A Sandwich Short of a Picnic

What a summer it's been so far for eating al fresco. Whether it's been barbecuing in the back yard, soaking up the sun in Saugues or brunching at Bewl Water, this has definitely been the year when we ate outdoors!

But my first picnic challenge of the year was an interesting one- a picnic guest who was cutting down on gluten and wanted to go breadless.
No more sandwiches, quiches and pizzas- time to get creative with the cool box.



So, on today's picnic menu we have Tortilla, Flourless Mushroom Muffins and Seeded Shards ( for dipping in hummus or guacamole)

The Tortilla is simple- and uses up any leftover cooked vegetables or garden glut you might have. This recipe is for a classic potato and onion tortilla.

Ingredients:
2 large white onions
2 medium sized potatoes
6 eggs and a splash of milk
pinch each of salt, pepper and sugar

1. Finely slice the onions and potatoes

Finely sliced veg ready

2. Put the onions to fry gently in a little vegetable oil- in a large non-stick frying pan.
3. Blanch the potato slices (if you are using raw rather than leftover boiled potatoes) for 5-8 minutes in boiling salted water until tender.
4. Add the sugar to the onions and continue to fry until golden brown
5. Add the blanched potato and continue to fry gently until the potato also starts to brown
6. Beat the eggs with the milk, salt and pepper
7. Pour over the potato/onion mix and continue to heat gently until the tortilla is set underneath
8. Place a plate over the pan and invert the tortilla onto it.

Invert onto a plate

9. Slide the tortilla back into the pan and continue to cook on the second side.
10. Cool, slice and serve.

Potato and Onion Tortilla

Flourless Mushroom Muffins

A bit like tortillas, these little om-cakes are cooked in the oven in muffin cases.

I've used mushrooms and spring onions as the flavouring as that is what I had to hand- but  again you can use any veg you choose (peas, spinach, leeks...)

Ingredients:

4 eggs separated
125g of veg- eg. sliced mushrooms, sliced spring onions
40 g of  grated mature cheddar
25ml milk

1. Line a muffin tin with paper or silicone cases (the latter work best) and pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees
2. Beat the egg whites until stiff
3. Gently fry the mushrooms and onions until just cooked

Fry your filling choice

4. Beat the eggs and milk together
5. Add the  chopped fried vegetables and the cheese
6. Gently fold in the egg whites and spoon into the cases

Fold in the egg whites

Spoon into muffin cases

7. Bake until risen and golden.

Risen and golden!

Flourless Mushroom Muffins

Seeded Shards

50g porridge oats
100g mixed savoury seeds
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp approx of water to mix

1. Mix all the ingredients together with enough water to make the mixture soft

Mix all the ingredients together

2. Allow the oats to soak up the moisture
3. Line a baking tin with greaseproof paper and spread out the mixture, pressing down with a spoon

Press into a baking tin

4. Bake at 170 degrees until browned (approx 25-30 minutes)
5. Allow to cool completely and then break into shards
6. Store in an airtight container.

Seeded Shards

Now pack up some salad, some dips and crisps and crunchy veg sticks and plenty to drink.

You should have a picnic that will please the pickiest of picknickers- so what are you waiting for?

Service!

Taking the biscuit

Speculoos biscuits- those little cinnamon nibbles you get with a cup of coffee- are all the rage in France. You can get Speculoos spread (like Nutella but with cinnamon), Speculoos Tiramisu, ice cream, instant dessert mix, flavoured yoghurt- you name it.

You can buy them in the UK too- under different brand names  like this one.... and they are worth seeking out for their crispy-crumbliness and spicy flavour.

However, all these recipes work well with good old ginger biscuits too. Friends of mine even substituted Nice biscuits for some of them and apparently the result was pretty good.

The first recipe I set out to try was Poached Pears in a Speculoos crust.

Poach four pears in 400 ml water into which you have dissolved 100g of sugar and placed 4 star anise.

When the pears are tender, take them out to cool and strain the syrup into a jug.

Keep the star anise for garnish.
Now melt 100g butter in a pan and add 1 packet of crushed Speculoos biscuits. Mix well and allow to cool.

Use the sticky crumb mixture to coat the pears completely, moulding it around with wet hands.
Place them on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes at 170 degreees until the coating is crisp.

