High Tea and Treason

Hi everyone and welcome to the blog. This week’s blog is dedicated to Earl Grey and to Ides of March & The Assassination of Julius Caesar.This week’s recipes are Chocolate & Earl Grey Torte, Tea Barm Brack and Chicken, Lemon & Garlic Casserole.

Earl Grey Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the primary architects of the Reform Act 1832. In addition to his political achievements, he famously gave his name to Earl Grey tea.

Ides of March & The Assassination of Julius Caesar The assassination of Julius Caesar was the result of a conspiracy by approximately 60 Roman senators who called themselves Liberators. Led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, they stabbed Julius Caesar to death in the Theatre of Pompey on the Ides of March (March 15). Caesar was the dictator of the Roman Republic at the time, having recently been declared dictator perpetuo by the Senate. This declaration made several senators fear that Caesar wanted to overthrow the Senate in favour of tyranny. The ramifications of the assassination led to the Liberators' civil war and, ultimately, to the Principate period of the Roman Empire.

The full version of this article can be found at www.garfysplaceinfo.blog.co.uk

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My first recipe is Chocolate & Earl Grey Torte. Recipe by Sarah Cook, courtesy of BBC GoodFood website.

Prep 20 mins, Cook 40 mins plus cooling

leaves from 2 x Earl Grey tea bags
100ml x Hot Milk
250g x Good Dark Chocolate (over 70% cocoa content)
200g x Butter, diced
140g x Ground Almonds
6 x Eggs, separated
200g x Caster Sugar
Cocoa, Icing Sugar and Crème Fraîche or Cream, to serve

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep, 22cm loose-bottomed tin with baking parchment, so the paper comes about 2.5cm above the sides. Stir the Earl Grey tea into the hot milk.
Melt the chocolate, butter and a pinch of salt together in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Then stir in the ground almonds, followed by the egg yolks and milky tea, including the leaves. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then beat in the caster sugar until stiff-ish again. Fold the whites through the chocolate mix and scrape into the tin.
Bake for 30-35 mins - it should still have a slight wobble. Then cool completely in the tin. Carefully remove from the tin and lift onto a serving plate. Dust all over with cocoa and icing sugar, then serve in slices with crème fraîche or cream.

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My next recipe is Tea Barm Brack. Recipe by Matthew Fort, courtesy of BBC GoodFood Channel website.

Makes 1 loaf. Prep time: 15 min, plus soaking overnight. Cook time: 1 hr

135g x Muscovado Sugar
300ml x Black Tea
450g x Raisins, washed
1 x Egg
240g x Flour
1 heaped tsp x Baking Powder
50g x Glacé Cherries
2 tsp x Mixed Candied Peel
Small Handful Almonds, chopped

Dissolve the sugar in the tea. Add the raisins and leave to soak overnight. The next day, preheat the oven to 160C/gas 4. Grease a 20cm loaf tin or small round cake tin. Beat the egg and mix in the raisins and their soaking liquid. Sift in the flour and baking powder. Add all the other ingredients stir well. Spoon into the tin and bake for 1 hour.

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My final recipe is Chicken, Lemon & Garlic Casserole, courtesy of Slimming World

Serves: 4, Prep time: approx 15mins, Cook time: 35mins

1kg x Skinless and boneless chicken thighs
2 x Onions, roughly chopped
2 x Large Carrots, cut into thick batons
200g x Green Beans, halved
1 x Lemon, sliced
4-5 x Tarragon Sprigs
Fry light
1 x Garlic Bulb, unpeeled
750ml x Organic Chicken Stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cut the chicken into chunks. Peel and chop the onions. Peel the carrots and cut into thick batons. Halve the green beans. Slice the lemon. Chop the tarragon.
Spray a large non-stick casserole dish with Fry light. Place over a high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned on all sides.
Add the onions, carrots, garlic bulb and chicken stock. Season well and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover tightly with the lid and cook gently for 25 minutes.
Add the greens beans and lemon slices to the casserole. Cook for 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and discard the garlic bulb. Serve sprinkled with tarragon.

Tune into my shows on 6townsradio "The Thursday Morning Show with TheRealTonyc" every Thursday from 10-12 & my Sunday show “UndertheCovers with TheRealTonyc” at http://6towns.co.uk/

If you have enjoyed my blog, or have tried out the recipes I have included and wish to comment, please feel free to comment using the comment button or by visiting my guestbook, all comments and suggestions will be gratefully received.

