Marinated loin of pork

This recipe is adapted from Mary Berry's marinated loin of pork with pineapple which is in Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook

1.5lb (0.75kg) pork tenderloin

Marinade

250ml (8fl oz) pineapple juice
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 crushed cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of fresh thyme
1 teaspoon of chinese five spice

Make the marinade in a flat glass dish.  Combine the pineapple juice, honey, soy sauce, garlic, thyme and five spice together.   Add the pork, cover with cling film and marinate in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.

Remove the pork from the marinade reserving the marinade.  Put the pork flat fat side up in a small roasting tin.  Cover loosely with foil and cook in a preheated oven at 220c (200c fan, gas mark 7) for 40 minutes.

Remove the foil and pour the marinade over the pork.  Return to the oven for approx 20-25 minutes or until the marinade has darkened and the juices run clear.  Once cooked, carve the pork cover with foil and leave to stand for 10 minutes.  Strain the cooking juices and remove the fat, then reheat.  Serve the pork sliced with the juices poured over.

I served with roasted vegetables and new potatoes which were just drizzled with oil and cooked alongside the pork.

Mary Berry's chocolate cup cakes (add coconut) and a message to Mr Postman

Hi all, well this week I have been slack on the baking front and slack on the floral regalia, something to do with long days at work, and we were entertained by our friends Steve and Jan last night.  Don't despair Jan gave us a recipe which we had for starter but which we are going to do for a main meal this week, and we talked Daffodils so does that count?

The past two days have reminded me that Spring is just around the corner, and today with the help of my dad we planted the holly bush and marvelled at the hellebores in the front garden.  I also made a sign which has been positioned on the front grass as Mr Postman well he delivers our mail, but he insists on walking across the front garden and the snowdrops are being crushed....basically my sign says don't walk on the grass and crush the snowdrops....I will let the window cleaner off he is providing a service. 

The daffodils, tulips and muscari bulbs are poking their heads through, in fact on the way to my training course yesterday I saw daffodils in a garden full bloom.

Well I am going to share my baking treat earlier in the week which were Mary Berry's Recipe for Chocolate Cup Cakes, I added my own twist with adding coconut to the icing.  They were well received by my work colleagues..how am i going to break the news in the morning I was too tired to bake this weekend.....

I watched Mary Berry's appearance on Food and Drink last week and I must say they had to choose between two victoria sponges one made with butter and the other with baking spread...Mary's one with baking spread won.  I will say of every cake recipe i try Mary's come out on time and just light and perfect.

Makes 24   198 cals each

40g (1 1/2 oz) cocoa powder
about 4 tablespoons of boiling water
3 eggs
175g (6oz) baking margarine
175g (6oz) caster sugar
115g (4 1/2oz) self raising flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder

Icing

60g (2oz) butter
30g (1oz) icing sugar
about 3 tablespoons milk
250g (8oz) icing sugar

2 x 12 hole muffin tins and 24 paper cases

Line the two 12 hole muffin tins with paper cases.  Sift the cocoa powder into a bowl, pour in the boiling water, and mix into a thick paste.  Add the remaining cake ingredients and mix with an electric hand whisk (or beat well with a wooden spoon).

Divide the mix equally amongst the 24 paper cases.  Bake in a preheated oven at 200c (180c fan, gas mark 6) for about 10 minutes until well risen and springy to the touch.  Cool in the cases on a wire rack.

Make the icing.  Melt the butter then pour into a bowl.  Sift in the cocoa powder and stir to mix.  Stir in the milk and then sift in the icing sugar a little at a time to make a glossy, spreadable icing.  Spread the icing over the cakes and leave to set before serving.

I added 3 tablespoons of dessicated coconut to the icing for a twist.

Taken from the book Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook published by Dorling Kindersley.

Lucy Young's Treacle glazed chicken

Lucy Young has been working with Mary Berry for 22 years and worked together at the famous Aga Workshops.  Lucy is in her own right a great cook and this recipe is from Lucy's book Secrets from a Country Kitchen published by Ebury Press.

This recipe Serves 4, although tonight I halved the quantities to Serve 2.

