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Category Archive: Recipes
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Clandestine Cake-a-long Returns – Torta Columbina & Homemade Orange Curd Recipe
We’ve had a few weeks break from the Cake-a-long but its back raring to go! It seems that with every cake I’ve made from the Clandestine Cake Collection, I’ve learnt a new skill and developed a new addiction. This time it is a delicious orange curd – when I came to make the Cake-a-long bake I discovered I didn’t have any orange curd in so undeterred made my own. Delicious! And so easy in the microwave. All the way through, I was convinced I’d mess it up, my eggs would curdle and it would taste awful – but NO – IT WAS A HUGE SUCCESS! We are now eating Homemade Orange Curd with everything – the kids might draw the line at Orange Curd Tuna Pasta however. I’ve never heard of a Torta Columbina before – I have googled and found Tarta Columbiana which sounds very similar. This cake was the brainwave of Euan Greig who blogs over at Signor Biscotti, a lovely blog that will have your mouth watering. Euan’s version of the cake looks so much better than mine and you can find the recipe here. I’m going to try to interview Euan in time for the next more »
Spicy Chutney – Sainsbury’s Kitchen Heroes Competition Win £50 Voucher
I seem to have been talking to a lot of people at the moment about leaving a legacy to my children when I die – don’t worry, I’m not planning on going anywhere just yet but it is something that crosses my mind from time to time. I’m constantly making notes in various recipe books and when I decide that a particular homemade recipe has become a family heirloom it will get a place in a very special folder. Each of my 3 girls will get a version of ‘the folder’ with our very special recipes in that they can choose to either make, ignore or even pass onto their children. You know the sort of recipe, my fruit cake, my sponge cake recipe, my shepherds pie – the sort of thing that I’d have to kill you if you found out my recipe. Another one of these recipes is the now infamous Costello Chutney. This was the first attempt I made at making chutney and it was fabulous. I now make it every Christmas for gifts and at least one other time during the year. A spicy, chunky chutney with a real kick. Perfect with cheeses and hams (and more »
Cake of the Week: Swiss Roll – A revelation!
How have I gone 39 years without making a swiss roll? Even more to the point, how didn’t I know that they were so easy and so satisfying to make? Last Sunday we were having a family getogether as we do every year around the time of our Dad’s anniversary and Mum’s birthday. As usual, I had been mad busy during the run up to the day. I had every intention of producing a masterpiece but thought it would end up being a Mr Kipling/Costco special. On Sunday morning though, 4 of us did the Swimathon raising money for Marie Curie. Amazing how a swim can leave you feeling energised and utterly needing cake! I came home and thought Swiss Roll like you do. A quick nosy round at old cookbooks and I came up with a recipe of my own. I was wanting to go for HUGE while we were expecting 13 of us. Print Swiss Roll – A revelation! Rating: 51 Prep Time: 14 minutesCook Time: 11 minutesTotal Time: 25 minutes Yield: At least 8-10 generous pieces Ingredients3 large eggs 125g caster sugar Splash of vanilla extract 125g plain flour Plenty of strawberry jam Punnet of strawberries Tub more »
Violet Meringue Kisses
I’m well known for my love of all things violet. You may remember a few weeks ago I was waiting on a delivery of some much coveted violet syrup. Well, the syrup arrived and smells divine so I have set out experimenting with recipes. I’m big into making homemade gifts and saw several pics of meringue kisses in lovely gift bags and sellophane. I’ve never even tried to colour meringue before never mind flavouring it but will give anything a go. Fair to say, my first attempt was a complete disaster. Underterred, but a little short on time, I decided to have another go and actually follow the rules of meringue this time – and they worked!! I only gave the meringue kisses a mild taste of violet as I wasn’t sure how much of the syrup, the beaten egg white could tolerate. I reckon if I did it again, I could get away with slightly more violet syrup. Print Violet Meringue Kisses Rating: 51 Prep Time: 20 minutesCook Time: 2 hoursTotal Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes Yield: 60-80 depending on how big you pipe themServing Size: Individual Mini Bites Really really take your time adding the sugar – the more »
Chilli & Sweetcorn Soup Recipe
The weather may be getting that slight bit warmer but until its in the 30′s I will not be put off soup! This was a recipe I made up and tweaked due to opening a tin of sweetcorn by mistake when I actually wanted peas. Not one to waste food, I immediately turned the corn to soup. My first try was almost a disaster, the bottom just started catching on the bottom but luckily I was there to rescue it. Its not saying much for my cooking skills is it, that I can burn soup?! Print Chilli & Sweetcorn Soup Ingredients1 small onion – finely chopped 1 large tin of sweetcorn or approx 400g frozen sweetcorn 1 tsp chilli powder 2 tsp vegetable stock powder 250ml waterInstructionsSlowly cook through the onions until they are soft & transparent in a splash of cooking oil for at least 5 mins Add the rest of the ingredients and half of the water into the pan and simmer on a medium heat for at least 10 minutes until the corn is soft. Watch the amount of water – add more at intervals but take care that the bottom doesn’t burn. Blitz with a blender more »
