Freycob

"Good Food Made Easy"

Sourdough Tea Bread

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What can you do with some of your sourdough discard, if you don’t want to simply bin it? Well, why not try using some to enhance the flavour of a fruit packed overnight tea bread. It’s easier and much tastier than you think.

  • 200g Sultanas
  • 100g Dried Cranberries
  • 150g Demerara Sugar
  • 130ml Hot black tea
  • 100g Ready to eat apricots, roughly chopped
  • 1 egg
  • 100g Sourdough discard
  • 200g Self raising flour
  1. In a medium sized bowl, place the sultanas, cranberries, sugar and hot tea. Stir this through, cover and leave overnight to allow the fruit to plump up and absorb the tea.
  2. Preheat the oven to 160˚C fan (180˚C convection).
  3. Uncover the fruit and tea mixture and add the chopped apricots, the sourdough starter, the egg and mix through thoroughly.
  4. Sift in the flour and stir through until just combined and there are no lumps of dried flour left.
  5. Pour the tea bread mixture into a 1kg/2lb loaf tin, either greased or lined with parchment paper.
  6. Bake at for 1¼ – 1½ hours until a skewer comes out clean.
  7. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

I find that a slice of this, spread with butter is the perfect compliment to a cup of tea. What do you think?

You can use a normal black tea, a fruit tea or even an Earl Grey tea for this to add another dimension. The choice of tea is up to you, and you could even change the dried fruit combination that I’ve used; sultanas, raisins, currants, cranberries, blueberries, apricots; the choice is huge! I do love the combination of sultanas, cranberries and apricots though.

Boiled Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

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For those who don’t like their cakes too sweet, but still love them full of flavour, then this one is definitely for you!  As it contains corn meal/polenta instead of flour, it’s also gluten free (ensure you use gluten free baking powder in this instance).  I glazed mine with an orange and Amaretto syrup.

This is an incredibly easy cake to make and can be prepared quickly and easily using a food processor.  I have a Kenwood MultiPro Sense food processor which also has a weighing scale built in, so this really is an easy, one bowl wonder of a cake to make!

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

Ingredients:
2 large oranges
250g demerara sugar
200g ground almonds
100g fine ground corn meal / dried polenta
6 large eggs
2tsp baking powder (see note above re: gluten free)
2tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon

Orange & Amaretto Syrup:
75g caster sugar
60ml water
1 large orange, juice and zest
30ml Amaretto

Method:

  1. Wash any wax coating off the oranges.
  2. Place the oranges into a large saucepan and cover with cold water.
  3. Bring to the boil, cover and reduce to a simmer.
  4. Simmer for 1 hour until the oranges have softened.
  5. Remove the oranges from the water and set aside to cool.
  6. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
  7. Grease and line a 23cm/9″ springform cake tin.
  8. Cut the oranges into ¼ and remove the pips.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Place the oranges (skin, pith and pulp) into a food processor with the sugar and blitz into a smooth paste.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Add the almonds, corn meal/polenta, eggs, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Blitz together until combined.
  2. Pour the cake batter into your prepared tin.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Bake for 60 minutes, until cooked in the centre.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Cool the cake in the tin.
  2. Remove the cake from the tin when cold and place it on to a plate.
  3. For the glaze, add the sugar and water into a saucepan and heat gently, bringing it to the boil without stirring until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup has turned a golden brown.
  4. Add the orange juice, orange zest and amaretto and stir to fully combine.
  5. Bring back to the boil and boil gently until the syrup has reduced and become thickened.
  6. Poke small holes in the top of the cake to allow the syrup to soak through.
  7. Pour the syrup over the cake evenly and gently, allowing it to soak in.
  8. Serve the cake warm or cold with some clotted cream, ice cream, or cream.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

For my cornmeal, I used Gaya Foods Authentic Brazilian corn meal which I bought in my local Tesco

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

This recipe was neither sponsored, or endorsed by Kenwood, Gaya Foods or by Tesco.

Krombacher Beer – Slow Cooked Beef Shin Recipe

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23rd April 2017 celebrates St.George’s day in the UK but it also sees the celebration of the 501st Anniversary of the Reinheitsgrebot (also known as the German Brewing Laws or German Purity Laws) which is the oldest piece of food and drink law in the world; dating right back to 1516.  It states that only 4 ingredients may be used in the production of the beer; hops, malted barley, yeast and water. Therefore there are no additives or preservatives allowed to be added to the brew, ensuring the beer’s purity, taste and quality.  This also means that the beers are suitable for vegetarians/vegans as there are no animal products used to ‘clear’ the brew.