(Preparation time 5 minutes, cooking time 20 minutes - not suitable for freezing)

4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
salt and pepper

Sauce
2 tablespoons black treacle
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon redcurrant jelly
3 tablespoons orange juice

Preheat the oven to 180°c/350°f/Gas mark 4

Arrange the chicken breasts snugly in a small roasting tin and season with salt and pepper.  Mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, season with salt and pepper and pour over the chicken breasts.  Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked.  Serve hot.

To cook in the Aga - slide the roasting tin on to the second set of runners in the roasting oven for about 15-20 minutes until the chicken breasts are just tender.

Tip - you do not need to use freshly squeezed orange juice - use the type that you have for breakfast.  When a skinless chicken breast is cooked, it lacks the brown crispy top you get with a skin on breast.  Here, however the glaze makes the breasts look very attractive, with a lovely brown shine.

I served our breasts with new potatoes, carrots and spring greens.

Mary Berry New Book Out tomorrow

Mary Berry and Lucy Young have a new book released tomorrow Mary Berry at Home.

Send this link to a loved one and ask for a Valentine's treat to cook them up a treat!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1849904804/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d10_i5?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0H8689MVXDADGYAS2AJN&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=358549207&pf_rd_i=468294

Paul Hollywood's Crusty Dinner Rolls

I have been toying with the idea of making rolls now for the past couple of weeks, so today I took the task in hand.  Made the dough, let rise for 3 hours whilst I went out for a coffee with a friend, and then left to prove whilst my Date and Walnut Loaf was in the oven.

I am an inpatient cook so this is why I am not a fan of making bread, and love the simplicity of soda bread as you can just make that and put it in the oven and within the hour you have nice bread.

I am pleased with my patience today and love my results if not perfectly round.

For details of how to make Crusty Dinner Rolls it can be found in Paul Hollywood's How to Bake book which is published by Bloomsbury.

Mary Berry's Date and Walnut Loaf

Did you see the second episode of the Mary Berry Story on BBC2 this week?  What an amazing lady, and a bit of a sad episode this week.  Loved Mary's cooking through the story though, the Bread and Butter Pudding and that icing she put on the cake this week....truly indulgent.  I looked at our cooker window today and thought Mary keeps her a lot cleaner than we do!  I also had to tell my husband off I brought some chopped walnuts and he ate them in the week.

Another exciting instalment for the blog is that I have been granted permission from Nigel Slater to use some of his recipes and I have had back the Canadian permission for the Nigella recipes I want to use, just got to get the last one from America to give me worldwide permission so i can publish on the blog....looking forward to that as I cannot wait to cook one of my chosen recipes.

Anyway today I am cooking Mary Berry's Date and Walnut Loaf......now I am doing two and unfortunately only had one loaf tin so did a round one for the other.

Here is the recipe.

3oz (90g) soft butter or margarine, plus extra for greasing
8oz (250g) dates, stoned and roughly chopped
1/4 pint (150ml) boiling water
3oz (90g) caster sugar
1 egg
8oz (250g) self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3oz (90g) walnuts roughly chopped

2lb (1kg) loaf tin

Lightly grease the loaf tin with butter and line with greaseproof paper*.  Put the dates into a bowl and pour over the measured boiling water, and leave for about 15 minutes.  Combine the butter, sugar, egg, flour and baking powder in a large bowl and beat until well blended.  Add the walnuts and dates, plus the soaking liquid and stir to mix.

Spoon into the prepared loaf tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180°c, (160°c fan, Gas mark 4) for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours until well risen and firm to the touch.  A fine skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf should come out clean. 

Leave to cool in the loaf tin for a few minutes, then turn out to a wire rack and peel off the lining paper.  Leave to cool completely.  Serve sliced and buttered if wished.

* I find the presized loaf tin liners good for this.

Mary's recipe is one of a large collection from her book Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook published by Dorling Kindersley.

Olive's Kitchen

My friend Debbie has started a new business venture Olive's Kitchen.  I met Debbie just over a year ago she asked me to do flowers for her wedding and she is also now the secretary of our flower club in Corby so a lovely friendship has formed.

Debbie told me about her venture a couple of weeks ago and so I ordered some of her homemade Cottage Pie and some soup for my lunches this week.

