Apple Crumble

Here is a recipe for one of the easiest puddings you could ever make. 

It is very important to make the crumble topping first as otherwise the apples will go brown.

Mix together with a fork 150g each of porridge oats, sugar and butter.


Peel and chop around 4 apples, you may want more if you're making a bigger one. 


If you like your crumble to be gooey and soft then cut them up small, if you like a bit of bite to the apples then keep them quite big. 


Put the apples in some sort of pie/casserole dish, sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar then add the crumble on top. 


Cook for approx. 30 mins at 200 degrees. Serve warm with custard or cream, or cold with ice cream. That's it. Easy Peasy.

You may find that the texture of the apples may not come out as you planned, but next time you'l know to either change the size of the chopped apples or cook it for more/less time.

As much as i love this simple apple crumble, i plan to experiment with different fruits so i shall let you know how it goes! I might even try and make my own custard if i'm feeling really adventurous!

Bon Appetit,

Melon xxx

Toad and co. in the hole

Last night i decided to make toad in the hole as i've never made it before, and i never realised how easy it was! I've called it the cheesy name of toad and co. not because i think i'm really cool, but it has a few other things in it compared to the usual sausage batter mix. This makes 4 large portions.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Half 6-8 large sausages or around 10 thinner ones. You do this by twisting the sausages (a bit like you're giving someone a chinese burn!) and then cutting the twist at the middle. This stops the sausage meat from bursting out. Put them on a deep roasting tray with a little oil.

 To make it a bit more exciting roughly chop up some veg and add it to the tray, it means that rather than serving it with veg it's all inside! All i could find was a carrot, a bit of brocolli and 1 onion, but you can use what you want. If you are putting root veg such as carrots or potato in then cut them up into small pieces otherwise they will take longer to cook.


Cook for around 25 mins, if you remember turn the sausages at 10-15 mins. I didn't, hence why the tops of them look black when it was cooked! 

For the batter you need to wisk
 450ml milk
3 eggs
110g flour
A pinch of Salt
until there are no lumps. 
Take the sausage and veg out after the 25 mins, give it a stir as it will have probably stuck to the tray a bit. If you want to add peas or sweetcorn (which i shall do next time) put them in now. Pour the batter over all of it, so around 3/4 of it is covered >>>

Cook for at least another 20 mins, but it will probably need around half an hour, maybe more depending on how burnt you mind your sausages to be! You may want to turn the tray around half way through cooking so the batter rises on both sides.

As mentioned, the veg is already in it so all you need with it is gravy or baked beans. Simple, imaginative and delicious.


Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx

Chicken and Cider hotpot

As i've finished all of my uni assignments i've gone home for a bit. Tonight i helped Dad cook his chicken and cider hotpot for tea. It's pretty simple but it takes a while however it is oh so worth it. Here's how to make it...


This recipe is based on at least 6 people so you will probably want to reduce the measures, although you could always freeze the leftovers for when you really can't be bothered to cook.


Ingredients:
6-9 chopped chicken breasts
3 peeled and chopped apples
2 peeled and chopped small pears
3 chopped onions
3 chopped peppers
6 copped carrots (wash them, but no need to peel)
5 peeled whole cloves of garlic
half a cup of cider vinegar or red wine vinegar (it's not the end of the world if you don't have this but it does make a difference)
2 cans of cider
salt and pepper
dried herbs: we used basil, oregano and thyme
2 chicken stock cubes


Serve with a jacket potato or rice


Turn the oven on ready at 180-200 degrees
First, fry the chicken until its browned which will take around 3-5 minutes. Add to an oven proof casserole dish.
Fry the apples and pears for around 5 minutes until they start to soften. Again, add to the dish.
Do the same for the veg, for this many people it'l probably take 2 batches of frying. Don't overload your pan otherwise they wont cook!


Warm the cider and vinegar in the pan and sprinkle in the stock cubes. Add to the mix.


Add the herbs. For 6 people you'll probably need around a heaped teaspoon of each. Then the garlic
Season with salt and pepper.


Give it all a mix, bung it in the oven for around an hour. All of the juices from the chicken will mix with the herbs and the fruits soften down into the sauce. The chicken becomes really tender in the sauce.