Poached Pears in a Speculoos Crust

I have to admit that the rolling and coating of the pears was a bit tricky and so a simplified ( dare I call it 'deconstructed' version) is every bit as impressive.
Serve the pears sitting jauntily atop the crumbs ( call them Cinnamon Soil if you can keep a straight face) with the syrup on the side for pouring over.

Poached Pears on Cinnamon Soil

If you have biscuits, crumbs and pears to spare- layer it all up into a trifle. I sent this one to the Guardian - and it was the winning recipe. Do enjoy the editor's comments, by the way. Is anyone else reminded of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

Add cap

The winning recipe: LeftoverLiz’s sugar and spice trifle made with speculoos biscuits. Photograph: Jill Mead for the Guardian

 Dale Berning Sawa

Saturday 23 April 2016 06.00 BST

• Share on Pinterest
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Google+

Shares

51

Comments

8

Trifles are made for sharing. They’re the pudding you wheel out when you’ve a horde to please. Which is why, for this swap, we threw a party. A trifle party! Eight adults and four under-threes swarmed around a wooden table laden with layers of fruit, custard and whipped cream. Everyone was armed with a spoon, and we all dove right in there. It was a delirious, cream-splattered splurge.

The winning recipe: sugar and spice trifle (pictured above)

Speculoos as the biscuit base is an inspired choice in Leftoverliz’s offering here – as festive a pud as you’re likely to get. It’s got the requisite layers of biscuit, fruit, custard and cream, the first two bringing a ripe boldness to the bland unctuosity of the latter. These poached pears, by the way, are beautiful in their own right, and the whole trifle, deconstructed, is an excellent alternative if you’re particularly anti-assemblage.

Serves 4-6
4 pears
100g sugar
400ml water
3 star anise
275ml whipping cream
250g speculoos biscuits
2 tsp sherry
500g ready-made custard

1 Peel the pears, but leave them whole, with the stalks on.

2 Dissolve the sugar in the water, add the star anise and pears, then poach for 15 minutes or so, until tender. Drain, reserve the cooking liquor and allow the pears to cool.

3 Whip the cream to soft peaks and set aside. Put about half of the biscuits in a layer in the bottom of a trifle bowl.

4 Add the sherry to the pear liquor and spoon a few tablespoons over the biscuits to make them soft.

5 Slice the pears and place half of them in a layer over the biscuits, then pour the custard over the pears. Add another layer of biscuits, reserving a handful for scattering, and then a layer of pears.

6 Top with whipped cream and a final scattering of crushed biscuits.

If you are genuinely in the mood for an unctuous pudding- try these Cinnamon Cream Pots.

Mix 2 eggs and 3 egg yolks with 25g of sugar. (The egg whites freeze well for use another time).
Bring 350ml of milk and 150ml of cream to the boil. Add 200g of crushed Speculoos biscuits and an extra pinch of cinnamon.
Pour the hot milk over the beaten eggs, beating with a whisk as you do so to form a custard.
Pour into ramekin dishes or glasses and place in a baking tray half filled with hot water.

Cream pots ready for the oven

Bake for 45 minutes in a cool oven (100 degrees) until set.
Once cooked, cool and then chill until ready to serve.

Cinnamon Cream Pots

And yet more leftover biscuit crumb blends wonderfully with your usual crumble mix for a pud with warm hints of sugar and spice.

Speculoos Crumb Crumble

Finally- try a savoury recipe (or semi-sweet/semi-savoury at any rate). I am not a fan of goat's cheese so prefer to use a cow's milk roule like Fagotin, Boursin or le Roule for this, but I accept that the sharp tang of goat probably complements the crumb particularly well.
Get ready 3 plates - one of beaten egg, one of flour and one of Speculoos crumbs.

Flour, egg and Speculoos crumbs at the ready

Coat your roules of cheese (buches de chevre, Fagotin, Boursin or le Roule) first in flour, then in egg, then in crumb and lay on baking paper on a tray.(Make sure they are fully coated.)
Bake at 200 degrees for 10 minutes until the crumb is crispy ( tap it to check).

Cheese and Speculoos Roule

Serve as pre-dinner nibbles or as a starter with a dressed salad.

Stale Storecupboard Stuff

Well, I'm back in Blighty, back on home turf with a bump- so it's back to familiar blog territory too ie. using up stuff that you might throw away (if you didn't know better.)

