Does anyone have a recipe for hot cross buns? I tried one in the bread maker manual (just did the dough in the bread maker); they were nice, but more like rock cakes. I did use milk rather than water and milk powder, as we didn’t have any milk powder, but otherwise stuck to the recipe.
As it happens, I’ve just had my coffee with the next-to-last of the hot cross buns I made Saturday. I use Paul Hollywood’s recipe, and they always get compliments.
I use this as a base. It's not a hot cross bun recipe as such but very similar. I mash it up with bits of Felicity Cloake's recipe. I start by heating up the milk and infusing it with spices (saffron, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, ginger). For the fruit, I use raisins, currants and orange peel. I add a cross on top with a flour and water paste. Less is more for this bit (it's not nice to eat if the flour paste is too thick). At the end I brush with a sugar syrup for a shiny finish.
On the subject of Lancashire cooking my mother, a Bury lass (her words), made meat and potato pie. The used leftover beef from the Sunday roast. She would buy a decent piece of beef, slice it very thin and get four meals out of the Sunday joint.
Shipmates from southern US states, I'm thinking of making Jambalaya. It has prawns (shrimps), so I worry that it might not last more than a day, or freeze well. What's your experience/recommendations?
I’m Southern but not Louisianan, so don’t take my word as definitive. (That said, I have eaten and made a lot of jambalaya in my time. )
In my experience, shrimp (prawns) are not an expected ingredient in jambalaya; jambalaya with shrimp is the exception rather than the rule. I associate shrimp in jambalaya with restaurants trying to fancy it up. The “sine qua non meat” is andouille or a similar kind of sausage. There’s often chicken or pork too. Traditionally, I think, it was whatever the cook had at hand. All of which is to say, if it makes things easier for you, you can omit the shrimp without sacrificing authenticity.
That said, I totally get it if you want to include shrimp. If you do, I’d either plan on cooking an amount of shrimp that will leave no leftovers, and plan for the leftovers not to include any shrimp (or to cook more shrimp for the leftovers). Even if the shrimp doesn’t go bad in the fridge, it’ll get tough and leathery.
Good luck! And please let us know how it goes.
Thankyou Nick, I took your advice and pan fried a few prawns separately and plonked them as a garnish on the otherwise prawn-less jambalaya.
Shipmates from southern US states, I'm thinking of making Jambalaya. It has prawns (shrimps), so I worry that it might not last more than a day, or freeze well. What's your experience/recommendations?
I’m Southern but not Louisianan, so don’t take my word as definitive. (That said, I have eaten and made a lot of jambalaya in my time. )
In my experience, shrimp (prawns) are not an expected ingredient in jambalaya; jambalaya with shrimp is the exception rather than the rule. I associate shrimp in jambalaya with restaurants trying to fancy it up. The “sine qua non meat” is andouille or a similar kind of sausage. There’s often chicken or pork too. Traditionally, I think, it was whatever the cook had at hand. All of which is to say, if it makes things easier for you, you can omit the shrimp without sacrificing authenticity.
That said, I totally get it if you want to include shrimp. If you do, I’d either plan on cooking an amount of shrimp that will leave no leftovers, and plan for the leftovers not to include any shrimp (or to cook more shrimp for the leftovers). Even if the shrimp doesn’t go bad in the fridge, it’ll get tough and leathery.
Good luck! And please let us know how it goes.
Thankyou Nick, I took your advice and pan fried a few prawns separately and plonked them as a garnish on the otherwise prawn-less jambalaya.
My brother recently sent around of my mother's potato salad recipe (in her own handwriting!). I personally have not made it because potatoes are something I am supposed to only eat sparingly. Which is a shame because I love this potato salad. I grew up calling it "German Potato Salad" although on the recipe card my mother called it "Potato Salad Vinaigrette". I like it because it contains no mayonnaise. I have a superstitious dread of mayonnaise and salmonella.
German Potato Salad (Potato Salad Vinaigrette)
Ingredients:
6 large baking potatoes
1 medium red onion (sliced lengthwise and sliced thinly)
1 can sliced black olives (I assume 3.8 oz--Mom's recipe just says "1 can")
Salt & pepper, to taste (lightly)
1 can anchovy fillets, diced (again, I assume 2 ounces--the recipe does not specify)
Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup safflower oil
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
½ tsp tarragon
½ tsp dried basil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp parsley, minced
(1) Boil potatoes the day before—do not let get mushy. Refrigerate and dice them the next day.
(2) Add red onion & olives to diced potatoes, and toss carefully (wooden spoon recommended)
(3) Make dressing: Combine in blender the oils, vinegar, mustard, salt, tarragon, basil, garlic and parsley. Blend for 15 to 30 seconds.
(4) Pour ½ of dressing over potatoes (lightly salt & pepper to taste). Stir and let sit, covered, at room temperature for half an hour.
(5) Toss potatoes with remainder of dressing. Add diced anchovies and mix. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
@Hedgehog: I would have said this is French potato salad, which is characterized by a mustard-tarragon dressing.
AIUI German potato salad has a bacon-based dressing. The cheater versions of German potato salad I've seen are basic mayo-based potato salad, plus cubed salami and chopped dill pickles.
@Leaf , I think you are definitely right about the bacon---and come to think of it, Mom did do a potato salad with bacon, so maybe I am just mixing up names. That wouldn't surprise me.
Still, the vinegar part strikes me as very German. I browsed on-line, and found this recipe which is similar to Mom's, except with bacon instead of anchovy.
Comments
Slater describes trying a dessert in Japan that he expected to be horrendous, but was the opposite. I’m now determined to try:
Crème caramel, topped with a ball of vanilla icecream, with a hot espresso poured over.
Thankyou Nick, I took your advice and pan fried a few prawns separately and plonked them as a garnish on the otherwise prawn-less jambalaya.
You learn something every day!
German Potato Salad (Potato Salad Vinaigrette)
Ingredients:
6 large baking potatoes
1 medium red onion (sliced lengthwise and sliced thinly)
1 can sliced black olives (I assume 3.8 oz--Mom's recipe just says "1 can")
Salt & pepper, to taste (lightly)
1 can anchovy fillets, diced (again, I assume 2 ounces--the recipe does not specify)
Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup safflower oil
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
½ tsp tarragon
½ tsp dried basil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp parsley, minced
(1) Boil potatoes the day before—do not let get mushy. Refrigerate and dice them the next day.
(2) Add red onion & olives to diced potatoes, and toss carefully (wooden spoon recommended)
(3) Make dressing: Combine in blender the oils, vinegar, mustard, salt, tarragon, basil, garlic and parsley. Blend for 15 to 30 seconds.
(4) Pour ½ of dressing over potatoes (lightly salt & pepper to taste). Stir and let sit, covered, at room temperature for half an hour.
(5) Toss potatoes with remainder of dressing. Add diced anchovies and mix. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
AIUI German potato salad has a bacon-based dressing. The cheater versions of German potato salad I've seen are basic mayo-based potato salad, plus cubed salami and chopped dill pickles.
Still, the vinegar part strikes me as very German. I browsed on-line, and found this recipe which is similar to Mom's, except with bacon instead of anchovy.