After a good natter and a coffee yesterday afternoon I brought home my order.  Last night we had Olive's Kitchen's Cottage Pie with some veg.

The pie was gorgeous authentically a homemade cottage pie so different to the ones you buy premade in the supermarkets.  It feels like I have made it and got it out of the oven, and would be proud to serve that up at a dinner party too.  If you get the opportunity get some of Olive's Kitchen's cheese scones these are the best scones I have had.

Some of the things available from Olive's Kitchen:-

• Delicious home cooked meals and desserts
• Sunday Roast (cooked and ready to serve or prepared ready to cook yourself)
• Cakes, Pies and Scones
• Breakfast
• Packed Lunches

Olive's Kitchen also offers a cleaning and ironing service.

Also Learn Basic cookery skills at home - individually or with a friend.  Fun, relaxed and affordable.

Gluten Free and Vegetarian catered for

If you are local to the Corby, Northamptonshire area, contact oliveshomekitchen@hotmail.co.uk or 07806 554565 for more information.

Floral Demonstrating

Well this is what I do outside of work along with my freelancing at floristry.  I do flower demos for flower clubs and WI's.  The flower club ones are worked on a larger scale whilst the WI demos are more "this is what you can do at home" type of thing.

This is some work from my latest flower demo.  I am a trainee area demonstrator for the South Midlands Area of NAFAS.

Bistro Ready Meal range

Last Sunday we tried the £10 meal offer ready for Valentine's Day from Morrisons.  Sometimes you just don't have time to cook but want something nice.

For £10 we got a main dish from the Bistro Range, a side dish and a pudding.  You could then choose from a bottle of wine, or rose cava or chocolates...so a good deal.

We chose the Shepherd's Pie with Minted Pea and Potato Crush, with herby potatoes, and for pudding the Belgian Chocolate Pudding.

The shepherds pie base with the minced lamb was yummy and I particularly liked the rough crushed potatoes with the pea, the mint element was nice but perhaps a little overpowering for my husband.  The chocolate pudding was amazing and just enough for two portions.  Definitely recommended as an alternative to the original Dine in that another supermarket offers....although we will review one of those i am sure in the not too distant future.

Everyone needs a little help sometimes

Yes here he is, he sleeps whilst I am cooking, loves my Victoria sponge cakes I made last week and helps me tweet and write my blog......yes he is the most gorgeousness bundle of fluff, he is my woof.  Is pacing up and down whilst I am writing oh here he comes..........

Not just a berry day but an orange day

Today I stayed in again to finally knock this bug on the head as I need to go back to work tomorrow not negotiable.....so first thing I squeezed and chopped seville oranges even wrapping the pips in a muslin cloth (yes found one with my Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish supply) and after several hours of boiling I came out with 1 3/4 jars of Seville Orange marmalade.

My Seville orange marmalade

Approx 1.5kg of seville oranges
1/2 lemon
3/4 kg of preserving sugar

Squeeze oranges, chop a bit of the rind from the oranges as much as your preference.  Squirt in the juice from 1/2 lemon and wrap the pips in muslin.  Boil then simmer for around 1 hour.  Add the preserving sugar and boil rapidly for a further 30-40 minutes test and see if there is a set, boil a bit longer if needed.  Jar up.

Then to this afternoon well Mary Berry had to make an appearance and what an appearance.  I made her Devon Scone recipe from the Complete cookbook, they are amazing so light and yes the only cutter i could find was in the shape of a flower however they swelled in the oven so they became round.  Two of them I chopped up leftover cheese in and had for my lunch. I used skimmed milk and they turned out fine so I suppose a bit low cal.