I had a bag of leftover picnic foods from our journey across France, and a storecupboard full of packets and boxes that had sat unused and unloved for the 3 months I was away. Time to use up biscuits, cereal, toasts, cakes and other dry goods before it was too late to do so.




I started with the breakfast cereal- and made a Bettelmann. This is a bread pudding-like cake from Alsace made from cereal and/or toasts, soaked in milk and baked with fruit and a bit of booze.
The name means 'Beggar Man' and is also known as 'Mendiant' in French.
Nothing too poor about it though, as it is spicy and satisfying- especially when served with cream or custard.

It featured in this Saturday's Guardian Cook supplement too.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/25/cornflake-tart-oat-quiche-ice-cream-sandwich-recipe-swap

Soak some sultanas (or traditionally cherries) in a litle rum (or kirsch for cherries).
Warm but don't quite boil 450ml of milk, 3 tbsp of sugar and add 125g of crushed cereal. Work the mixture with a fork, then a wooden spoon, until you have a homogenous porridge-like consistency. (I know it doesn't sound or look great at this stage- but have faith!) Leave this to stand whilst you butter and line a 20cm cake tin with chapelure (finely blitzed biscotte /toast crumbs).

Into the cake mixture, beat 2 large eggs, a teaspoon of mixed spice and a teaspoon of cinnamon.Peel and thinly slice a dessert apple and add this plus the rum-soaked sultanas to the mix.Pour the mixture into the cake tin, level the surface and sprinkle with a sachet of vanilla sugar.

Bake at 170 degrees for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Bettelmann with apples and sultanas

I made a very similar pudding-cake using a packet of semolina. I know, I know..semolina! When was the last time you thought of serving that up to your guests? In fact,  I only had a packet in the cupboard as 'emergency camping food'.

However, a gateau de semoule is a very popular French dessert- and I thought I would have a go at making it.

I was pleasantly surprised.

You need 200g of semolina, 150 g sultanas, 140 g caster sugar, 1 litre of milk, 2 eggs, 5 cl of rum and some vanilla essence. For the caramel topping you need 120g of powdered sugar and 4 dessert spoons of water.

1. First soak the sultanas in the rum.

2. Then make up the semolina according to the instructions using the milk, sugar and vanilla essence. Leave it to thicken and cool.

3. Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees and make the caramel by boiling the water and powdered sugar together until it darkens in colour.

4. Pour the caramel into a lined 20 cm cake tin and allow it to spread out.

Caramel topping added

5. Now beat the eggs into the semolina and pour it over the caramel.

6. Bake in the oven until golden and firm.

7. Cool slightly and peel off the lining paper, turn out, slice and serve.

Gateau de semoule

The next two desserts are similar in many ways- they both use an egg custard to set them, rather like a bread-and-butter pudding.

The first I made from a packet of galette biscuits- but any biscuits would do eg. Nice, Malted Milk or Digestives.

Here is the recipe (which appeared in the Guardian earlier in the year.) Their picture (and flattering write-up) is so much better than mine!

"Every dish I cooked was delicious, but the cake from LeftoverLiz quite literally took the biscuit. Who’d have thought that a pint of milk, a couple of eggs, a leftover apple and a few old biscuits could make such a show-off pudding? I’ve since tried it with digestives too, so don’t be afraid to experiment with the broken bits at the bottom of the barrel." (The Editor- Guardian Cook supplement)

The winning recipe: Breton biscuit cake

Although I’ve made this pudding-cake with Breton galette biscuits (because I love their toffee buttery taste), the recipe will work well with any simple biscuits (malted milk, Nice and so on).
LeftoverLiz, via GuardianWitness

Serves 8-10
1 dessert apple or pear, peeled cored and chopped
1 tbsp butter, for greasing the tin
2 eggs
100g caster or vanilla sugar
500ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g stale biscuits

Advertisement

1 First make a compote with the apple or pear. Put the fruit in a small saucepan with a little water then stew it down to a pulp for around 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2 Generously butter a 15cm cake tin, then beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until the mixture goes pale in colour. Mix in the milk and vanilla.

3 Spread out the biscuits in a layer on the bottom of the tin, add a spreading of the fruit compote and then pour over some of the milk mixture.

4 Repeat with a second and even third layer until you have used up all your ingredients.

5 Leave it to soak while you preheat your oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and then bake the cake for around 20-25 minutes until the custard is set. Leave to cool, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve in slices with cream.

