Revision Biscuits

I know that most people have trouble with staying motivated while revising... I have problems with actually starting to revise. These biscuits were because I needed to do some chemistry revision and I was feeling lazy, so there's very little cooking involved!

Ingredients:
An even number of digestive biscuits
Some whipping cream
Some icing sugar                                        Precise, I know!
Some vanilla essence
Some chocolate
Some icing

Method:
Melt the chocolate.
Whip together the cream, icing sugar and vanilla.
Sandwich together two digestives with cream, then spread the top with chocolate and allow to set.
Ice with whatever facts need to be remembered, then only eat the ones that you have thoroughly committed to memory!

Week Eight: Cakes and Biscuits

Ok, I know that this isn't exactly a meal, but it was my sister's birthday party and I also wanted some way in which to revise without dying of boredom (revision biscuits to come later...).

Gooey, rich chocolate cake
This will stay moist for several days and is amazingly chocolatey. Don't be put off by the long ingredients list - it's incredibly easy to make!
The decoration is up to you - I haven't included any ingredients for it. My cake was "Cowboys and Indians" themed, to tie in with the party.

Ingredients
85g Plain flour
85g Self-raising flour
200g Caster sugar
200g Brown sugar
200g Unsalted butter
100g Milk chocolate
100g Dark chocolate
75ml Cream / Buttermilk
25g Cocoa powder
3 eggs
1 tbs coffee granules, dissolved in 125ml water
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease (or line) a round tin - about 8" or 20cm diameter.
Break up the chocolate then melt together the chocolate and butter, then stir in the coffee.

Mix together the dry ingredients (sifting is desirable but not entirely necessary).

Beat together the eggs, cream / buttermilk and vanilla, then mix thoroughly into the dry ingredients.

Stir in the chocolate mixture; the final mix is very runny - this worried me, but apart from slight leakage on the part of the tin, it was fine. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.

Put in the oven (TIP: If there's any chance of your tin leaking, put a baking tray on the shelf beneath to prevent that burnt toast smell from haunting your oven) and cook for anywhere between 1h 15m and 1h 30m. The top should feel firm to touch.

Leave in the tin until just warm, then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool.

Week Seven Pictures

A note about onions...

If you're anthing like me, you'll find that chopping and even peeling onions causes you to tear up like mad. Here are the solutions I've discovered:

• Sunglasses. Seriously. These only work for a limited amount of time, but they work well for that time!
• Food processor. If you're going to be chopping onions for burgers or something else where you don't need neat slices, this is great.
• Water. Keep a jug of water near by when preparing onions. Once you've topped, tailed and peeled them, dunk them in the water and then again once you've cut them in half. This works really well and the most onions I've ever prepared this way with no tears is 4!

Good luck with your onions!

Week Seven: Turkey burgers with onion marmalade

 Serves 4  - £1.70 per person
Ingredients:
500g turkey mince
1 egg
60g fresh breadcrumbs
A handful of fresh herbs- thyme, sage, bay...
Oil for frying

400g onions. finely sliced
2 dsps brown sugar
3 tsps red wine vinegar
Oil for frying

Method
First, mix together the breadcrumbs and herbs, then add the turkey mince and combine thoroughly with either your (clean) hands or a fork. Put this mixture into the fridge.

Now, start to make the onion marmalade by heating the oil and then adding the onions. Turn the heat down and leave to cook for about 15 minutes with a lid on, adding the sugar after 10.
Next, add the vinegar and cook without a lid on a higher heat for another 10 or so minutes, then remove from the heat and put to one side.

Return to the burger mixture. Shape this into 8 thinnish patty shapes. Heat the oil in a frying pan and place the burgers in - leave enough space to be able to turn them over easily. Leave for about 3 minutes then turn them over and continue to cook for another couple of minutes. Depending on the size of your pan, you may want to keep the cooked burgers hot in a dish in the oven while you cook the rest.

Warm the onion marmalade through then serve with the burgers, some bread rolls and salad.
Enjoy!

Week Six: Vegetable Pie

 Serves 4 Costs less than £1 per person!
Ingredients
For the pastry:
150g Self raising flour
75g Suet - I  used vegetable suet but either's fine
Water

For the filling:
A selection of vegetables.
I used:
1 leek
3 sticks of celery
1 turnip
4 carrots
6 shallots

For the gravy:
About 2 tbs oil
About 3 dsps flour
Marmite
Redcurrant jelly

Method:
 Heat oven to around 220C.







First, make the pastry by mixing the suet and flour, then adding water a tablespoon at a time until you get a firm but not sticky dough. Cover and put to one side.

Chop the vegetables into largish and similarly sized chunks.

Blanch each vegetable in turn, roughly 5 minutes for the turnip / carrot / shallots and 2 minutes for everything else. Don't throw the water away! Put the vegetables into the pie dish that you're using.

Now it's time to make the gravy. The first part is like making a roux but with oil; try to make sure you don't get any lumps by mixing thoroughly. Add the flour to the oil gradually until it's all mixed. Next, add the water from the vegetables a bit at a time, stirring each time until you end up with a thinnish gravy. The next part's down to personal taste. I added some marmite and redcurrant jelly to my gravy; you might like oxo, pepper or other seasonings.

For the last bit, pour the gravy over the vegetables, roll out the pastry and cover your pie. Cook for approx. 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Week Five: Moroccan vegetable stew with couscous

Sorry for the silence over the past few weeks; work's been catching up with me a bit!

Serves 4
Ingredients:
1/2 carton of creamed tomatoes
1 small squashkin (about 300g)
1 onion, chopped
1 small handful of pinenuts
1 small handful of cashew nuts
16 dried apricots
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
400g dry couscous
500ml strongly flavoured stock

Method
Fry the onion and turmeric in oil, then add the squashkin. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the tomato and the rest of the spices. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, then add the remainder of the ingredients. I personally like the apricots to be nearly falling apart, so after about 5 minutes, cook the couscous by adding the boiling stock. Leave to stand for 5 - 10 minutes then serve with the stew.