The Baked Bean Challenge - Round 2!

Well, it's another eye-opener of a round in the battle between Sainsbury's Basics and Asda's Own......And the winner is...............




Sainsbury's Basics! Although a little more runny, they had a much nicer flavour and texture, whilst Asda's Own were rather mushy. In terms of nutritional value, Basics also comes up trumps, with only 49 calories compared to Asda's 81 (our highest and lowest in the competition so far), as well as slightly less fat and salt.

So far the cheap and cheerful beans are topping the league, I can barely wait for the next round!!

The Baked Bean Challenge - Round 1!

We have embarked on a fascinating journey to discover the answer to one of the world's most pondered questions: what really is the best brand of baked bean??

In the running are.....
Heinz
Sainsbury's Own
Sainsbury's Basics
Tesco's Own
Lidl's Own (Campo Largo)
Asda's Own
Asda's Smart Price
Aldi's Own

The challenge will take the format of a League, with two brands up against each other in a blind taste test in each round and the winners going through to the next stage.

SO... Round 1: Lidls VS Heinz (oooooh)

And the results................ (scroll down)









LIDLS!!!

I know, it's a shocker, but the judges' decision is final. It was a tough one, and although Heinz had a stronger, more tomato-y flavour, the beans were far more mushy and Lidls had the overall best flavour and texture.
In terms of nutrition, most differences between the two were negliigible, however Lidls also comes out on top with only 65 calories, compared to 79 in 100g of Heinz. Also, in a tin, Lidls gives you 5 extra grams of beany goodness, with 420g per tin compared to Heinz's 415g.

What will the next round hold in store?! Watch this space!

Sausage Rolls

I'm going to give you my vegetarian and meat sausage roll recipes, for both of which I use Delia's flaky pastry recipe, so here that is first (of course if you don't have much time you can just use pre-made puff pastry from the supermarket):

Quick Flaky Pastry
225g plain flour
175g butter
pinch of salt
cold water, to mix
1 egg, beaten, to glaze

- Weigh out the butter and then wrap it either in it's packet or in tin foil, then put it in the freezer for 30-45mins.
- Sieve the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
- When the butter is ready, hold it in the foil, dip it into the flour, and grate it on a coarse grater into the flour. Keep dipping it into the flour to make it easier to grate.
- Using a palette knife (not your hands) try to distribute the butter so that it all ends up covered with flour and the mixture is crumbly.
- Add enough water to form a dough that leaves the bowl clean, using your hands to bring it all together.
- When done, put it in a sandwich bag in the fridge for 30mins.

Pork and Apple Sausage Roll Mix
450g pork sausagemeat (you can empty out the insides of any kind of sausage for this - even cheap ones will taste delicious)
1 onion, grated (or chopped if you want a coarser texture or can't be bothered!)
1 teaspoon sage
half an apple, peeled and chopped into small chunks

- Just mix it all together!

Glamorgan Sausage Roll Mix
250g breadcrumbs (any kind of bread is fine)
200g grated cheddar cheese
1 onion, chopped
1 tblsp chopped chives
1 ½ tsp mustard powder
pinch chilli powder
¾ tsp salt

(I don't have a full size food processor, but you can use one of the handheld mixers, or if you don't have one of these then just mix it together well by hand, it'll be coarser but I'm sure just as tasty!)
- Mix everything together in a bowl and then process.

To make the sausage rolls:
- Roll out the pastry on a floury board, thinly and into a rectangle. Cut it into three strips (it's not an exact science, just make sure that they are wide enough to fit a sausage-sized amount of mix and that the pastry will overlap when it fold it around).
- Put a sausage-sized amount of filling along each strip of pastry.
- Beat an egg and brush it along the edge of each strip, then fold it up and seal it, then roll in over so that the seal is underneath.
- Cut into individual sausage rolls, brush the tops with beaten egg, and snip 3 v-shapes in the top of each sausage roll with scissors (not strictly necessary but looks nice!)
- Place on a greased tray or baking sheet and bake at 220ºC for 20-25mins.

(The ones on the left are Glamorgans, and Pork & Apple on the right, not my neatest!)

YUM!