My final dessert for today uses up my picnic- to be precise: a box of Madeleines and some jam.

Leftovers from a Proustian picnic

1.Butter a gratin dish, slice the madeleines lengthways and spread them with jam.

2.Preheat your oven to 170 degrees

3. Arrange the madeleines in the dish and pour over an egg custard made from 350 ml of milk mixed with 1 beaten egg, some vanilla essence and 100g of caster sugar.

Soak the cakes in the egg custard

4. Allow the milk to soak in to the cakes and then bake until risen and firm (about 25 minutes).

Madeleine Pudding

And so here ends my story of stale storecupboard stuff.

It is nice to be back- but I think it is high time I went out and bought some fresh ingredients. Don't you?

Buttery Biscuit Base

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMg3epr53Ns

OK- so I'm shamelessly piggy-backing on the hilarious Masterchef YouTube rap. But if you googled this and ended up here on my blog- don't go! Stay and read a few biscuit based recipes.

Today's blog is all about using up leftover biscuits, biscottes and crispbreads.

If, like me, you've returned from your holidays with packets of crisp toasts and pains grilles which seemed practical and delicious for breakfast in foreign parts, but just don't appeal quite so much when there is toast and Marmite, crumpets and other bready delights now that you're back home, then this is the blogpost for you.
Instead of letting them go stale and throwing them away- you can make a whole host of dishes (savoury and sweet) from them.

My leftover biscottes etc

The obvious thing to do is blitz them into fine breadcrumbs for storing in an airtight jar or in the freezer to make 'chapelure' for coating fish, rissoles, croquettes, etc (as in Aunty Liz's Crunchy Chicken).

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/week-40-crunchy.html

I'm going to do that with some, but I want to be a bit more creative with the rest.

First of all, I'm making a Battelmann (or Mendiant)- which is a dessert dish from Alsace. It is very similar to a bread pudding (spicy, sugary and dense)- but is lighter thanks to the use of biscottes (crispy French toasts).
Soak some sultanas (or traditionally cherries) in a litle rum (or kirsch for cherries).
Warm but don't quite boil 450ml of milk, 3 tbsp of sugar and add 125g of crushed biscottes. Work the mixture with a fork, then a wooden spoon, until you have a homogenous porridge-like consistency. (I know it doesn't sound or look great at this stage- but have faith!) Leave this to stand whilst you butter and line a 20cm cake tin with the above mentioned chapelure (finely blitzed biscotte crumbs).
Into the cake mixture, beat 2 large eggs, a teaspoon of mixed spice and a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Peel and thinly slice a dessert apple and add this plus the rum-soaked sultanas to the mix.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin, level the surface and sprinkle with a sachet of vanilla sugar.

Bake at 170 degrees for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Serve warm with cream, ice cream or custard.

Battelmann with apples and sultanas

Next, let's do a savoury dish- petits farcis- or stuffed summer vegetables. This has featured on the blog before, but this time instead of using breadcrumbs (or polenta crumbs) as previously, I'm using up leftover crisp rolls (Swedish ones- you know, that look like little dry baguettes).
When soaked in milk, they make excellent 'ballast' for stuffings, or to add to burgers and meatballs. Click on the link below the picture for the recipe- but substitute 5- 6 crisp rolls, crushed and soaked in milk for the breadcrumbs.

Petits farcis

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/week-30-last-of-summer-sun.html

Back to sweet things.
Speculoos are all the rage in France at the moment- though they are actually from Belgium ( a bit like Hercules Poirot, annoyed at having constantly to remind people that he is not a meddlesome Frenchman, he is a meddlesome Belgian!)
These biscuits aren't annoying at all- they are buttery, cinnamon flavoured spice biscuits which have numerous culinary uses. You can get them in Waitrose - or you can use good old Ginger Nuts if you prefer.

First of all, I'm making Cinnamon Cream Pots then a Speculoos Tiramisu.

For the cream pots- first make an egg custard or creme anglaise by whisking 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk together with 25g of sugar and a teaspoon of cornflour in a large bowl until light and frothy. Crush 1 packet (100g) of Speculoos and dissolve into 350ml of milk and add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Bring the milk to the boil and then pour over the egg mixture, bit by bit, whisking as you go. Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat, stirring all the time until it begins to thicken.
Pour into individual ramekins or coffee cups.
Place the cups into a large baking tray and half fill it with hot water.
Cook the puds in a low oven (100 degrees) for 45 minutes and then chill well before serving. (Note that the quantities above make 4 servings not 6 as in the picture).

