Curry Beef Burgers

I quite like the sound of this, was in the mood for a Friday night burger! Then you read the ingredients and realise it involves a can of corned beef!! I don’t know what it is about meat in cans but it’s really off putting! I actually don’t mind slices of corned beef but seeing in a can makes it look utterly revoltingly! I have made the corned beef casserole from this book and didn’t love it, so was now not too sure about this.

First off I think I need to apologise for the terrible photos, it’s hard to make canned meat look good!

I had a 200g can of corned beef so halved everything else. While the potatoes were boiling I fried the onions, well instead of half an onion I used two shallots. Then I added the curry powder..

While that was cooking I removed the corned beef from the can and cut into chunks. It’s so not very appetising when it comes out of the can, I had to chop off all the horrible fatty bits then cut up into chunks..

Even adding the curried onions didn’t make it look much better..

Then I added the mashed potato..

Then I mixed it altogether and left to cool. Looks a bit like stovies at this point!

I really think it’s essential to let the mixture cool. My daughter was having her dinner earlier so I made her a couple of mini burgers while the mix was still warm and they practically disintegrated in the pan! I managed to re-shape them but were not photo worthy! Despite all that she loved them!

Once the mix had properly cooled I shaped and started to fry..

Even after the cooling period they do not keep their shape very well at all. They are sooo soft. It is quite hard to turn them without breaking them..

So after about 5 minutes on each side I decided they had been fried enough. Technically there’s not anything to cook so once they were getting browned I decided that was long enough. So I was attempting to go healthyish and opted to make carrot fries, plus I did not think these burgers needed a bun due to the high potato content..

Well these taste way way way better than they look! There are really soft but I thought that was ok. The flavour is quite nice too and I liked the heat from the curry powder. I know this isn’t really the kind of burger we think about these days but back at the time of this book maybe a canned meat burger was the only option!

Would I make this again? Yes I would, looks really bad but actually tastes good…

Meat with Celery

This recipe comes from Greek section of the recipes from around the world chapter. It doesn’t really sound like a recipe, more like just a list of ingredients!

Last time I went to the butcher for best or middle neck chops I was told I needed gigot chops instead. So that’s what I bought for this..

I started off by frying these in butter until just browned..

Then I sorted out the veg. I was sort of quartering this recipe. I was just using two chops but think they are considerably bigger than a cutlet! So I ended up halving the onions and carrots but sort of thirded the celery! So I reckon I used about three quarters of a head of celery and it does seem like a lot just for two!!

Then I started to layer everything up in the pan..

It all seems a bit unusual at this point! Was I supposed to have all the meat and veg fully submerged? I kind of didn’t like the idea of boiled meat!!

After about 20 minutes of simmering the celery and meat felt soft so decided it was ready..

I put the meat and veg into a dish in a low oven while I started on the sauce. It does seem unusual to be blending an egg yolk with cornflour..

Once the lemon juice is added it does turn into a paste, so I added it to the sauce.

Despite having this on a very low heat and stirring furiously I ended up with curdled egg so I had to strain it again. After a bit more stirring and a bit more cornflour it did start to thicken..

So then the sauce was poured over the meat and veg and that was it!!

So I suppose this is a bit of a meal on its own! I wasn’t expecting much from this but was pleasantly surprised. The lamb is nice, soft but not overcooked. The carrots and celery are just the right amount of soft and have a great flavour after being cooked with the lamb. The sauce is good as well, it was a bit of a faff and do wonder what the egg does! Maybe I can’t tell because it looked like all the egg I put in had curdled so was removed! Overall was a a good dinner and something different to try!

Would I make this again? Possible, nice dinner but sauce was a bit of a faff..

My Writing Process Blog

I was very kindly invited by Micaela over at Easy Italian Cuisine. I hadn’t heard of this but after reading the post on Micaela’s blog I know now it’s a way for bloggers to share their writing and then acknowledge other bloggers.

Big thanks to Micaela for thinking of me!

So to participate in the blog tour I need to answer the following four questions, and invite other bloggers to join the tour.

What am I working on?

Basically I decided one day that I was going to cook every recipe in a cook book I inherited from my Grannie. It’s book from the 1940’s and the edition I have is a 1967 update. It’s filled with loads of brilliant recipes, over 500 pages! I started on 1st September 2013 with the intention of doing a recipe and blogging about it every day, so far I think I’ve only missed a handful of days! I do think I may cut back to every other day this year to allow my husband time in the kitchen!

