This Elderflower, Apple, and Mint Fizz is the easiest of all our summertime drink recipes. No special equipment needed and only takes a couple of minutes to make. So, it’s a great standby if friends turn up unexpectedly and need a quick cooling drink.
Classic Fruity Iced Tea, the flavour of tea with a hint of citrus to cool you down. The infusion is made the day before, then allowed to chill overnight.
This Coconut and Pineapple Cooler works in a similar way to our Creamy Mango Milkshake. The sharpness of the Pineapple and lime is offset with the richness of the coconut milk and sweetness of the syrup.
We are using rich (full fat) coconut milk, so this is not exactly a diet option. But look on the bright side and focus on all that fresh fruit you are having……
Don’t try the recipe with the low fat (light) coconut milk, it will be disappointingly thin and sharp.
And don’t forget to look up our home page on Easy Summertime Coolers for more summertime drinks.
Firstly, make sure you have a ripe pineapple. if you are not sure if the pineapple on offer is ripe, give it a stiff. If you don’t get that sweet rich pineapple smell, it’s not ripe. However, you may not want to be seen sniffing a pineapple in the shop. No Problem, try pulling out one of the smaller leaves in the crown of the fruit. If it comes out easily it’s probably ok. Keep these leaves to garnish the glasses later.
Peel the pineapple, keeping back some slices to garnish the glasses. Cut the rest of the fruit into small chunks and place into the blender. Add the ice cubes then grate the zest of the limes over the top and squeeze out the juice.
Pour the coconut milk and syrup on top of the fruit and pop on the lid. Before you start the machine, it’s a good idea to place a tea towel and your hand on the lid.
Apply a little downward pressure as you start the machine. This will prevent the lid flying off and you wearing, rather than drinking the cooler.
Blend for a minute or two when you should have a thickened slush. Don’t worry if there are some small pieces of pineapple still showing.
It’s a a good idea to pass the blended cooler through a fine sieve. The fibre of the fruit will still be intact spoiling the smoothness of the drink. Use the back of a small ladle to rub the liquid through the sieve. This is the best way to get as much of the smooth liquid through the sieve as possible.
Pour into glasses and garnish with some thin slices of pineapple, one or two leaves from the crown and a sprig of mint.
Enjoy Life !
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
Drinking Chilled Watermelon Lemonade brings back memories of sitting back in the sun, eating chilled watermelon slices.
As with most of these cooler recipes the base can be made in advance and finished later. We are adding soda water and stock syrup to the watermelon juice to add sweetness and fizz. If that’s not to your liking try using a good quality lemonade to mix with the watermelon juice.
This Easy Creamy Mango Milkshake is a guaranteed hit with the kids, and who doesn’t like a milkshake?
This easy Lemon Barley Water is a British classic and a must for any outdoor event.
This is not difficult to make but takes a little time to infuse and chill. Make it the day before to let it get as cold as possible before use. Once you have tasted the real thing, you will never go back to shop-bought cordial again.
And don’t forget to look up our home page on Easy Summertime Coolers for more summertime drinks.
Put the barley into a bowl and cover with cold water. Swirl the barley around with your fingers and you will see the water become cloudy with the starch from the barley.
Strain the contents of the bowl through a fine sieve, discarding the water. Repeat this once more then tip the strained barley into a saucepan large enough to take all the ingredients.
Give the lemons a quick wash then using a sharp vegetable peeler remove the zest of the lemons as thinly as possible. It’s important the only remove the zest of the fruit and not take the white pith of the fruit. If the pith is added to the mix, it will make the finished drink become quite bitter.
If your peeler is not quite up to it use a fine grater to remove the zest instead. Add 1lt of cold water to the pan, pop on the lid and bring the pan up to the simmer, stirring from time to time. The pan should just simmer slowly for 15minutes to infuse the flavours of the barley and lemon into the water.
While the pan is simmering squeeze the juice from the lemons and keep it handy for later.
After 15 minutes of gentil simmering stir in the sugar until dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 15minutes to extract as much flavour as possible. Stain the contents of the pan through a wine sieve into a jug or bowl. Strain the lemon juice into the liquid and mix well. Cool the liquid as quicky as possible then refrigerate until very cold.
Serve in chilled glasses with sliced citrus fruit, ice, and a sprig of mint.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
This Easy, Family Citrus Peach Cooler takes just a few minutes to make using ingredients you may already have in the house.