Cream Pots ready for the oven

The Tiramisu is simplicity itself and can be made in a trifle dish or in individual glasses.

Soak Speculoos biscuits in rum or coffee liqueur and line your chosen dish with them. Next slather on a layer of whipped cream, then another layer of  rum-dipped biscuits, then a final layer of cream. Sprinkle the top with crushed biscuits.

Speculoos Tiramisu

Incidentally, Speculoos biscuits are good added to your fruit crumble topping or indeed crushed and mixed with melted butter to make a buttery biscuit base for cheesecake or key lime pie.

Chocolate cheesecake with Buttery Biscuit Base!

Hope you like these recipes- let me know if they need more oomph!

Week 39- Sussex Winter Recipes

The soggy autumn draws to a close- and there is a definite nip in the air this morning.

Time to dig out the hats, scarves and gloves - and have some hearty winter menus.






Back in June, I came up with some Sussex summer recipes- so now, at the change of season, I've researched some winter fare.

To start, I'm suggesting Beachy Head crab cakes with a sweet chili dipping sauce, followed by a Chiddingly hotpot and finished off with biscuits and cheese- Windmill Hill thin biscuits in fact.

Beachy Head lighthouse emerging from the mist

Beachy Head is a beautiful and eerie place- the land ends abruptly as if sliced with a huge knife and the white cliff drops down vertically to the sea. Alas, this lovely place has a sad reputation as it is a favoured spot for tortured souls to throw themselves off,

The Beachy Head chaplain is always there- talking to walkers and worriers alike. One of life's unsung heroes.http://www.bhct.org.uk/wp/ Just this week the team responded to 8 different incidents - and saved those lives. Nobody died here this week.

Less well known, the seas around the cliff are home to some of the finest crab and lobster in the country.

I've used this crab for my starter. Take 120g of crab meat (you can always use a tin of course), 100g of cooked peeled prawns, 2 slices of stale bread, 1 teaspoon each of finely chopped garlic, finely chopped red chili and ginger and some parsley or coriander. Blitz the whole lot in a food processor and pour into a bowl. Add a dash of light soy sauce (or Thai fish sauce if you have it) and mix together. Shape into little cakes with wet hands, chill in the fridge for half an hour

Chill the crab cakes before baking

 and then place on an oiled baking tray. Bake at 190 degrees for 15 minutes or so until lightly brown and serve with a sweet chili dipping sauce.

Beachy Head crab cakes

The next recipe I found in a magazine. It is a hotpot of beef and potatoes- surprisingly with olives. The flavours and textures work really well though. According to the research, this recipe was devised by Mr Edward Shoosmith of Chiddingly in East Sussex in 1917. It is a beef casserole with a layer of thinly sliced potato running through the middle, and then again on the top. The casserole is enriched with olives (which are now grown in Sussex.www.sussex-olives.com). The potatoes in the middle are soft, whilst those on the top are crispy. Try it- it's delicious.

I used leftover beef casserole to make this dish - but you can make it from scratch and let it cook for 2-3 hours.

I mixed olives into my leftover casserole. I layered casserole, potatoes, casserole, potatoes in a gratin dish and baked it in a moderate oven for an hour until the potatoes on top were brown and crispy.

Chiddingly Hotpot

The dessert is a cheeseboard. Excellent cheeses are now apparently made in Sussex- www.goldencrosscheese.co.uk- if you like goat or sheep cheese.

The biscuit recipe intrigued me though (from a book of old Sussex recipes). It is simple and quick and uses hardly any ingredients but produces lovely little crisp biscuits that you can flavour any way you want. There are windmills all over Sussex- so a recipe involving flour shouldn't surprise me really.

Windmill Hill windmill

You need just 75g of flour, 20g of butter, 1/2 tsp of baking powder. a pinch of salt and milk to mix.

Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients. Mix to a soft dough with the milk. Roll out very thinly and cut into shapes. Brush with a little more milk and bake until golden and crisp.

Decorate as you wish- I used pumpkin seeds and fleur de sel.

Windmill hill thin biscuits and cheeseboard

So there you have it, my Sussex winter menu. That should warm the cockles. (Plenty of those in Sussex too...)