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

To be honest when I started this I did think it was a format used by many based in the film Julie and Julia, but I just liked the idea of this old book and old fashioned cooking techniques

Why do I write what I do?

I write about every recipe I try. I love sharing recipes and this book had some lovely old recipes that I just felt the need to share!

How does your writing process work?

Basically I pick a recipe, cook it, attempt to take a decent photo, taste it and then write about it! I do like to think I am quite organised but some days I just pick a recipe based on what’s in the fridge! I do also always feel the need to apologise for my dodgy photos but in my defence they are taken in real time when my family are patiently waiting for their dinner!!

So now I need to pass on this to another couple of blogs, there are so many blogs that I can spend hours reading that it’s hard to choose, so I picked the last two that I commented on recently and that is

Sarah’s Kitchen – I’d highly recommend checking out her red velvet cupcakes!

Full as an Egg – Kim’s recipe for Italian Sauasge Bake had me drooling!

Anyway I hope I’ve done this writing tour process justice, thanks again Micaela

Blog Awards

Over the last couple of weeks I have been nominated for some blog awards.

First up was Micaela over at Easy Italian Cuisine and Ayesha at Cooking with Ayesha who both very kindly nominated me for the Sunshine Award.

Ayesha also nominated me for the Liebster Award

So I’m going to be really lazy for this one and link back to my previous nomination for Liebster Award

The rules for the sunshine award are;

1. Include the Sunshine Award icon in your post and/or on your blog
2. Link to the blogger who nominated you
3. Answer 10 questions about yourself
4. Nominate 10 other bloggers to receive the award
5. Link to your nominees and let them know you nominated them
6. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer

I think some of the blog rules do vary and either involve me answering questions set by the person who nominated, or stating some random facts about myself! So I’m going to take the questions from Micaela…

1. Why did you start blogging?

I don’t really have a specific reason, just felt like it!!

2. Sweet or Savoury?

I couldn’t possible pick so let’s say the two together! Salted caramel, black pepper brownies..

3. If you were to go on any reality TV programme, what would it be and why?

God I don’t know, would have to be something food related but then I don’t really like people judging my food!! I do love Come Dine With Me but don’t think I would like to be on that show!

4. What was the last thing you Googled?

Wish I had something interesting to say but it was train times

5. Night In or Night Out?

Prob night in with a nice meal, bottle of wine and good company, although a night out with the girls is good therapy!

6. What has been your favourite blog post to write?

I honestly don’t know, mine get written so quickly because I am doing one every day, always wish I could get better photos so really don’t think I’ve ever been 100% happy with most of them!

7. What’s the one thing you never leave home without?

My phone, and if my daughters with me a pack of wipes!

8. Where would you most like to travel to?

China

9. If you could have any super power, what would it be?

I’d like to see into the future so I can win the lottery and make a lot of people better off!

10. What can we expect to find from your blog in the future?

Still pages and pages of recipes. I plan to cook the entire book, reckon in the first 6 months I have done maybe 200, think there’s is over 2000 to do!

So now I need to nominate some bloggers for these awards, so I’ve picked a few of the ones I really enjoy. These are all great blogs with some fantastic recipes so I’m passing on the sunshine award! I’m pretty sure many if these bloggers will have had this award already but this time it’s from me!!

Searching For Spice

Julie’s Family Kitchen

First Look Then Cook

Self Raising Flower

Bakearama

Bakewell Junction

Supper in the Suburbs

The Baking Bud and The Cooking Bud

Four Candles Kitchen

Baker at Heart

Blog Awards

So over the last few weeks I have been nominated for another 3 blog awards. I know there are some guidelines for what I am to do but I am going to break the mould slightly and post them altogether!!

The first award was from Dimple at Shivaay Delights

She very kindly nominated me for the Leibster award. I do love Dimple’s blog; her recipes look and sound amazing. In fact I have bookmarked her recipe for spicy lentil & halloumi stuffed parathas. If I can find chapati flour this weekend I plan to make these as they look amazing!

The next blog award was the Dragon Loyalty Award from AJ the creator of The Dessert Course.

As the name suggests this an award based on loyalty and is awarded to those who are regular followers and commentors. There are some beautiful recipes on AJ’s blog. I loved the look and idea of the salted caramel macaroons. I love salted caramel so these would be right up my street. I’ve only ever tried macaroons once and don’t remember them being a great success, but I need to give these ago – or just ask AJ to make me a batch and deliver to Glasgow????

