannot cook - far from it, as he makes a mean chilli con carne. But even he would be the first to admit he perhaps isn't as interested in cooking as I am. He is, however, always happy to act as guinea pig and chief taster.

I say this not to disparage his skills in any way, but to highlight just how simple this recipe is as he made it for dinner this evening.

Simple it may be, but this is another great winter dish, and although I served it with gnocchi, it would work just as well with pasta, a bake, or even a jacket potato.

The following dish was the result of a twitter conversation I had with a foodie friend, who listed the ingredients as her dinner one night this week. I am a big fan of chicken, and chorizo, so of course my interest was piqued. When I found her dinner also included pesto and mozzarella, I was hooked!

Below are the quantities I used, but as you will see, it is easy for you to add more or less of the ingredients, according to taste.

Ingredients:

• 500g Chicken breast, diced
• 150g Chorizo, diced
• 150ml Single Cream
• 125g Mozzarella (either chopped up fresh or grated)
• 75g Green Pesto (fresh is always best, but ready made is perfectly acceptable)
• Enough gnocchi or pasta for 4

 Method:

1. Brown the diced chicken in some olive oil on a medium heat
2. Add the chopped chorizo, and allow the chicken to finish cooking in all those wonderful oils
3. Add in your cream, then stir your pesto and cheese
4. Once the cheese is melted and mixed thoroughly, fold in your gnocchi and serve

Difficulty	Easy
Servings	4
Calories per serving (with gnocchi)	838 kcal

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are probably one of the most versatile of all cookies. You can get cookie cutters in so many shapes these days that you can make them to suit every holiday or occasion.

I decided to include some small bite size snowflake sugar cookies in this year's edible christmas gift hamper. I was concerned that they may not hold their shape, but ensuring that they are thoroughly chilled before baking eliminated any problems. Plus, careful icing helps bring out the detail. These cookies are only 2" wide so too small to ice fully but I have added a snowflake detail.


Ingredients:

• 375g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 250g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 225g sugar
• 1 large free-range egg
• 1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract

Method:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Mix the vanilla essence into the egg & add to the butter mixture a little at a time (throw in a handful of the flour to stop the egg and butter separating).
3. Gradually add the rest of the flour and the baking powder
4. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for about 2 hours
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F  / 176°C / Gas Mark 4
6. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1cm/⅓ inch thick.
7. Cut out cookies using a cutter – do not wiggle the cutter, just press down firmly. Try to make the best use of the dough in one go, as each roll incorporates more flour which can create flour pockets that cause bumps to form while cooking. If this happens, you can usually press the lumps down before the cookie is lifted off the baking sheet.



8. Place your cookies on a buttered or lined baking tray. Chilling the cookies again at this stage for 3-5 minutes will ensure they keep their shape while cooking (unnecessary if cooking from frozen).
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes (maybe less if your cookies are small) until the edges start to turn slightly golden.
10. Leave to cool for one minute on the baking tray for it to firm up before transferring carefully to a cooking rack
11. Ensure your cookie is fully cooled before icing.

TIPS

• When decorating Sugar Cookies, lay your cookies on baking parchment. Pipe thick royal icing around the edge of the design, then fill with a slightly runnier royal icing and decorate. Leave for about 12 hours to set before storing.
• Once baked, store for a week in an airtight container. They may last up to 2 weeks if you substitute half the butter with Trex (vegetable shortening).
• To save yourself even more time, prepare your dough in advance, cut out cookies and place on lined baking sheets and freeze. Once frozen, layer the frozen cut outs with baking parchment and bake when needed. Allow 5 minutes at room temperature before baking.
• You can freeze most cookie dough mixtures for about 12 months, or even the baked cookies for about 4 weeks. Ensure they are fully defrosted before icing.

Mini Pepperami Pizza

Mini Pepperami Pizza are perfect finger food for a festive soiree, or in this case, an office fuddle.

To save time, you can make the dough the night before and let it prove overnight in the fridge. The cool of the fridge will retard the dough, and it will prove slowly. This is a good thing, as it is a known fact that the slower prove you give your bread mixtures, the better the flavour.

Next day, divide your dough, press out your mini pizzas and then top with tomato sauce, cheese and any other desired topping. I wanted to create mini pizzas that looked like my favourite pepperoni, but I obviously couldn't use the full size slices of pepperoni which are almost as big as the pizzas, so instead, I used little slices of Pepperami. You can obviously leave this off for a vegetarian version.

Ingredients (dough):