Devon Scones by Mary Berry

2 oz (60g) butter plus extra for greasing
8oz (250g) self raising flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1oz (30g) caster sugar
1 egg
about 150ml (1/4 pint) of milk plus extra for glazing
butter and jam to serve
2in pastry cutter

Lightly butter a large baking tray.  Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.  Rub in the butter with the fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Stir in the sugar.  Break the egg into a measuring jug and make up to 150ml (1/4 pint) with milk.  Beat lightly to mix.  Add to the bowl and mix to a soft dough.  Lightly knead the dough until smooth.  Roll out until 1cm (1/2 in) thick, cut into rounds with the pastry cutter, and put on the baking tray.  Brush with milk.  Bake in a preheated oven at 220°c (200°c fan oven, gas mark 7) for about 10 minutes until risen and golden.  Cool on a wire rack.  Serve on the day of making if possible with butter and jam.  Makes 12

Recipe is by Mary Berry and taken from her book Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook published by Dorling Kindersley and available to buy through Amazon by clicking on the link above.

Poachers Pie

Last night I made Poachers Pie....okay have to admit I was still a bit poorly so shop brought pastry was used.  However the rest was followed to the letter and with another lovely front facing floral arrangement to adorn the table comprising pink tulips, carnations, my favourite flower freesia, bouvardia, mimosa and sweet avalanche roses it made the meal really special.  I finished the meal off with a Raspberry and Elderflower Fizz as really it should have had a nice red wine such as a chianti, however I don't like red wine so complemented the flowers and used a less heavy drink as the meal is quite hearty, almost medieval in look and taste taking me back to pictures of the medieval tables with their hearty pies. 

The pie in itself was amazing I used beef steak, chicken and ham for the filling, the sausagemeat gave it another dimension and was really tasty.

For details of how to make Poachers Pie it can be found in Paul Hollywood's How to Bake book which is published by Bloomsbury.

The flowers were supplied courtesy of Dutch Flower Auction Direct.

Floral Arrangement - Mary Berry's Sea Bass with Lemon sauce

The flowers that were used in the arrangement for the Sea Bass dish were yellow tulips and mimosa, white lilies and pink sweet avalanche roses.

I would like to thank the Dutch Flower Auction Direct for supplying the flowers that I used in this weekend's blog.  For more details of the Dutch Flower Auction Direct please click here or on the logo to the right hand side of this blog.

There will be more flowers tomorrow.

It's Mary time

Whilst I was suffering with the lurgy this week, I had two pieces of exciting news (no three) to cheer me up.  One was my letter from Felicity Kendall (more of that another day), and the second was an email from Lucy Young allowing me to use Mary and her recipes within my blog well you can imagine how excited I felt.  The third was that Haagen Daaz was on special offer in Morrisons my favourite chocolate and mint leaves....

Last night in our quest to stay healthy (i have lost 11.5lbs already this year since we started the diet in January with the treats at weekends) we had Seabass.

The recipe I used was Sea bass with lemon butter sauce which is from Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook published by Dorling Kindersley.

So basically put some lemon into the cleaned and filleted seabass, add some sprigs of tarragon and place in foil along with a couple of tablespoons of dry white wine seasoned with salt and pepper.  Bake for 30 mins.  For the sauce whisk single cream, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 egg yolk, plain flour, pepper and tarragon together and keep warm to then serve when the fish is cooked.

The meal was complemented by a small floral arrangement comprising white lilies, yellow tulips, mimosa and sweet avalanche roses with a little foliage from the garden.  The yellow tulips and the mimosa along with the white lilies went well to co-ordinate with the fish and the creamy lemon sauce.

The wine chosen to complement the meal was a white Pinot Grigio

Triple chocolate cake

This week has been a dreadful week, I caught an awful viral infection that is doing the rounds.  Monday was the start of what felt like I had been gargling with razor blades, and then wed, thurs and friday out of action.  However when you are a normally active person, Friday afternoon the boredom had really set in....help no more Loose Women or This Morning...and after seeing Paul Hollywood on Alan Titchmarsh making an afternoon tea I felt the need to make something and treat myself (oh and the husband for putting up with nights of coughing and loud snoring).

So I made a Triple Chocolate Cake, I did adapt the recipe a bit by adding some strawberries on top and to be honest my picture was not quite as perfect as in Mr Hollywood's book but hey I am ill so the cake didn't look as perfect either....it felt sorry for me so had to look a bit awkward.  Mind you the taste was amazing.

For details of how to make the Paul Hollywood Triple Chocolate Cake, the recipe can be found in his book How to Bake by Paul Hollywood which is published by Bloomsbury