Week 18 - Bread and Butter Pudding

I have always thought I would enjoy bread and butter pudding but have never got around to ordering it or attempting to make it at home. I was inspired by a friend who had a status update about making it for dessert so started hunting for a recipe. This one sounded like Bread and Butter Pudding with a difference and I couldn't wait to try it.

It ended up being so easy to make, even the custard which I had only ever made once before. The only think I would say is the custard ended up not being that smooth, not sure if it was supposed to be like that or if it was due to having the bread in there. It ended up with a lovely crust over the top and I am looking forward to eating it again and again and again.

Book: Cook with Jamie

Recipe: Good Old Bread and Butter Pudding with Marmalade Glaze, Cinnamon and Orange Butter

Ingredients: 

Serves 8

For the flavoured butter

100 g unsalted butter, softened

1 large pinch ground nutmeg

1 large pinch ground cinnamon

zest of 1 orange

For the pudding

8 x 1 cm slices good-quality bread

9 large free-range eggs

140 g caster sugar

500 ml semi-skimmed milk

565 ml single cream

1 vanilla pod, scored lengthways and seeds removed

4 tablespoons good-quality fine-cut marmalade

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. First make your flavoured butter by mixing the butter with the nutmeg, cinnamon and orange zest. Use a little of it to butter a medium-sized shallow, ovenproof dish.

Butter the bread using the flavoured butter, then cut each slice in half diagonally. Put the slices in your buttered dish. Now separate the eggs, reserving all 9 yolks but just 1 egg white. Whisk together the egg yolks and egg white with the sugar, then gently heat the milk and cream in a saucepan with the vanilla seeds and pod. Pour into the eggs, stirring all the time. Remove the vanilla pod then pour the mixture over the bread and leave to soak for at least 20 minutes. Put the dish in a roasting tray and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the dish. Then put it in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes until the custard has just set. Meanwhile, gently warm the marmalade in a saucepan, then remove the dish from the oven and brush the marmalade over the top of the bread. Pop the dish back into the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Allow it to cool and firm up slightly before serving.

Changes Made: I only had vanilla essence at home so opted for that instead of the pod. 

Results: Amazing! This was so easy to make, even for a newbie at custard. The marmalade made a kind of crunchy glaze over the top of the bread which was a fantastic contrast of the custard. 

Next Time: Nothing, well maybe a vanilla pod, but really everything was delicious. 

Week 17 - Chicken Chow Mein

I was really excited about this one as I love asian soup like dishes as they are so warming and have such a bang of flavour. I have only ever had chow mein that is a sauce base rather than some liquid so I was looking forward to giving this a go.

This was a really easy weeknight meal and was nice to have a recipe build for two. I was a little disappointed with the result, maybe I am just used to making my own noodle soups at home, but I felt that the stock was quite bland. The other ingredients worked really well together and made up for the stock.

Book: Ministry of Food

Recipe: Chicken Chow Mein

Ingredients: 

Serves 2

a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
2 cloves garlic
½ - 1 fresh red chilli, to your taste
1 large skinless chicken breast, preferably free-range or organic
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 spring onions
a small bunch of fresh coriander
1 bok choi
optional: 4 shiitake mushrooms
100g medium egg noodles 
groundnut oil
1 heaped teaspoon cornflour
1 x 200g tin of water chestnuts
2 - 3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 small lime

Method: 

Put a large pan of water on to boil. Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic. Finely slice the chilli. Slice the chicken into finger-sized strips and lightly season with salt and pepper. Cut the ends off your spring onions and finely slice. Pick the coriander leaves and pout to one side, and finely chop the coriander stalks. Halve the bok choi lengthways. If using mushrooms, either tear into pieces or leave whole. 

Preheat a wok or large frypan on a high heat and once it's very, very hot add a good lug of groundnut oil and swirl it around. Stir in the chicken strips and cook for a couple of minutes, until the chicken browns slightly. Add the ginger, garlic, chilli, coriander stalks, mushrooms and half the spring onins. Stir fry for 30 seconds, keeling everything moving round the wok quickly. Add your noodles and bok choi to the boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, no longer. Meanwhile, add the cornflour, water chestnuts and their water to the wok and give it another good shake to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Remove from the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Halve the lime, squeeze the juice of one half into the pan and mix well. Drain the noodles and bok choi, with a little of the cooking water to loosen if necessary, and mix well. Have a taste and season with more soy if needed.

Use tongs to divide everything between two bowls or plates, or to lift on to one large serving platter. Spoon any juices over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the spring onions and the coriander leaves. Serve with lime wedges.

Changes Made: We only had some rice noodles rather than egg noodles, which would have been better I think. 

Results: A little disappointing, the sauce/liquid was a little bland but overall an easy weeknight meal.

Next Time: I would add more to the liquid to make it more of a stock; chicken stock, soy, more chilli, garlic etc.