• 350g strong white flour (bread flour)
• 7g instant or fast action yeast
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil (extra virgin if you have it)
• 225ml of water (or you can use milk for a softer base)
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Warm your milk/water in a until it is just warm, but not hot as this will help wake up the yeast. 
2. Pour this into your mixing bowl and add in the yeast, and the sugar if you are using it. This will feed the yeast and help it get a good rise, but it isn't essential. 
3. If you want, you can leave the mixture for a few minutes to give the yeast time to wake but again, it isn't essential, but your yeast will love you for it.
4. Next add in the olive oil, and after a quick stir, add the flour. 
5. The mixture should form together into a nice ball of dough.
6. Place the ball of dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed for about 8 minutes
7. By now, it should be nice and smooth and stretchy.
8. Place it back in the bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove and double in size. You can do this at room temperature, in which case it should only take an hour or so. Alternatively, you can do the mixing in advance, and leave it in the bowl covered in clingfilm in the fridge for about 12 hours, even 24 if necessary, but not much longer. 
9. Once the proving is over, divide the dough into 16 small balls.
10. Dust a couple of baking tray with some cornmeal (if you have it - if not use flour)
11. Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 6 / 200°C / 400°F
12. Using the pads of your thumbs, press each dough ball out into your fingers to form a rough circle. You don't need to be too fussy about the shape. After all, it is about the flavour as much as about appearance. 
13. Spread a teaspoon of tomato puree onto each pizza, then cover with cheese (a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella is great for pizzas).
14. Sprinkle with a little mixed herbs if you feel that way inclined. 
15. Now you can top with your slices of pepperami.
16. Bake for 10-12 minutes before transferring straight to your plate. If serving later, place on a cooling rack and place in an airtight container only after they are fully cooled or you will have soggy base. They will keep in the fridge for no more than two days. After that, the dough may start to go soggy

Coconut Ice

If you like coconut, then you will love coconut ice! It's soft, and coconutty and oh-so-sweet.

I have had coconut ice before that is quite hard, but this recipe is softer, and more melt in the mouth. You could make it firmer by adding more icing sugar, coconut, or by leaving it out longer to allow the icing to set.

The best thing about this recipe is that there is absolutely no cooking involved. There is another way to make coconut ice that does involve cooking the sugar in much the same way you would fudge, but that gives a much harder result.


Ingredients:

• 397g can condensed milk
• 350g desiccated coconut
• 350g icing sugar 
• red food colouring

 Method:

1. Line a tray with greaseproof paper
2. Put a whole can of condensed milk into your mixing bowl
3. Next, stir in the icing sugar. You should have a reasonably thick paste at this stage.
4. Now add in the coconut. This will be quite hard work, so if you have a mixer it will make your life a lot easier.
5. If the mixture is still a little sloppy (it should stay on the spoon when turned upside down) add more icing sugar
6. Split the mixture in half, pressing the white half into the bottom of your tray.
7. Add 1 or 2 drops of red colouring to turn it pink, then carefully dot lumps of the pink mixture on top of the white
8. Using a spatula, carefully tease the pink mixture over the white. 
9. Cover with a clean tea towel, and leave over night
10. Will keep in airtight container for up to 4 weeks

TIP:
If you are bagging these up as gifts, try rolling the pieces in a little icing sugar to stop them sticking together.
You could try using strawberry flavouring instead of just red colouring as this will add colour as well as flavour.
As another flavour alternative, why not add 75g of dark chocolate instead of colouring, then prepare as normal.

Chocolate and Walnut Fudge

Fudge is one of those things that people say to me all the time, they wish they could make it. Well, you can!

I realise that it appears to be like some kind of alchemy, and I suppose in someway, it is as you are changing the structure of the sugar crystals via intense heat, but it really is simple.

Below is the basic recipe for a simple vanilla fudge, which I then added dark chocolate and some chopped walnuts to, but you can add anything you like, more or less.

TIP:
The secret to good fudge is stirring CONTINUOUSLY during the heating process, so ensure that before you start have your trays lined with greaseproof paper, your chocolate broken up, and your nuts chopped, as you will not be able to do this while the fudge is getting to temperature. It is worthwhile having a jug with iced water close by too as this will be useful to test for the soft ball stage.

Ingredients:

• 397g can Condensed Milk
• 150ml milk
• 450g demerara sugar
• 115g butter

Flavourings:

• 150g Dark Chocolate
• 85g Chopped walnuts

Method:

1. Line your tray (I used one about 7" square)  with greaseproof paper along the bottom and over two sides as this will aid you lifting out the fudge.
2. Ensure if you are using additional flavourings, that you have them prepared ready
3. In a large pot (preferably a preserving pan if you have one) attach your sugar thermometer to the side with the tip at least 1" or so off the bottom
4. Place all the main ingredients (sugar, condensed milk, milk, butter) in the pan.
5. On a low heat, stir gently until the sugar has fully dissolved. 
6. Once all the sugar is dissolved, raise the temperature under your pan to medium-high
7. KEEP STIRRING. The mixture should start to bubble furiously and look like lava. Be extremely careful not to splash any on you.
8. After about 10-15 minutes, or when the temperature on your thermometer reaches 230°F / 115°C your fudge should have reached the soft ball stage, so turn the heat as low as possible. 
9. Drop a little into your jug of iced water - after a few seconds pick it out and if you can form a soft ball that isn't runny and doesnt drip out of your fingers, it is ready. If you dont get a soft ball, put it back on a high heat for another few minutes then re-test.
10. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes, then give it a good stir for about 5 minutes and you will see that it eventually starts to loose it's glossy sheen. 
11. When that starts to happen, add in your chocolate and nuts (or whatever flavourings you chose) until they are fully combined.
12. Working quickly, pour the mixture into your prepared tin, and press down with a pallet knife or spatula. Please do not use your fingers as the mixture will still be incredibly hot. 
13. After about 15 minutes, once it has set a little, use a sharp knife to score the portions onto the surface, cutting no deeper than half way through
14. After about an hour, it should have cooled enough to put in the fridge. Leave there for another couple of hours if possible
15. Lift your fudge out of the pan using the paper, and you should be able to just it into pieces.