Rillettes are a type of coarse French potted meat. The meats are cooked long and slow then broken down, almost like pulled pork. Don’t expect a nice smooth pateˊ this is a meat eaters paradise. Served with toasted sourdough bread and ideal taken on a picnic.
These Buttermilk Bread Rolls will really impress your dinner party guests. They go well with most starters that don’t require crispy rolls served alongside.
These rolls are formed with leaves of dough layered with butter. In the oven the leaves swell and open out like a flower. Individual leaves can be torn off the roll and eaten as they are or can be spread with any savoury mousse or pateˊ.
No special equipment is needed, and as long as you can roll out a dough, you can make these rolls. Have a look at our Making Bread at Home pages in the food files to see how easy it is to make your own breads
I’m using fast action yeast here so we can make the dough by the straight dough method.
Mix the flour, bi-carb and salt together in a bowl. Fold in the dried yeast taking care it doesn’t get into direct contact with the salt.
Make a well in the flour the pour the buttermilk and honey into the well.
Don’t worry about the butter, we are going to that later.
Bring the dough together, tip it out onto the rolling mat and knead for five minutes. Clean out the bowl, rub it inside with a little vegetable oil then return the ball of dough to the bowl.
Proving the dough.
Cover the dough with cling film, and leave the dough in a draft free place until doubled in size.
Put the butter into a small pan and gently melt. We want the butter to be just liquid not separated out. Alternatively pop the butter into a small bowl and stand the bowl in warm water until melted.
Turn the dough out onto the mat once more and kneed three or four times.
There is no need to kneed this dough much. We want the dough to be light and airy.
Lightly flour the mat then roll out the dough. The aim is to create a rectangle of dough until approximately 6-8mm thick. If the doughs not behaving itself. Let it rest covered with a cloth for five minutes then gently pull the dough into shape with your fingers. You can finish the rolling with the pin.
Brush the surface of the dough liberally with the melted butter. Add the 30g of butter to the pan and use this to grease the baking tray.
Using a pizza wheel cut the dough into approximately 6cm wide strips and then cut these strips across giving approximately 9cm inch by 6cm rectangles. The dough should separate easily, but be carful not to cut into the rolling mat or your table.
Using a scotch scraper or pallet knife pick up a rectangle of dough and place it on the top of another. Pick up another rectangle and place it carefully on the stack. Keep going until you have a stack of rectangles five strips tail.
Keep repeating this until you have used all the dough and made ………
Lift one end of a stack with the tips of your fingers and crimp one of the narrow sides of the dough together. Lift the stack and set into the Muffin tray with the crimped end down at the bottom of the depression.
It is essential during this operation to take great care not to seal the sides or top of the rolls the individual leaves of dough should open up during the second proving and crispen up during baking to produce a light roll in which the individual leaves may be broken off.
Leave the tray to stand in a draft free place until the rolls have roughly doubled in size. And the leaves of dough are starting to separate.
Bake the rolls in the tray in a 200˚c oven for 10-l5 minutes. The leaves of the dough should open up and take on a golden-brown colour.
When ready remove the tray from the oven and let the rolls cool in the tray for 10 minutes before attempting to remove them.
Serve warm with plenty of unsalted butter.
You need small terracotta flower pots which need to be sealed in the oven.
Wash the pots and dry them in a low oven. Increase the heat of the oven to 180˚c then brush the inside of the pots with vegetable oil. Return the pots to the oven and bake for an hour brushing the inside of the pots with move oil every 15 minutes.
When done remove them from the oven and let cool, the pots can now be used repeatedly just with a light greasing before filling. Don’t wash the pots after use, just wipe out with a damp cloth.
Yes if butter milk is unobtainable try using 550ml of plain yoghurt with 50ml of milk whisked in.
If you want to give the rolls a more savoury aroma add a bruised clove of garlic and some thyme or rosemary to the butter as it melts. You can also sprinkle chopped herbs between the layers of dough as you from the rolls. Keep the herbs towards the bottom of the rolls where they are less likely to burn in the oven.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
I don’t know if you’re like me , but every now and again a place inexplicitly moves you. For me the isle of Iona is one of those places.
If you are traveling to the west coast of Scotland don’t miss the chance of taking a trip over to the Isle of Mull. it’s the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides and easy to get to That makes it an ideal location for a few days of exploration or just relaxation. Very few places in Britain can complete with its combination of dramatic scenery, fantastic beaches and stunning wildlife.