Krombacher is the largest brewer in Germany, and is the biggest family owned and operated brewery within Europe. Their beers have been made exclusively in Krombach since 1803, and are produced in accordance with the German Beer Purity Law of 1516.  Water is obtained from 48 wells, all within a 3km radius of the brewery, which is soft and low in mineral content making it perfect for brewing. Along with summer barley, Siegel hops and its own speciality cultivated yeast, it makes Krombacher beers be seen as the taste of its’ homeland.

It was first imported into the UK in 1987 and is growing in popularity here, where the range currently includes the Pilsner, Hell, Dark, Wizen, Radler, Low Alcoholic Pils and Low Alcohol Wizen.  You can find Krombacher in pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels throughout the UK, as well as from Majestic Wines, Beers of Europe and Noble Green Wines.  The low alcohol variations are also available from Dry Drinker.

Beef Shin in Kromacher Beer

Having been sent some of Krombacher’s beers and challenged to pair food or prepare a recipe to go with it, I created a deliciously rich, slow and succulent, beef shin cooked in their Dark beer recipe.  A quick call to my local butcher on Friday to place an order for some beef shin to collect yesterday morning and I was set for the challenge to create this tasty dinner for my family.  If you take the generic food groups, I almost managed to get this made with only 4 ingredients: vegetables, meat, grain and beer, along with a little bit of oil and some seasoning.

Beef Shin in Kromacher Beer

  • 15ml rapeseed oil
  • 2 sticks of celery, diced
  • 2 medium onions, diced
  • 2 medium carrots, diced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 500g beef shin, cubed (ask you butcher to do this for you)
  • 15ml / 1tbs plain flour
  • 500ml Krombacher Dark beer
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • Salt & pepper to season
  1. Heat the oven to 180℃.
  2. In a large, hob/oven proof pan/casserole dish, add the oil and heat on the hob over a medium heat.
  3. Add the celery, carrots, onion and bay leaves.
  4. Stir and cook for 8-10 minutes until they’re just starting to soften but not colour.
  5. Add the beef and evenly sprinkle over the flour.
  6. Mix thoroughly to coat the meat and vegetables in the flour and to absorb any oil.

Beef Shin in Kromacher Beer

  1. Add the bottle of beer and the chopped tomatoes, along with salt and pepper to season.

Beef Shin in Kromacher Beer

  1. Stir to mix thoroughly then bring to the boil.
  2. Cover with a lid and place the pan/casserole dish into the oven to cook for 3-3½  hours, removing the lid for the final 30 minutes if you need to reduce and thicken the sauce further.

Beef Shin in Kromacher Beer

  1. The meat should be flaky and the sauce unctuous and thick.
  2. Serve with buttered mashed potatoes, green vegetables (kale or savoy cabbage) and some steamed carrots.

Beef Shin in Kromacher Beer

  1. Enjoy with a glass of cold Krombacher Dark beer!

Beef Shin in Kromacher Beer

This is a collaborative post.

Lamb Keema

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Such a simple but deliciously easy dish to prepare using a well stocked store cupboard’s ingredients is my lamb keema recipe.  When I worked for an accountancy practice, one of the clients I used to go out and visit would often feed me some of this for lunch that his wife had made. Bear in mind that they had two young girls who ate this – it would have me almost in tears with the heat – I’m such a wimp!  Be assured that mine is nowhere near as hot as that, but it can be if you want it to!

  • 2 medium onions
  • 15ml Rapeseed oil
  • ½tsp Cumin seeds
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 1-2 chillies (according on taste)
  • 200g tinned tomatoes
  • 2tsp Garlic & Ginger paste (or 1tsp of each)
  • 1tsp Turmeric
  • ½-1tsp Chilli powder (according to taste)
  • 1tsp Garam masala
  • 500g Lamb mince
  • Salt
  • 50g frozen Peas
  • Cup water
  • Fresh Mint
  • Fresh Coriander
  • 4tbs natural yoghurt
  • 2tsp Mint sauce concentrate
  1. Finely chop the onions.
  2. Heat the oil in a large pan.
  3. Add the cumin seeds and bay leaves and fry off for 30 seconds.
  4. Add the onion and cook until starting to brown.  This should take 3-4 mins.
  5. Add the chopped chillies and the tomatoes.
  6. Stir through thoroughly and cook for 1 minute.
  7. Add the ginger and garlic paste, the turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala and mince.
  8. Stir, breaking the mince down to separate it.
  9. Add ¼ tsp salt and the cup of water, along with the frozen peas and stir thoroughly.
  10. Simmer for 20 minutes until cooked and the liquid has reduced by two thirds.
  11. Chop the mint and coriander finely.
  12. Add the herbs to the keema, mix together and cook for 1 minute.

  1. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
  2. Mix the natural yoghurt with the mint sauce concentrate.

  1. Serve the keema with a spoonful of the minted natural yoghurt, along with a naan bread.

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