Frankfurter and apple pasta salad recipe

Frankfurter and apple pasta salad 

I thought it was a while since I had submitted a Credit Crunch Munch recipe and, checking back through old posts, I saw that it has been three months. The last was my Smoked Salmon Pie recipe back in January! Credit Crunch Munch was devised by Camilla at FabFood4All and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours. It's a great monthly resource for good food on a budget and April's host is Sarah at From Plate To Pen.

This month's Pasta Salad is great for using up part packets and could be infinitely varied to suit whatever you have to hand. I had two frankfurter sausages left from a previous hot dog lunch and a few ounces of French macaroni curves that Dave wasn't keen on, so rummaged in the fridge and cupboards to fill out a whole salad that would provide a couple of lunches me. Dave doesn't DO salad!

Ingredients
100g (ish) macaroni
2 frankfurter sausages
2 Cox apples
Small tin sweetcorn
2 tbsp mayonnaise
A good slug of Mustard flavoured salad dressing

Cook the macaroni according to its packet instructions then drain and rinse under cold water to cool it down.

While the pasta is cooking, cut each frankfurter into four pieces, then each quarter into four lengthwise sticks.

Peel, core and dice the apples.

Drain the sweetcorn.

Put the frankfurters, apples and sweetcorn into a large bowl - remembering it must also be large enough to add the pasta later (yes, oops!). Stir in the mayonnaise and enough salad dressing to taste. We've still got a bottle of a French Bouton d'Or creamy mustard dressing in the fridge at the moment so I used some of that. We've also got pesto which I think could have been nice too.

Stir in the cooked and cooled pasta. Serve either just as it is or with a big handful of fresh green salad leaves.

I did expect this salad to be more colourful - I do love brightly coloured food - but the mayonnaise muted the yellow sweetcorn and pink frankfurters so it does all look at bit magnolia! It tastes good though and I liked the sweetness of the apple against the mustard in the dressing.

Bread and butter pudding recipe

There was a small trolley-full of white Warburtons bread on special offer at my local +The Co-operative last weekend because it was practically at its sell-by date. 50p a loaf so I grabbed one! I've been meaning to make this pudding all week and as Dave's up to London visiting his daughter tonight, I've got the kitchen to myself.

There's two types of bread pudding - the heavy block one that's best eaten cold a few days after making, and this lighter one which retains some idea of the bread slices it used to be. The loaf I'm using - Crusty Premium White - has turned out to be a very light bread and I hoping it does just about have enough body to cope with being puddinged. The quantities below are enough for a 10x7 inch Le Creuset dish.

Bread and butter pudding 

Ingredients:
4 slices of bread, buttered and quartered 
good handful of sultanas
3 eggs
1/2 pint of milk
1 tbsp white sugar
ground cinnamon
1 tbsp demerera sugar

Arrange the quartered bread slices in a shallow oven-proof dish. I far prefer to use butter than margarine for this, but either would work and it's not really worth splashing out especially on butter when the recipe uses so little. Sprinkle the sultanas over the top.

In a jug or bowl, beat the eggs together with the milk and the first tbsp of sugar. I used semi-skimmed milk, but the creamier the better for this recipe. Also, white sugar here will dissolve easier than brown. We've only got brown though and it's ok. Pour the egg/milk/sugar mixture over the bread and leave it to soak in for at least 30 minutes. Squish the bread down a bit with a fork if it's standing up too proud of the milk.

Preheat the oven to 170-180C.

Sprinkle the top of the pudding with the other tbsp of sugar and the ground cinnamon.

Place the pudding in the centre of the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until the custard has set.

Serve hot or cold. It's lovely with proper yellow Bird's Eye custard.

Jambalaya recipe

Today's the last evening before our departure and I'm catching up on things I meant to do but haven't quite gotten around to - one of which is posting this recipe. We spent a few hours earlier stowing away as much as we can in Bailey. It was surprisingly straightforward and we do have some space left, although there's only grams remaining on the weight allowance. (Note to BeValued staff: there's not enough room for stowaways!) So I've got time this evening for a bit of blogging.

This jambalaya recipe is my interpretation of a recipe card from Waitrose and Tilda Rice. Dave says it's a waste of prawns because they don't add much to the flavour but I think the seafood and meat combination is essential. We agree to disagree. It's not essential to sing the Jambalaya song as you cook, but I usually do. I've put a YouTube of Hank Williams singing it at the end of this post in case your memory needs refreshing!

Ingredients (serves 2):
as much rice as you usually serve yourselves
pinch of turmeric
chicken stock
olive oil
2-3 shallots or a small onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
offcuts of chorizo (about 60g), chopped
1 tbsp Schwartz Cajun Spice blend
2 tomatoes, chopped
100g large prawns
fresh chopped parsley

Add the turmeric to the rice and boil in the chicken stock until the rice is cooked. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the shallots/onion, pepper and chorizo until the onion has softened. Stir in the spice mix, tomatoes and prawns and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the pre-cooked rice and continue to fry until all the ingredients are cooked through and piping hot. This should only take another 2-3 minutes but double-check the prawns. Stir in the parsley and serve immediately.

