Pimento Cheese

This recipe is from Pam's MidWest Kitchen Korner 

It sounded VERY similar to something I ate and loved whilst studying many years ago in Louisville, Kentucky. It's tasty served as a dip or sandwich type spread, but I decided to grill it on toast for a quick and simple supper (as photographed above)

I made a 1/2 quantity of Pam's recipe - which you can find here http://pamsmidwestkitchenkorner.blogspot.com/2010/05/pimento-cheese-heaven.html

It's very tasty - but although I used hot cherry bell peppers and added a few extra - it wasn't as hot as I remember. I fully intend making it again - but think I'll substitute red jalapeno chilles for the hot cherry bell peppers.

Here is Pam's recipe :

Ingredients:

1 pound extra-sharp Cheddar cheese

1 (4-ounce) jar pimentos, drained

½ medium onion, grated

½ cup mayonnaise,

approximately2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Method:

Cut the cheddar cheese into large chunks. Place in food processor and pulse long enough to make small chunks.Do not process it smooth into a puree.Remove to a bowl. Add remaining ingredients, how ever much mayo you desire.Blend well.Serve

Tzatziki - Greek Style Dip

Tzatziki is a Greek dish - typically served as a dip with crudites or tortilla chips. Alternatively to accompany a meal.

Unlike the watery stuff you buy in little tubs in the supermarket, the real thing should be rich and creamy and cooling. It's very simple and cheap to make. A simple tub of Greek yoghurt in the fridge only takes a few minutes to turn into something with plenty of flavour and a joy to have alongside some salad.

There is no official recipe as such - much of it has to be to eye and taste

250g tub of Greek Yoghurt

3" long piece of cucumber

lemon juice

mint leaves

2 x large cloves of garlic

Tip the greek yoghurt into a bowl.

Peel the cucumber. Cut in half and scoop out the seeds. Cut each half into half again (lengthways) and finely slice. Add this to the bowl.

Take a good few mint leaves and finely chop. I like about 2 tablespoons in volume.

Press or finely mince the garlic and add to the yoghurt with the mint. Mix these in well. Add lemon and seasoning to taste - 2 > 3 teaspoons of lemon is about right...

So very simple !

Sarah-Jane Nash, http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - flexible silicone bakeware moulds. April 2010

Garlic Tear and Share Bread

Blogger has been a real pain today and I've struggled for ages to get my photos to load - almost to the point of giving up !

Anyway, I decided to make a Garlic tear and share type bread on Friday and it turned out really well. The prinicples are the same as any other bread.

I made a basic bread mix according to the bread flour bag instructions. Strong Bread Flour, water, yeast, salt and sugar. Kneaded, covered and set aside in a warm place to rise to double in size.

After first rise, pinch off pieces of dough approx 1/2" to 1" dia in size. I dunked these into 50grams of melted butter mixed with 50mls of olive oil with 3 cloves of finely minced / crushed garlic. Then, all the balls went into a 10" round silicone bakeware mould.

I sprinkled some chopped chives over the top along with some thin shavings of butter.

This then went to sit in a warm place for a second rise. At this time of year, our kitchen isn't warm enough unless the oven is on. It's therefore ideal to make bread at the same time as a good old roast... I take the grill out of the top oven and put my bread dough in there to prove in a bowl on top of a rack. The heat from the oven below gets it going nicely.

Just before baking, I decided to crumble a little cheddar cheese over the top. The butter had nicely melted over the top. I baked at 180deg in a fan oven for a little over 15 mins. On taking out, brush some melted butter over the top.

This was easily enough to do 6 > 8 people. We only used 1/2 between 3 of us alongside some casserole. Next time, I think I'd make in 2 x 2lb loaf tins - so I could par-bake one and freeze for another day.

Truly yummy treat though ! You'll need to take my word on it - I had so many photos that I thought I'd delete all the ones I didn't need. I forgot though that I hadn't reduced and saved any BAKED photos though and mistakenly deleted all of those from my camera card - so I can't show you how good it looked baked....

It was moist, buttery and very garlicky. Mmmmmmm

Sarah-Jane - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - April 2010

Halogen Oven Recipes - Garlic Toasts

I made Lasagne yesterday in my silicone lasagne baking tray, and really wanted something extra to go along with it.

We had some left over French baguette from the day before - and it's never so nice as day it is made fresh.

I decided to slice this up into approx 5mm thick rounds. I already had some garlic infused olive oil in the cupboard, so lightly brushed both sides of each piece with the oil using a pastry brush.

Whilst I was doing that, I preheated the halogen cooker to maximum temperature with the high grill in.These literally went on the top rack for about 3 minutes on each side. Don't forget to take the halogen cooker lid off when you are done to let them cool.

They were subtle and had a lovely crunch. I bet they'd be even better with sprinkle of Maldon sea salt as well as the olive oil before toasting. That's the only thing I feel was missing.


Our Halogen ovens are due to arrive back into stock in early May. This time, they will come complete with a full range of accessories - including high rack, low rack, steamer, baking tray, toast rack (for 10 slices), set of skewers, extension ring and lid stand ! Keep an eye on the new website - we'll update everyone who is waiting on stock arriving by email as soon as they get here :-)

Silicone Lasagne / Roasting Tray 

Sarah-Jane - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ February 2010