Cake of the Week: Parma Violet Cake
For one night only this cake was also known as The Violet Mary Costello Cake. (see photo!) I have a new addiction – crushing up sweets and concocting various cake recipes. This was my offering to our latest Clandestine Cake Club held in St Helens last week. Our theme was Spring and I thought spring flowers and pastel colours would suit the theme. Off I tottered to Amazon and duly ordered some Violet Syrup – I was going to go the whole hog and order crystalised violets but quite frankly, they were deeply ugly so I didn’t bother. Days went by and no sign of the violet syrup (I am in fact a week after the CCC still waiting for it to arrive and may be having a Parma Violet Cocktail night when it eventually does!) Not one to be deterred, I thought how best can I get a violet taste and so started the search for Parma Violets. Turns out that they are considered quite a delicacy in St Helens – I was under no illusion previously that we were a Mecca for unusual ingredients but blinking hek, Parma Violets!?! Many a shopkeeper looked at me like I’d lost more »
Sweet Potato Thai Soup
Our love affair with our soup maker is still going strong. We are now trying to branch out and make more ‘adult’ soups. Our latest one surprised us by how easy it was but how tasty. I will admit that the older Costellos girls weren’t totally sold on trying it – not coconut lovers but Baby T devoured it with chunks of Pashwari Naan dipped in. I think I would try toasted almonds sprinkled on top next time we make it – if only to be a teeny bit pretentious! Print Sweet Potato Thai Soup Ingredients750g sweet potato – chopped into 1 inch chunks 1 small onion – chopped 1/3rd tin coconut milk 2tsp vegetable stock powder sprinkle of chilli flakes (optional) 1 heaped tsp red thai curry paste Ground black pepper to tasteInstructionsBoil Sweet Potato chunks for approx10 mins until just soft. Soften onions in a pan large enough to cook soup in for 5 mins. Add the softened potatoes, curry paste and coconut milk and simmer for another 10-15 mins. Add a few flakes of chilli if you like your food really spicy – This soup will have a slight kick to it, even without the chilli flakes. more »
Top 120 Recipes for 2013
Our house has a LOT of cookbooks, no even more than a lot, nearly hundreds! We use them a lot but I’m finding increasingly that we are turning to the iPad for quick how-tos. At any one time though, I have a huge list of recipes I’d like to make out of the books – well, this will be the year that the list gets some attention. I’ve tried to reduce it too ‘just’ a 100 but there’s just so much I want to get through. Since giving up the cake business last summer, we have really worked hard to eat well and cook from scratch – I have to be honest that we were a jar family eating a lot of convenience food when we were constantly surrounded by food. We concentrated on the basics first conquering risottos, yorkshire puddings, homemade pizza dough, palovas, lasagne sauces, shepherds pies and basic pasta dishes during the last year so we are ready to move onto to some more challenging dishes. I’m not promising to get through the whole list in a year (nearly 2.5 new dishes a week might be a step too far for the kids and the budget) but more »
Tagged top recipes of 2013
The Big C – Are you ready?
I’m talking about Christmas of course! How are your plans going? I promised this year would be different than previous years – after all, I’m not snowed under with cake orders for the first time in a long time. I have to admit that I started Christmas preparations a lot later than usual – part of the reason being I wondered how we were going to afford it all but somehow it has just worked out. Phew! We’ve even done the majority of the wrapping (before you start hating me, I’ve still got our Christmas cards to write!) but thankfully we are going into THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS with the just real last minute jobs and added extras still to do. Here’s the Costello to-do list for getting ultra-ready for the big day – have I missed anything obvious? I’m so not used to being organised enough to concentrate on the little things. * Charge Batteries – We’ve got an e-reader and a mobile being given as presents. No midnight Christmas Eve charging for us. * Sorting out Mum’s PC – Our girls first port of call whenever they go round is Nanna’s computer. Over time its gone really slow more »
Easy Peasy Homemade Pizza
Print Easy Peasy Homemade Pizza Dough Prep Time: 40 minutesCook Time: 20 minutesTotal Time: 1 hour Yield: Should get 4 large pizzas Ingredients350g plain flour 1/2 tsp salt 1tsp sugar 25g butter (I have used liquid and solid and both work brilliantly) 1 1/2 tbsp oil sachet dried yeast powder 200ml luke warm water Optional: Sprinkles of chilli flakes for spicy dough, 1-2 tsp mixed herbs for herby dough InstructionsPreheat oven onto 180C Weigh out flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Mix in the butter. Add the yeast and the oil and mix together. Add the luke warm water and mix until a dough. Knead for approx 5 minutes or put in a food mixer with a dough hook for around 2-3 minutes. Cut into 4 dough balls. Cover your hands with oil and cover the balls. Leave in the fridge for 20 minutes +. After chilling, roll out one ball thinly on a floured surface and put on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. – I like mine really thin so it goes a long way. I’m a cheat so I used ready made pizza topping and grated cheese and let the girls decide which toppings. more »