Cauliflower and lentil soup recipe

A real end-of-the week recipe this one as we had half a cauliflower to use up which I paired with the end of a pack of lentils. This was our Saturday lunch yesterday, served with slices of hot buttered toast. The lentils make quite a thick soup that's perfect comfort food for chillier autumnal days.

Ingredients:
olive oil
6 shallots
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
half a cauliflower
60g puy lentils
1 pint chicken stock
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the shallots, roughly chopped. Add the herbs and fry until the shallots have softened and are beginning to brown. Meanwhile cut the cauliflower into small florets and rinse the lentils. Add both and stir to coat with oil before adding the stock. Cover the pan and simmer until the lentils are soft. Set aside to cool and then blend until smooth. Reheat until the soup is just starting to bubble. Season to taste and serve.

Quick biscuit recipe

This is a simple, versatile recipe that's very easy to make and also dangerously quick so perfect for those times when an emergency sugar fix is needed! We used to make these biscuits when I was child and I think the original version of the recipe is probably from the ancient Good Housekeeping Cookery Compendium that was my Mum's favourite. She made sure that my sister and both got our own suitably dated copies too although, now I come to think about it, I'm not sure what has happened to Mum's?

Ingredients:
6oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
4oz butter
2oz sugar
small handful sultanas or any other dried fruit

Grease a baking tray and preheat the oven to about 180C.

Cream the butter and sugar together either by hand or with an electric mixer. When combined add the flour, baking powder and spice and mix again. When the mixture gets to the sort-of breadcrumb stage, throw in the sultanas and continue mixing. Eventually it will form one large ball and when it does you can stop. If you're mixing by hand, this is great exercise for bingo wings!

Take ping pong ball size pieces of the dough and roll them in your hands to smooth the edges. Flatten them slightly as you put them onto the baking tray. Leave a gap between the dough discs as they will expand a little during cooking.

When all the dough discs are on the baking tray, bake them in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes. I currently have a fan oven which I set to 180C and the biscuits only take 15 mins as we like them quite lightly baked and crumbly. The biscuits are very delicate while hot so be careful transferring them to a wire cooling sheet or they may disintegrate. Also, try not to eat them straight from the oven as the sultanas will blister your mouth!

Enjoy x

Rhubarb and Apple Crumble recipe

It occurred to me this evening that there's a distinct lack of pudding on this blog. The Seed and Sultana Flapjack is the only non-savoury recipe so far and I think of that as breakfast - it certainly wouldn't pass for dessert. For someone with such a sweet tooth as I have, this is a pretty major oversight so let's redress the balance a little!

We (Dave) planted a rhubarb crown in our garden maybe five years ago and I love picking the first rhubarb stems of the year. They are always so sweet with a delicious flavour. By now, the stems are getting bigger but are still more sweet than sharp. The plant itself takes very little looking after so it's easy food. As long as we (Dave) clear the brambles often enough that they don't strangle it, our little rhubarb seems quite happy. I have two favourite recipes that use it - the Lamb and Rhubarb Tagine I previously blogged, and tonight's pudding, Rhubarb and Apple Crumble. If you were to buy this crumble, eight servings would probably be suggested. I reckon it will really serve four (or two, twice!).

Ingredients:
3 large rhubarb stems
3 Royal Gala apples
small knob of butter
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger

6oz plain flour
3oz butter
3oz sugar

Preheat oven to about 180C.

Peel the rhubarb with a vegetable peeler and chop into roughly inch long pieces. Peel and core the apples and chop into pieces of a similar size to the rhubarb. I used Royal Gala today because they were on special and I bought an extra bag. Any eating apples would be fine.

Put the rhubarb and apple into a saucepan over a medium heat with the butter, sugar and ginger. Heat until the fruit has softened, the sugar has dissolved and there is liquid in the pan. Stir frequently so it doesn't stick.

When the fruit has softened but before it purees, remove from the heat and pour into an oven dish. The one pictured is an 8 inch diameter pyrex dish and, I believe, is actually older than me! Set aside while you make up the crumble topping.

Put the flour, butter and sugar into a large bowl and rub together unti the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. We like a lot of crumble on our crumble but you could get away with 4, 2 and 2 ozs if you prefer to make the fruit more the focus. Substituting a couple of the flour ounces with rolled oats can give a nice texture, or with ground almonds for a pear crumble. I digress.

Sprinkle the crumble breadcrumbs over the fruit and pat it down gently.

Put the crumble into the centre of the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the liquid starts bubbling up around the edges. Serve with cream or ice cream. If any lasts to a second day, you can either serve it cold or reheated.

Enjoy! And if you have any other great rhubarb recipes, please post them in the Comments below.