Some simple recipes to tide up through

[CitroJim]

All this talk of beetroot is making me quite squeamish. I read (speedread actually) the last half dozen posts with a wince.

Sorry Paul... I can emphasise very much as pictures of meat (raw and cooked) have much the same effect on me - as does a butcher's shop and the displays of meat in supermarkets

[CitroJim]

The result of my morning in the kitchen

The three little mince tarts were made with the leftover pastry from the quiche. Waste not, want not

The big box of tarts were from an earlier batch a few days ago...

The baking beans did their job

[Dormouse]

Merry Christmas everyone.

Today's dessert will be a homemade Trifle.

However, it is not a simple job to prepare a Dormouse Trifle.

It starts 3 days earlier with these light sponge cakes and requires patience.

The cakes are broken up and placed in a bowl then soaked in Sherry for 12 hours while resting in the fridge.

There are upto 3 layers of jelly and fruit added one at a time - each time the trifle bowl is returned to the fridge.
Mrs Dormouse has been known to do orange jelly with madarin pieces first, followed by lime jelly with pear pieces then finally raspberry jelly with raspberries.


This years offering is simple strawberry jelly with fruit cocktail pieces.

The whipped cream can be flavoured with any of several cordials or cocktail mixes and the chocolate topping can be any one of (or a mix of ) white chocalate, dark chocolate, you name it.

I want to express my thanks to Mrs Dormouse for her excellent Christmas Trifles over the years. They have been the highlight of many a family dinner.

Deceptively simple looking but to die for.

[Dormouse]

I had to sneak in this photo of the Prosecco flavoured custard as Mrs Dormouse didn't want anyone to see the lumpy surface.
If you cook and bake then you will appreciate her angst!

You cannot add Prosecco while you make the custard, you have to add it at the last possible moment when the custard is as cool as possible - hence the "stiff" layering appearance.

Cheers everyone.

[CitroJim]

Yum I do like a bit of trifle

[Paul-R]

I haven't made a trifle for several years now but when I did they were eagerly awaited. Sherry was far too tame and over the years I experimented ending up using dark rum, Navy strength if I had it. I also absolutely refused to use jelly as, although I am by no means a vegetarian, I won't touch anything with gelatine in it.

Starting with a base of sponge I mix in a can or two of fruit salad and then the rum until everything is dampened without being semi liquid. No need for jelly here! Then a thickish layer of cornflour custard followed by whipped cream. Finally plenty of artistically arranged glace cherries.

Yum.

[mickthemaverick]

In line with my simple tastes this is a perfectly acceptable trifle at Maverick Manor

Spot on for me, no alcohol just fruity flavour!

[mickthemaverick]

Proof!! Yum yum

May have another one soon!!

[Dormouse]

Trifle a la Dormouse.

[Dormouse]

Did I mention that Mrs Dormouse sometimes aerates jelly with condensed milk?

[Dormouse]

Tonight's meal is Kung Po pork with steamed rice.

This is my trusty Microwave Rice Steamer.

LOML and I both cook "fresh" meals often and try different recipes as we go along to get the best meals for our tastes.
This Kung Po Pork recipe is a "Pinch of Nom" one and works with chicken and beef with a few slight tweeks.

Last night's meal was "Marry Me Chicken" - so named because it is supposed to be so good that you will want to marry the cook. The recipe came from our daughter, so that's not going to happen!
When we tried it at our daughter's it was quite good, so we were a bit disappointed when we made it for ourselves last night and it was a bit underwhelming.
A trawl of the interweb this morning showed that we did copy the recipe correctly and followed the instructions. However, it also brought up about 20 other versions of the same recipe - all slightly different.
It is likely that the ingredients we used were different brands/quality from our daughter's ones and that our cooking times and techniques were probably different too. So, it all goes to show that, even with a good recipe, the end result is all about the cook and the cooking.

[Dormouse]

Today has been a 3 Floyd Cider day.

One for earlier when the Kung Po was cooked and left to marinade.

One while I was cooking the rice.

And another one while I enjoyed a mildly spiced Pork and Rice meal.

[bobins]

Today has been a 3 Floyd Cider day.

Just warming up ready for some action later on then ?

[Dormouse]

Probably snoring like a good 'un.

[Dormouse]

Mrs Dormouse and I have been experimenting with the Marry Me Chicken dish. We had a portion left over which we have left until today's lunch. We found the level of spicy taste has increased, as often happens when you leave spices in a dish to work their way through the sauce. The experiment was to see what complimented the strong taste of the Parmesan Cheese in the recipe.
We both agreed that it lacked sweetness, but what to use?
We plunked for honey. We heated the portion up in the microwave and added small amounts of honey at a time, well mixed in, until we got the balance between sweetness and strong cheese we felt appropriate.
This gave us about 1.5 to 2 Tbs to add to the recipe's ingredients next time we make this meal.

I will report back some time next week with the results.