Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Honey

Vodka and Honey Braised Ribs

Well, the summer (ahem, excusing the miserable weather) of sport has begun with the start of the Euro 2012 football contest hosted by Poland and Ukraine. Eight matches have already taken place and tonight, the vodka is at the ready for Poland’s game against Russia. If you are watching any of the games and fancy making some Eastern European-style snacks, here’s my tasty recipe for Vodka and Honey Braised Ribs. In Poland, spare ribs are called Żeberka and it’s very common to have Żeberka w miodzie, or Ribs in Honey. My twist is to add a little shot of vodka (or two) to the mix. The method comes from my brother, who makes the best ribs in town. His trick is to simmer them slowly in some stock or water first before braising them in the oven. Try them, and then say ‘Nazdrowie!’ with a shot or two of the liquid ingredient! Oh, and don’t throw anything away; use the stock that you’ve simmered your ribs in to make a flavourful soup. 

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Enjoy the football!

Which sporting event are you looking forward to the most this summer? 

 

 

In Season: Honey Roasted Rhubarb with Malted Milk Custard

I’ve had something of an experimental morning in the kitchen, realising that I was running out of time to join in with a new blog event over at Kavey Eats called Bloggers Scream for Ice-Cream. The challenge is to make an ice-cream from scratch using a custard based ice-cream. Hmn, I’ve never made home made ice-cream and I don’t really think I’ve made custard from scratch. I know I’ve wanted to, especially when Sally was hosting the Custard Monthly Mingle over at My Custard Pie, but time ran out before I got the chance.  So, onto the custard ice-cream challenge instead.

In the process of deciding on flavours and looking for inspiration, I came across a recipe for Malt Chocolate Ice Cream on BBC Good Food, by Barney Dezmazery. Realising that you can flavour ice-cream with Horlicks, I was a convert. I didn’t want to go all out on the chocolate, so instead went for a creamier flavour, adding vanilla sugar instead of melted chocolate to the Horlicks. I also used Madagascan Vanilla Cream (from the supermarket) and added extra vanilla seeds to the custard. I used five large eggs yolks, instead of six and didn’t add the Irish cream liqueur.

In the process of doing this, I realised I’d made a beautiful creamy custard, ready to freeze.

Malted Milk Custard

I also had some fresh new season forced rhubarb to use up and since rhubarb and custard are a natural combination I decided to take out a cupful of the custard (kind of a cook’s treat!) before freezing it to pour over my simple honey roasted rhubarb. And this is how we ended up with Honey Roasted Rhubarb with Malted Milk Custard.

Honey Roasted Rhubarb and Custard!

The rest is now in the freezer and I have a bit more waiting and mixing to do, so part two of the experiment to make my first ever home made custard based ice-cream will have to wait to tomorrow.

We’re still battling the pox, so please excuse the quick snapping by camera phone. Clearly, it didn’t stop those cute little hands (with felt tip pen all over them today) from having a dip!

Sneaky Little Hands!

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As forced rhubarb is in season and baking it is very simple, I’m linking this up to Simple and in Season here on Fabulicious Food!

Forced Rhubarb: In Season Now!

 

Join me tomorrow for part two of the custard/ice-cream adventure! Will my no-churn ice-cream work?! It’s starting to look a little odd…

Baked Victoria Plums & My First ‘New Home’ Post!

Well, this is both exciting and scary at the same time! Ta da  – Fabulicious Food! has made the very long cyber journey across from Blogger to WordPress!

I am totally overwhelmed by the help, expertise and professionalism of Liz of Violet Posy Design who has done an amazing job, with about a million technical issues thrown at her too.

It’s going to take me a little while to settle in and get used to the way things work, but hopefully not too long.

If you are experiencing any problems or issues, please do drop me a line.

If you previously subscribed to posts via the RSS feed I’m afraid it has changed and you’ll have to re-subscribe using the icon to the right.

On Monday I will also be hosting a really amazing giveaway so do stay tuned.

For now, I’m sharing this lovely autumnal plum recipe as there are tons of English plums around at the moment and they are my very favourite fruit.

Simple and in Season September is now open and working – anyone who left me a comment with a link should now find themselves on the current link-up page.

About to hit ‘publish’ so here goes!

 

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 Thank you for visiting and for all your lovely comments so far.

Honey Nut Toasted Oats with Ribena Berry Sauce

This is a quick breakfast post in response to Helen’s Breakfast Club challenge this month hosted by Helen herself over at Fuss Free Flavours.

The theme this month is cereal and we are asked to do something interesting with it. So, I made homemade ‘granola’ using rolled oats very lightly coated with honey, rapeseed oil and mixed nuts gently toasted in the oven.
Granola is very popular breakfast cereal in America, essentially it is a cereal made of oats that are baked until crisp and then dried fruits are added. Muesli (Swiss) is also a well-known breakfast cereal, but in muesli the oats are not baked. Granola is really easy to make, stores well in an airtight contained and best of all as you are making it yourself you can adjust the flavours, for example, to include more cinnamon. I used cinnamon sugar as I had it in my cupboard but if you don’t have that use brown sugar and add a teaspoon of cinnamon powder instead. This granola can also be sweetened with maple syrup too instead of honey before baking.
Once baked the granola is crisp and crunchy and can be eaten either with milk or yoghurt. You could also make it healthier by adding fresh fruit to your bowl. This weekend we had ours with little pots of homemade blackcurrant compote – calling it ‘Ribena Berry Sauce’ encouraged my kids to add some to make their cereal purple! I also slightly defeated the pursuit of crunchiness by pouring hot milk over mine – but that’s just because I am fan of having hot milk with all kinds of cereal.

Add your fruit, whether dried or fresh to the oats and nuts after baking. You are looking out for a gentle golden colour so be careful not to burn!

 

Honey Nut Toasted Oats with Ribena Berry Sauce
Oats inspired by a recipe for ‘Crunchy Granola’ by Michelle Stern
The Whole Family Cookbook

Ingredients

300g rolled oats (not quick cook)
50g pecan nuts, finely chopped
50g almonds, finely chopped
75g cinnamon sugar
A pinch of salt
60ml honey or maple syrup
60ml rapeseed or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50g raisins and/or chopped dates

For the Blackcurrant Compote/Ribena Berry Syrup

150g blackcurrants
2 tablespoons caster sugar
60ml water

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius

2. Put the oats, nuts and cinnamon sugar into a bowl and mix well.

3. Combine the honey, oil and vanilla in a separate bowl, mix and then pour over the oats and nuts. Stir well to combine – it won’t be greasy.

4. Pour the mix onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof or baking paper and spread into an even layer.

5. Bake for 20 minutes and stir after 10 minutes to ensure the top bits don’t get too toasty.

6. While this is baking, put the blackcurrants, sugar and water into a small pan. Heat until the mixture begins to bubble, stir and cook for five minutes. (Check your oats in the oven!!) If you want the blackcurrant sauce to be thicker, cook for a further few minutes on a low heat. Take off the heat and leave it to one side.

6. Take the oats of the oven and leave to cool. Add the raisins and/or chopped dates.

7. Serve with cold or hot milk or yoghurt. Store the rest in an airtight container.

 

Blackcurrants are in season in the UK at the moment – they are a wonderful summer fruit – so I will link this up to Simple and in Season too.