Pork medallions in a lemon and herb crust.

Hello new followers and welcome to Cooks Cakes and Bakes.

I made this recipe up on my own today; I wanted to make a fancy but price friendly meal for my boyfriend and I ended up with this.  I was in Tesco on Friday after finishing my dissertation, and I thought I'd treat myself to a nice bottle of something.  On my visit there I was wandering and stumbled in to the 'reduce to clear' section and the staff had just pulled up all the food, and found 6 organic Tesco's finest pork medallions for £3!  The recipe was totally experimental and neither Matthew, or I, had eaten pork for many years so it was a lottery as to whether it would go down well or not but it did so YAY!

- Pork Medallions with Lemon and Herb Crust - for two!

Ingredients:

x6 Pork Medallions

x2 heaped tbsp of plain flour

x1 large egg

x2 tbsp of butter

x2 tbsp of Tesco's lemon and four pepper rub

NB -best served on top of peppery rocket leaves with sweet potato chips on the side.  The sweet and peppery tones keep in tune with the herb rub.

Method:

1. Slice up a sweet potato (whatever shape you want) and put them in boiling water.

2. Whilst the sweet potato boils get a medium sized casserole dish, add butter and place the dish under a medium-high heated grill until melted.

2. Whilst the butter is under the grill, whisk your egg in a small bowl.  Spoon your plain flour on to the small plate and mix the herb rub in to it.  Then put a medium frying pan 1/3 filled with oil on a medium-high hob heat ready for frying the sweet potatoes!

3. Get that casserole dish out from under the grill and put it next to the small plate.  Then get your pork medallions, cover them in the egg and then roll them in the flour/herb rub.  Place them in the casserole dish and put them back under the grill for around 20 minutes.

4. Take the sweet potatoes off the boil and strain them.  When you are sure the oil in the pan is heated put the potatoes in and leave them.

5. Now it is time to turn over your medallions!  And then turn them over again 10 minutes later, at this same time turn the grill heat down to low-medium.

6.  Set aside a bowl lined with kitchen roll and then with a straining spoon, carefully take the chips out of the hot oil and put them in the bowl - the kitchen roll soaks up most of the grease!

7.  Get your serving plates ready and put some rocket in the middle!  Then take out your medallions and put them on top of the rocket salad.  Tip your chips onto the plates and eat!

Sorry that the picture isn't very good, I took it on my phone!  All I can say about my experimental/last minute recipes that I've concocted is that they don't tend to come out well, but this one was surprisingly delicious/healthy and Matt, and I, will definitely be eating it again.

Hope you are all having lovely weekend.

Best wishes, Natasha.

Shrove Tuesday!

So, tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday the final day of indulgence before Lent officially begins.  I have never given up anything for Lent but this year I am giving up chocolate and I would like to find out what you all have given up in the past and what you are giving up for Lent this year.  So, please leave comments below :)

I'm a fan of crepe type pancakes because the thick ones are just too much for me, and I eat my pancakes with golden syrup and fresh lemon juice; sometimes I will have Nutella or even peanut butter!  This is the recipe for the pancakes that my mum has always used, they are really tasty pancakes and they are fun to flip.

Ingredients:

Pinch of salt

13 heaped tbsp of plain flour

3 eggs

Enough milk until it is at a consistency that you would like (I like mine quite soupy)

Method:

1. Beat the eggs in a small bowl with a whisk or a fork

2. Spoon the plain flour into a large separate bowl and add a pinch of salt

3. Create a small pool in the center of the flour and pour the eggs in to it - whisk this is up slowly whilst adding the milk.

NB: do this slowly otherwise you will end up lumpy pancakes!

4.  Keep adding milk until the pancake mix is at a consistency that you would like it to be.

NB: if you like thick puffy American style pancakes have the mixture quite thick and cook it in a smaller frying pan.  If you want thin crepe style pancake then use enough to make it a soupy consistency and cook it in a wider pan!


5. Pour oil or add a knob of butter in to your pan and ladel your pancake mix in to the pan!  Use a thin plastic spatula to flip the pancakes and remember to go around the edges so it doesn't stick.  Wait until the first side has gone a darker cream colour and flip it over!


6. Use a microwave safety plate over a lightly heated stove to put the pancakes on, it will keep them warm and it means you can all eat your pancakes together!

Enjoy pancake day everybody, please share your Lent stories below! :)
Here is a photo - by popular demand - of my own pancakes that I made on Shrove Tuesday....

One of my house mates was going to be late home so by putting a large plate on top of a cooling tray and over a slightly heated hob you can keep your pancakes warm and eat them altogether at the table. 

Baking Adventures - Allergies.

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Everyone learnt to bake cupcakes at primary or with their mums using the most simple recipe ever:

50g Self-Raising Flour

50g Caster Sugar

50g Butter 

1 egg

Ever since then I have been mucking around with the recipe and altering it to make fluffy, soft moist cakes that can withstand life outside a container for more than a day; mainly because my pet hate is dry cake.  I will assume there is a large portion of the world who are meticulous with their food and share my emotional inclinations towards cake.  

In recent months, I have been experimenting with cupcake toppings, I'm sure most of you know that there are very many frostings to choose from and that you can use any colours, and any flavourings in them.  My favourites are ganache, butter cream, royal icing, chocolate frosting and cream frosting.  Last week when I made cupcakes I wanted pink vanilla butter cream to top them, but I was cautioned by my mum as she is allergic to cochineal.  This next tip is handy if you want to make colourful cupcakes or topping but have friends and family with allergies.

I ended up using our coffee/cocktail syrup which is the 'Monin Organic Syrup'.  As an alternative to pink colouring I used grenadine syrup which is more commonly used in a 'Shirley Temple'.  The product is quite thick so it does not particularly alter the texture of the icing or frosting that you are making and you only need to use a cap full.  If you want to use the syrup as a flavouring as well as a colouring just keep adding cap fulls of the syrup until you can just about taste the flavour.  I say 'just about' because this is a syrup and too much of it will make for one sickly topping.  After the topping has been spread, piped or whatever you guys do to get your topping on to your cakes, add some sprinkles, slices of fruit, sweets or just simply dust some icing sugar on top for that classic cupcake look.  I went for sprinkles and some glace cherries.

I hope this was a handy tip for anyone who bakes. 

Natasha.