The next award was also from AJ of The Dessert Course, and is the WordPress Family Award.

As this award suggests this is passed between people of the WordPress blogging community and can’t thank AJ enough. I started this blog in September this year with no idea how it would evolve. So far its being a great experience and love being able to share recipes with other bloggers. If I could improve my blog it would be with my photography skills!!

So the idea of these awards is to pass them on and spread the love! In my last award posts I mentioned a few blogs and passed on awards to them (Leibster award and Versatile Blogger award) So I basically just want to re-iterate how much I enjoy all these blogs and if I did have more time I would re-post them all and pass all these awards on so apologies for not sticking to rules but I really wanted to properly thank Dimple and AJ for thinking of me.

Versatile Blogger Award

Just want to say a massive thanks to The Dessert Course for nominating me for the Versatile blogger award. Means a lot that people are reading and enjoying my wee blog!

There are a few things I have to do in response: give 7 random facts about myself, nominate other bloggers who I feel also deserve the award and inform them I have done so. Here’s some random facts about me!

1. I hate being late for anything!

2. I have a slight salt obsession; I have a variety of flavours and types in my cupboard.

3. To follow on from above I have porridge made with milk and salt for breakfast almost every day.

4. I love walking my dog in the morning, the earlier the better

5. I am a very very very messy cook, lucky to have my husband to clean up after me!

6. I love blue cheese, the stronger the better

7. I wish I had a bigger kitchen, with an island and an aga

So the idea is that I now nominate blogs, so Ive picked the following ones that I enjoy

Fromage Homage

Muddy Kitchen Floor

Spontaneous Tomato

Shivaay Delights

Vohn’s Vittles

The Weegie Kitchen

Keep Calm and Fanny On

Liebster Award

I was very kindly nominated for the Liebster award from a fellow blogger CharismaticBaking
Check out her blog for some amazing cakes and other baking recipes, especially love the use of spices in some of the cakes!

So basically the Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers and is about recognising new food bloggers, which I think is great and really appreciate being nominated. So, what is a Liebster? The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Blogging is about building a community and it’s a great way to connect with other bloggers and help spread the word about newer bloggers/blogs. So here’s what I have to do;

Nominees must link back the person who nominated.
-Answer the 10 questions that are given by the nominator.
-Nominate 10 other bloggers for this award who have fewer than 200 followers.
-Create 10 questions for the new nominees to answer.
-Go to the nominee blogs and notify them about their nominations

So here’s my answers to charismaticbakings questions!

1. What is my favourite book and why?

‘I know why the caged bird sings’ by Maya Angelou. Did my RPR on this in 5th year in school, re-read it several times since.

2. What is your escape to get away from intense/stressful times?

Walking my dog

3. Are you the superstitious type?

Like to think not but can’t help saluting magpies!

4. What is the most thrill-seeking adventure you have always wanted to do?

I’m not a thrill seeking kind of girl! But would love to walk the Great Wall of China

5. When did it finally hit you that your are officially a grown up and why then?

God I don’t know but when someone calls you mum that can make you feel old/grown up!

6. If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would you want to meet and why?

Andre Agassi for a game of tennis!! Loved him with long hair when I was a teenager!

7. What is your favourite pastime?

Baking cakes

8. Are you a people person?

Yes, mostly…

9. What has been your most awkward situation?

Trying to talk to Ally McCoist – Scottish football fans will know who that is!

10. Your favourite board game is?

Not a lover of board games but if I had to pick it would be Scrabble

So now I need to nominate 10 bloggers. To be honest I have no idea how to figure out how many followers a blogger has unless it is written on the home page! I don’t even know how to display that on my own blog. I am really new to blogging myself, so I’ve picked 10 that I came across recently that I’ve enjoyed. Here they are in no particular order;

A tale of two sittings

Yummy Tummy Tales

The French Thomas Kitchen

Cornbreadandheels

Vegemite on Oatcakes

Bakewise

Wee Food Dude

Gingerbread Woman Blog

Zlater Family Cookbook

The Dessert Course

So now I need to give them 10 questions, so if you have time here are some questions;

1. What is your favourite film?
2. What is your most memorable meal?
3. What ingredient could you not do without?
4. Do you have a favourite Christmas recipe?
5. If you could visit anywhere in the world right now where would you go?
6. Would you like to be on board the first flight to the moon?
7. Salted chocolate – love or hate?
8. Whats the first thing you remember cooking/baking?
9. Do you have a favourite restaurant?
10.What made you start your blog?