Very scrumptious roast chicken

This is a very nice roast chicken recipe I picked up from Kay's blog and its a keeper. Mr. J isn't too keen on chicken skin, so I did my version on skinless chicken legs.  Kay is a great photographer and her post will give you step by step instructions.

The sun-dried tomatoes combine beautifully with the feta for a burst of flavour to the marinade. I also totally adore rosemary and it complements the other flavours in this beautifully. Very delicious and certainly worth giving a go. Enjoy. 

Orange almond loaf

Sunday afternoons have turned into baking afternoons at the Jacob house.  Its quite becoming a little tradition - baking with Little Miss J!  Today we tried an Orange Almond Loaf...yum yum....even if I say so myself! Very moist and very moreish.

I really do need to get better at photography!!!

Ingredients

190 g plain flour

190 g caster sugar

60 g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

190 g unsalted butter

Rind of two oranges, grated

2 tbsp orange juice (can be reduced as per taste - I like my cakes really orangey!!)

25 g plain yoghurt

Flaked almonds to sprinkle on top

Method

1.  Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees celsius and grease and line a loaf tin. 

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and ground almonds.

3. Cream butter, caster sugar and orange zest until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat thoroughly.  

4. Fold in the flour mixture until it is fully incorporated.  Stir in the yoghurt and orange juice. 

5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle the top with flaked almonds. 

6. Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 60 minutes.  You can check on the cake in about 40 minutes and if you feel the top is getting too brown then cover it with foil.  Check to see if it is done by inserting a skewer into the center.  If it comes out clean, the cake is ready. 

7. Let it cool in the tin and then cool completely before you slice it.  Perfect with a hot cup of tea!

Pancakes with strawberries

Brunch at the Jacob house today was pancakes with strawberries by popular demand!

A picture is worth a thousand words so I won't say any more :)

Pancakes


270 g all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp caster sugar
260 ml milk
4 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
Rind of one orange, grated (optional)

To serve
Maple syrup

1/2 punnet strawberries,cut up and sprinkled with a little caster sugar (this helps them macerate and really brings out their taste)

Method

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar in a bowl. 

2. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients together,  milk, egg, vanilla essence and olive oil.  Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and mix together with a whisk to get rid of any lumps.

3. Heat a pan.  Pour a ladleful of batter.  Once bubbles start appearing on the top, flip the pancake and let it cook - these are best done on a low flame as they burn easily.  

4. You can keep them in a warm oven to maintain temperature until you're ready to eat. 

5. Stack up on a place, dish out some strawberries on top and pour a generous serving of maple syrup (hey I didn't say it was a healthy recipe!!!!).    

ENJOY!

Honey and Walnut Loaf

This is a new recipe Lil Miss J and I tried out when we had some friends over for tea yesterday.  The cake is lovely and moist, not too sweet - just right with a cup of tea :)

Publish Post

Ingredients
190 g unsalted butter at room temperature
190 g plain flour
190 g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

25 g plain yoghurt

1 tbsp honey

60 g walnuts, lightly toasted and chopped

For syrup

1 tbsp honey

50 ml water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius.  Line a loaf tin. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

2. Cream together butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. 

3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated.

4. Fold in the flour mixture lightly.  Add yoghurt, vanilla essence, honey and mix lightly.  Lastly add the chopped walnuts.  (To toast the walnuts, just warm a pan and toss them around.  Be careful as they burn easily).

5. Pour into prepared tin and bake in a hot oven for about 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.   

6. While the cake is cooking, prepare the syrup by placing 1 tbsp honey and 50 ml water in a pan.  Bring it to a boil till it is reduced by half. 

7.  Once cake is cooked, remove from oven and while it is still in the tin, pour the syrup over.  Let the cake cool in tin for a few minutes, then turn out to a rack to cool.  When thoroughly cooled, slice and serve.