Cooking Ideas & Recipes by Joana Reis

December 15, 2012
by Joana
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Mulled Wine Recipe

There are plenty of Christmas markets with mulled wine and ice skating rinks in London. I love German Christmas markets and a good glass of Mulled Wine, so I thought I would share my mulled wine recipe for you to enjoy. This recipe is very easy to do and delicious.

Mulled Wine

Ingredients for the Mulled Wine Recipe;

  • 2 Bottles of Red Wine
  • 2 Oranges
  • 2 Cinnamon Sticks
  • 4 Whole Cloves
  • 1 Lemon
  • 200g of Caster Sugar
  • 1 Whole Nutmeg

Method for the Mulled Wine Recipe;

  1. Slice the Oranges.

    Slice the Oranges

  2. Put the caster sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, the zest of the lemon in a saucepan over a medium heat.
  3. add 12 gratings of nutmeg to the saucepan and the orange, squeeze the juice out of a few as you are adding them to the saucepan.

    Mulled Wine

  4. Add enough red wine to cover the sugar and all the spices. Let this simmer until the sugar has dissolved into the red wine and bring to the boil.
  5. Let it boil for 5 minutes.
  6. Turn the heat down and add the rest of the red wine. Gently heat the wine for around 5-10 minutes.

    Heat the Red Wine and the Spices

  7. When its warm and delicious, ladle it into glasses (or mugs) and serve it.

    Ready to Drink Mulled Wine

 

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November 12, 2012
by Joana
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Chocolate Brownies Recipe

This week I had a bake sale at work for Movember, which is about growing moustaches to help raise money for men’s health awareness. The aim of Movember, is to draw attention to the risks of testicular and prostate cancer and to raise money for charity, if you fancy taking part of donating go to http://uk.movember.com

I made these delicious chocolate brownies, the recipe is super easy to make and very chocolaty.

Chocolate Brownies Recipe

Ingredients for the Chocolate Brownies Recipe;

  • 250g of salted butter at room temperature
  • 75g of chopped walnuts
  • 200g of 70% dark chocolate
  • 85g cocoa powder
  • 65g of sifted plain white flour
  • 360g caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 4 large eggs at room temperature

Method for the Chocolate Brownies;

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
  2. With a tissue, lightly grease the square tin with butter then line with greaseproof paper.
  3. In a glass bowl over simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter together.

    Melt the chocolate and butter

  4. Add the chopped walnuts when the mixture is nice and smooth.
  5. In a separate bowl, mix together the sifted flour, caster sugar, baking powder and cocoa powder.

    Brownie Mixture

  6. Add the chocolate mix to this mixture and mix well until you have a smooth, silky consistency.
  7. Beat the four eggs in a separate bowl then add to the mixture in 3 parts, mixing well after each addition.

    Add the eggs to the brownie misture

  8. Put the brownie mixture into the the baking tin and bake in the oven for around 30 minutes.
  9. Don’t overcook the mixture, so you want the skewer to have some brownie mixture. The brownie should be springy on the outside but nice and gooey in the middle.
  10. Remove from the oven and let the brownies cool in the baking tin.

    Chocolate Brownies

  11. Once nice and cool, cut into squares and serve with vanilla ice-cream.

    Yum

 

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September 22, 2012
by Joana
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Banana Cake Recipe

This banana cake recipe is super easy to make and very delicious. Its perfect as part of a continental breakfast (my favourite kind of breakfast) or as a snack with a cup of tea.

Banana Cake

Ingredients for the Banana Cake Recipe:

  • 285g of sifted plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 110g of butter, at room temperature
  • 225g caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 5 ripe bananas
  • 3 tablespoons of milk
  • 75g walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

Banana Cake Recipe

Method for the Banana Cake Recipe:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
  2. Lightly grease a cake tin with butter then dust with flour.

    Ready to use

  3. In a bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.
  4. Beat the two eggs, then add to the bowl with butter and sugar. Whisk for a few minutes.
  5. Add the vanilla extract, cinnamon and milk to the mixture and beat for 2 minutes.

    Banana Cake Mixture

  6. Mash 4 bananas and then add to the mixture, beat until all the ingredients are well mixed.

    Mashed Bananas

  7. If you bought whole walnuts, put the 75g in a bag and using a rolling pin bash them a little to break them into smaller pieces.
  8. Add the walnuts and baking soda to the mixture.
  9. If you haven’t yet sifted the flour do so as you add it to the bowl. Add the flour in 3 parts and fold well after each addition. Fold using a wooden spoon so you keep the air in the cake, this will make it lighter and softer.
  10. Spoon the mixture to the cake tin, slice the last banana and scatter on top of the mixture.

    Add banana slices to the mixture

  11. Bake for around 45minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
  12.  Once the cake is baked, remove from the oven and let it cool before serving.

    Banana Cake

 

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August 18, 2012
by Joana
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Potato Salad Recipe

This potato salad recipe is really easy and delicious, perfect for barbecue’s or as an alternative to chips. I made this potato salad recipe for a barbecue that we had with all our friends and it went down really well.

Potato Salad

Ingredients for the Potato Salad:

  • 500g of new potatoes
  • 1 red onion
  • one handful of chopped coriander
  • 3 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
  • 4 teaspoons of mayonaise
Method for the Potato Salad:
  1. Boil the potatoes for 18 minutes, if you prefer softer potatoes boil for 20 minutes.

    Boil the potatoes

  2. While the potatoes are boiling, chop the onion and coriander.

    Onion and Coriander

  3. Drain the potatoes
  4. Add the onion, coriander and potatoes to a bowl. Then add the mustard and mayonnaise.

    Add the mustard and mayonaise

  5. Mix all the ingredients together using two spoons
  6. Taste it and add more mustard if needed.
  7. All Done- Time to eat!

    Potato Salad

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May 28, 2012
by Joana
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Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake Recipe

Today I made Lemon and Poppy Seed cake, it was really light, fluffy and delicious.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake

Ingredients for the lemon and poppy seed cake:

  • 85g unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • zest of 1 1/2 lemons
  • 15g poppy seeds
  • 245g caster sugar
  • 165ml of milk
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 235g plain flour, sifted
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 3 egg whites

Method for the lemon and poppy seed Recipe:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 170°C/ Gas Mark 3.
  2. Grease the cake tin with butter and dust with flour
  3. Beat together the butter, poppy seeds and lemon zest.
  4. Add the caster sugar and beat well.

    Adding the caster sugar

  5. Slowly add the milk in stages, beating well after each addition.

    Adding the milk in stages

  6. In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, salt and baking powder together.
  7. Add this to the mixture in stages, beating well after each addition.
  8. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl until they form sift peaks. Or when you turn the bowl upside down they don’t move (if you are brave try this over your head)

    The beaten eggs

  9. Fold this gently to the mixture. Don’t beat it or you will lose the air that makes the cake light and fluffy.
  10. Add the mixture to the cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
  11. When baked, remove from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin for 2-3 minutes.
  12. Serve and enjoy.

    Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake

 

One last tip! Since moving to London recently, I’ve started to order a lot of my ingredients online as I’ve ditched the car! One of the websites I have used is milk&more as they have lots of everyday essentials such as dairy products, drinks, bread and even milk&more pet food. They even have free delivery early in the morning!

More information on their Dairy products:
http://www.milkandmore.co.uk/home_delivery/dairy.htm

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