This Easy Spiced Carrot and Walnut Cake is one of my favourite cakes. Great for making in advance as the flavour develops over a couple of days. The cake also becomes moister as the sugar in the cake absorbs moisture from the air. I sometimes make two at once and freeze one for later use.
It seems odd to many people that carrots find their way into desserts and baking. In fact, carrots were used in the Middle Ages as a source of sweetness. Recipes for carrot-based puddings can be found both in European and Asian cooking. Today the main examples remaining been Carrot cake, Christmas pudding and Indian Gajar Halva.
Conventional oven175˚c/340˚f
Fan oven 160˚c/325˚f
Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. Take your eggs out of the fridge well in advance to warm up. Then line a 20cm (8in) springform cake tin with baking parchment.
Tip. – Lightly greasing the baking tin before lining will help keep the paper in place. And make life a lot easier.
You can make this cake by hand, but an electric whisk will take all the hard work out of the mixing.
Wash the carrots then top, tail, and peel them. Grate the carrots using the coarse plate of a box grater until you have 325g.
Sift the flour raising agents, salt, and spices into a bowl and mix well.
If you can’t find ground cardamom, break down cardamom pods and pass then through a fine sieve. The best way of doing this is an electric spice, aka coffee mill.
Pick eight perfect walnut nut halves and put to one side for the decoration. Once you have done that, roughly chop the remaining nuts.
When all that’s done, turn on the oven to pre heat ready to receive the cake.
Put the eggs, orange zest and sugar into the medium bowl and whisk until well mixed, about two minutes. Slowly add the oil to the eggs whisking all the time. When all the oil has been added you should have a thick-ish batter.
Most recipes of this type simply mix the sugar and oil together in one go. I think this works better. Its more work, but the fat binds with the egg better if worked in slowly.
Put the whisk to one side then sieve the flour/spice mix over the egg batter. Fold the flour into the batter using a spatula. Make sure you get right to the bottom of the bowl to incorporate all the flour.
Fold the chopped walnuts and grated and carrots and mix well.
Pour in the cake mixture and bake in a preheated oven. Cook for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. I prefer to use a conventional oven but a fan oven is fine. You may need to protect the top of the cake with tinfoil if the fan is very strong.
If you have a probe thermometer the core temperature should be between 93˚c (just cooked) and 98˚c (nearing over done).
Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in the tin, before removing.
Traditionally the cake is usually finished with a soft butter cream icing which should be kept in the fridge. I prefer to finish the cake with an orange water icing and serve mascarpone cream dusted with walnut dust alongside the cake.
By using the water icing the cake can be kept in a box at room temperature which is the best way to serve it. Keeping the cake in the fridge will dry it out and spoil the texture.
Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl. Gradually add the orange juice and mix until you have a thick batter.
Spread onto the cake with the back of a spoon and set the walnut halves into the wet icing. Let the icing dry uncovered for at least half an hour before storing.
If the mascarpone is quite wet, drain in a sieve for 15 minutes to remove any excess liquid. Be careful the keep the cheese as cold as possible.
Add the icing sugar to the cheese and beat until the cheese becomes quite soft.
Add the vanilla to the Mascarpone then stir in the cream.
Take a whisk and beat the mix until it holds a peak for a second then falls back. Take care not to over beat the t mixture or it may curdle. When you serve the cream give it one or two more beats of the whisk before use.
.
Yes, the uniced cake freezes well. Fully defrost the cake before use and let the top dry before adding the water ice. The recipe multiplies up easily. So, bake a few at a time and freeze what you don’t need at once. That way you will be saving both energy and effort!!
Yes, use the recipe below, using butter instead of cream gives us a stiffer icing. Add the zest to the butter with the sugar. Then fold in the cheese and whisk well.
65g unsalted butter, softened
Good dash vanilla extract
125g mascarpone cheese
250g/8¾oz icing sugar
Finely grated zest of ½ an orange
No, pecan nuts are a good alternative. Try sultanas soaked overnight in a drop of rum in place of the nuts, or just leave them out.
Want more ideas with carrots? look up http://britishcarrots.co.uk/
Enjoy Life !
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
Home-Made Sausages are one of the most flexible foods we have available to us. Whether it’s a comforting plate of bangers and mash, fending off the cold weather. A quick buttered sausage roll as a snack or the compulsory BBQ sausage, it’s a year round go to treat.
These Chocolate Brownies never fail to please and rarely are there any leftovers. They are easy to make for a great dessert. Or afternoon treat.