From past experience, sometimes the sauce needs thickening. When it's cooked if you think it is a little watery add a couple of tablespoons of flour and mix well.

If you're cooking it with jackets then they take around the same time to cook as well. Dampen the skin beforehand and rub with salt for an extra crispy skin!


This also goes really well with pork or sausages, but personally i think chicken is best with it as i love the 'fall apart in your mouth' texture the chicken has.


Although it is 'summer' and this is more of a wintery dish i know how freezing student houses can be as we hate to spend money putting the heating on! So warm yourselves up with this little treat with BIG flavour!


Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx

Pork Belly with Sticky Caramelised Onions

As i'm all excited for starting my blog i thought i'd post tonight's dinner, pork belly with caramelised onions. Pork belly is my favourite meat, it's one of the cheapest cuts of meat as it's fatty but that means it's full of flavour! I shopped at Morrisons for the first time the other day and saw that they had a fantastic meat selection for so cheap! The pork belly i bought in a 2 pack with stuffing for £1.70, what a bargain! 

As you can see in the picture i've cooked a couple of sausages to go with it, as i have a huge appetite (and also they were due to go off today so i thought why not). Personally i think that cooking sausages in the oven makes them taste loads better than frying and you can just put them straight in and not have to worry about them.The stuffing came with the pork but if it hadn't of done i would have just used a bit of a dried sage and onion stuffing mix, mixed it with boiling water and put a ball of it in the oven with it.


I cooked this pork belly for around 20 mins, at 200 degrees and turned it over half way through cooking. But depending on your oven it may take longer/quicker. You can see when it's ready when the fat starts to go a golden colour, a bit like bacon.


I thought: How could i jazz up this amazing cut of meat further? So decided to make caramelised onions, which are so easy to make. You'l need around a quarter to half an onion (I used half as i love onions). From past experience i think red onions are best but i only had a normal one which worked fine. Chop them up as finely as you can. In a hot pan, put a dash of oil in a frying pan with a large dollop of butter. The oil stops the butter from burning so you should always use it when frying anything. When the butter has melted, add 3 teaspoons of sugar. The sugar will melt into the butter to form a gooey caramel mix, when it does add the onions and fry for around 5 minutes. When you see the onions starting to brown, turn down the heat to low. 


The key ingredient to make caramelised onions special is balsamic vinegar. You can get it anywhere for around a quid. Add a dash to the onions and they'l turn a really nice brown colour. The balsamic cuts through the sugar and just makes them taste amazing! Take off the heat and sprinkle a tiny bit more sugar on top depending how sweet you want them. Leaving them to stand will make them go all sticky and gorgeous. 


When the pork is ready, plate it up and add the onions on top. I have SO many frozen chips in my freezer i cooked them to go with it, but making roasties or home made chips would vamp this up even more. I also had peas as i love them and i have them with everything! 

A little tip... if you want to make the onions into more of a sauce, add the juices from the meat into the pan, with a dash of red wine and a tiny bit of hot water. If its too runny add a little flour to thicken it. The onions are also really nice in gravy.


This is cheap, quick and fairly easy to cook. So have a try!


Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx

Hello All

This is the first blog i have done, so i'm still getting the hang of things! 


I'm your average student. I've just finished second year so i thought over this summer (although the weather is far from summery) i'd start blogging about my passion, which is cooking. 
Although i am doing a sociology degree, i have realised over the last few months that i don't want to pursue it as a career. I want to be a professional chef, in a top restaurant and hopefully one day have my own. I'm going to carry on my degree as i'm two thirds of the way through, but focus my studies on the sociology of food. Afterwards i plan on working my way through professional cookery diplomas or hopefully do an apprenticeship, but i know how hard they are to get. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.


Anyway, enough about me. I know there are so many student cookbooks out there, which are brilliant for novice cooks but personally i want to know more than how to cook an omelette. I as a fellow student know that we want cheap and quick meals, but if you share my passion for good food then occasionally you might want to cook something just that bit special. Each week i plan to post 2 recipes that i've found and tweeked from various cookbooks and on the web, one quick, easy and cheap, that anyone can do and another a bit more challenging, but will be worth the time and effort spent. 


I love takeaways and fast food. I will admit i love a kebab after a night on the town but from now on i am going to test my culinary skills each week and produce something fabulous. 




Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx