Recipes and Jelly :D

Yesterday I had my 17th birthday party :) It was such a laugh, there was a ridiculous amount of food, (most of which is sitting in my fridge-people stop getting hungry after the 3rd round of cakes and quiches) and I got to spend some time with people that I love being with :) So, in honor of the many left over delicacies waiting to be eaten in my fridge, here are a few recipes for the things we had last night :D

MILLIONAIRE SHORTBREAD



Ingredients

For the base
225g plain flour
100g caster sugar
225g butter
100g semolina

For the topping
175g butter
175g caster sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
397g condensed milk (this seems extraordinarily precise)
200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Method
1. Set the oven to 160C/gas2. Lightly grease a 20cm x 33cm oblong/ Swiss roll tin.
2. Place all the ingredients for the base into a food processor and whizz together until they form a smooth dough (if preferred this can be done by hand in a bowl).
3. Press the mixture into the base of the Swiss roll tin and prick with a fork. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until golden and firm. Set aside to cool.
4. To make the topping, place the butter, sugar, syrup and condensed milk into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the butter has melted.
5. Bubble the mixture gently for five to eight minutes, stirring all the time until thick and fudge-like. Pour over the cold shortbread in an even layer. Leave to cool.
6. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
7. Pour the chocolate over the toffee and leave to set. Cut into small squares and store in an airtight tin.

Thanks to Katie and Xander who made the most delicious millionaire shortbread like..ever.

We had a few quiches last night and they were so good (Thankyou Emily, Ruth and Katie) but I don't have their recipes :( .. I made a really good quiche lorraine for my junior cert practical like 2 years ago and it was delicious. So here's my quiche lorraine recipe.



QUICHE LORRAINE



Ingredients

For the pastry
175g plain flour
75g butter
1 cup cold water
A pinch of salt

Or you could just buy those rolls of ready made pastry..

For the filling
250g grated cheddar cheese
4 sliced tomatoes
200g chopped bacon
5 beaten eggs
100ml milk
200ml double cream
Salt and pepper (to taste)
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (to garnish)

Method
1. To make the pastry, sift the flour together with a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until you have a soft breadcrumb texture. Add enough cold water to make the crumb mixture come together to form a firm dough, and then rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Roll out the pastry on a light floured surface and line a 22cm/8½inch well-buttered flan dish. Don't cut off the edges of the pastry yet. Chill again.
3. Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5.
4. Remove the pastry case from the fridge and line the base of the pastry with baking parchment and then fill it with baking beans. Place on a baking tray and bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and parchment and return to the oven for another five minutes to cook the base.
5. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.
6. Sprinkle the cheese into the pastry base and add the sliced tomatoes if you are using them. Fry the bacon pieces until crisp and sprinkle over them over the top.
7. Combine the eggs with the milk and cream in a bowl and season well. Pour over the bacon and cheese. Make sure ingredients are evenly spread around the pastry. Sprinkle the thyme over the top and trim the edges of the pastry.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool and set further.
9. Trim the pastry edges to get a perfect edge and then serve in wedges with a nice glob of relish and a rocket salad :D



My <3>
Anyone who knows me well, will know that I am completely obsessed with jelly. It's like the most delicious thing in the entire world, it's dirt cheap and ridiculously easy to make. A few evenings ago at 5pm, I made a huge bowl of raspberry jelly, put in the fridge and at 11pm, took it out and devoured the entire thing while watching Big Brother. It was the best almost-midnight feast of all almost-midnight feasts.

Yesterday, for my party, Sarah made a huge bowl of my favourite kind of jelly. RAINBOW JELLY. :)
So here it is:

SARAH'S MAGICAL RAINBOW JELLY

1. Follow the instructions on the jelly packet for your first layer. You could choose any colour, but red would be ideal if you are a perfectionist like me. The instructions are usually along the lines of cutting the jelly cubes up into a large bowl. Jelly cubes dissolve a lot quicker and more evenly if, with sharp scissors, you cut the block into cubes following the mark lines, then cut each individual cube into quarters. It takes a little while, but it means much less stirring trying to dissolve whole jelly cubes. You must then pour a pint of boiling water onto them. I think it's a pint but I'm not entirely sure. You usually have to then top up the red gloopy mixture with a pint of cold water, and put it in the fridge until set. With Sarah's magical rainbow jelly, one also adds sliced strawberries and whole raspberries, which float to the top and set into the jelly.

2. Once the first layer has set (I'm hoping you made it red), repeat step 1 as many times as the size of your bowl will allow, but with various different colours. Sarah decorates her rainbow jelly with a full layer of sliced strawberries on the top of the jelly, which looks really pretty :) Another thing I've done in the past is using the same method, but instead of a big bowl, I've put lots of clear glasses or plastic cups on a tray and filled each one evenly for each layer, to create individual jelly portions. It's really good for parties. :D And now because I love it so much, we're going to fill the rest of the page with delicious jelly. NOM NOM NOM.