Guacamole

On Tammy's request, who assures me that she doesn't actually like avocados, which is testament to the recipe!

2 ripe avocados
1/2 onion, finely sliced
1 tomato, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp chili powder
Juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp plain yoghurt
salt

- Slice open the avocados and remove the stone. Scoop the pulp into a bowl and either mash with a fork or, as I find this is usually quite difficult, use a food processor (one of the hand-held chopper things works well).
- Combine with the onion, tomato, garlic and chili powder and mix well.
- Pour in the lime juice, yogurt and salt.

Delicious with warm pitta bread :)

(From 'The World of Street Food')

The first harvest...

I thought it was about time I told you what was going on in my garden, so here's one corner of it...

From left to right I have Parsley (just from Sainsburys but it's unstoppable!), a small strawberry plant which started life as a runner pinched from my Mum's garden(!), rhubarb (also pinched from Mum) which I can't eat yet because for the first year in a new place you're supposed to leave it (it's going to be a challenge!), chives, spring onions (grown from seed) and garlic, which you can see is all wilted because you can leave it in the ground and then take them all out and dry them so they'll keep (or you can use them fresh). I also have some butternut squash plants in among this lot (grown from seed and started off in pots indoors) and at the back is loganberry.

At the other end of the garden I have today had my first strawberry!

I hope this inspires you to do some growing of your own!

Summer Cordials

Elderflower Cordial

You'll be surprised how many elderflower trees are around in the wild, now is the time for flowering which is when you need them, so have a look around!

20 elderflower heads
1.5 kg granulated sugar (you can use caster but it's more expensive)
40g citric acid (you can get this from a pharmacy or even leave it out - theories vary as to its function!)
2 lemons, thinly sliced
2 oranges, thinly sliced

- Shake the flowers upside down to remove unwanted creatures
- Place the sugar and 1.2l water into a saucepan
- Warm slowly, stirring to dissolve the sugar completely
- Bring to the boil
- Add flowers
- Bring to the boil again
- Remove from the heat
- Add other ingredients and stir well
- Leave covered in a cool place for 24 hours
- Strain through a sieve lined with muslin (or a new j-cloth that has been put in boiling water to sterilise) and put into bottles. It will last a week or so in the fridge or you can freeze it in bottles or ice cube trays.

Rhubarb and Ginger Cordial

500g rhubarb
50g fresh ginger, peeled and grated
400ml water
300g granulated sugar

- Put rhubarb and ginger in a pan and cover with the water
- Bring to the boil, reduce and simmer for 30mins
- Strain through a coarse sieve
- Return the liquid to the pan, add sugar and stir to dissolve
- Bring to the boil
- Remove from the heat
- Store as above.

Macaroons

This is the easiest recipe in the world! It's from Nigella's Express.

The ingredients are:
2 egg whites
200g ground almonds
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
175g icing sugar

- Mix all the ingredients together until 'sticky but cohesive'!
- Dip your hands in water and roll the mixture into balls.
- Flatten the balls slightly and lay them on baking paper or a silicone tray.
- Bake at 200°C for 11 mins and....



(By the way mine are retarded balls because Nigella doesn't tell you that you have to squash them into Macaroon shapes!)

Meringue

Every time I have egg whites left over from a recipe I always plan to make Meringues but never do, and the other night I finally did! For a first attempt I was pleased with them, they were a bit too chewy but I think that's better than being too dry. I used Delia's recipe:

- Heat the oven to 150°C.
- Whisk 2 egg whites until they form soft peaks that do not slip out of the bowl when you turn it upside down.
- Slowly add 110g caster sugar (25g at a time) and whisk in.
- Using a metal spoon place the meringue onto a greased baking sheet (I used a silicone tray so I didn't need to grease it or use baking paper).
- Use a skewer to make swirls around the edge, lifting it up at the end to form a peak (Mine were too runny to do this, I either over- or under-whisked them).
- This amount was perfect for a cupcake tray for 12, but you can also just do them as spoonfuls on a flat tray.
- Put in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 140°C.

- Bake for one hour, and then leave in the oven until cold, or overnight if possible.

I served mine just with some fruit and summer fruit sauce but they were definitely lacking on the cream front!