Hope you enjoy!!..... ChefGarfy =D

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What You See, Is What You Get

Hi everyone and welcome to the blog. This week’s blog is entitled What You See is What You Get and is dedicated to the 20th Century’s most inspirational men who’s birthdays are celebrated and remembered this week Bob Geldof andMahatma Gadhi . The featured recipes this week are Guiness and Honey Glazed Pork Loin, and Vegetable Curry.

I’ve decided to have a little change in direction with a feature of this blog. Instead of a featured herb or spice, I’m going to feature a much maligned and/or forgotten about ingredient. And this week’s much maligned ingredient is Lentils.

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE (born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his compositions "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". He co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?", one of the best-selling singles of all time. He starred as Pink in Pink Floyd's 1982 film Pink Floyd The Wall.

Geldof is widely recognised for his activism, especially anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa. In 1984, he and Midge Ure founded the charity supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. They went on to organise the charity super-concert Live Aid the following year and the Live 8 concerts in 2005. Geldof currently serves as an adviser to the ONE Campaign, founded by fellow Irish humanitarian Bono. A single father, Geldof has also been outspoken for the fathers' rights movement. Geldof has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II, and is a recipient of the Man of Peace title which recognises individuals who have made "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace", among numerous other awards and nominations.

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement. A pioneer of satyagraha, or resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience — a philosophy firmly founded upon ahimsa, or total nonviolence — Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is often referred to as Mahatma or "Great Soul." In India, he is also called Bapu and officially honoured as the Father of the Nation. His birthday, 2 October, is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers in protesting excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, increasing economic self-reliance, but above all for achieving Swaraj — the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led Indians in protesting the British-imposed salt tax with the 400km (250mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, on many occasions, in both South Africa and India.

Gandhi strove to practice non-violence and truth in all situations, and advocated that others do the same. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and social protest.

The full version of this article can be found at www.chefgarfyinfo.blog.co.uk

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My first recipe is Guinness & honey glazed pork loin courtesy of Good Food Website.

Makes 6, and takes 2hrs to cook.

300ml x Guinness
100ml x Clear Honey
250g x Light Muscovado Sugar
2kg x Skinless, Boneless Loin of Pork , ask your butcher for the thick end
A Splash of White Wine, Champagne or water
A Few Sprigs of Flat Leaf Parsley

To make the glaze, put the Guinness, honey and sugar into a pan. Reduce by almost half to form a sweet syrupy glaze, then allow to cool.

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Season the pork with pepper and salt, if you want, place on a baking tray and roast for 20 mins. Then turn the heat down to 160C/fan 140C/gas3. Remove the pork from the oven and brush all over with most of the glaze (reserving a few tbsp) cook for a further 40-50 mins, brushing and basting the pork as it cooks until it's beautifully caramelised and glazed.

Remove the pork from the roasting tray and leave to rest. Pour the remaining glaze into the roasting tray, then add the wine, Champagne or water. Place the pan on the heat and bring everything to the boil, simmer for a few mins until you have thick gravy. Carve pork into thin slices and place on top of the colcannon (see separate recipe). Glaze with the Guinness syrup, drizzle a little on the plates and finish with a sprig of parsley.

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Much Maligned ingredient of the week – Lentils
The lentil (Lens culinaris) is an edible pulse. It is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about 40 centimetres (16 in) tall and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each.
The plant likely originated in India, and lentils have been part of the human diet since the aceramic (pottery nonproducing) Neolithic times, being one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. Archeological evidence shows they were eaten 13,000 to 9,500 years ago. Lentil colours range from yellow to red-orange to green, brown and black. Lentils also vary in size (e.g., Masoor lentils, shown in photos here), and are sold in many forms, with or without the skins, whole or split. Other pulses are sometimes called lentils, but are actually beans or peas, e.g. "black lentils" (urad beans).

The seeds require a cooking time of 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the variety–shorter for small varieties with the husk removed, such as the common red lentil–and have a distinctive, earthy flavour. Lentils are used throughout South Asia, the Mediterranean regions and West Asia. They are frequently combined with rice, which has a similar cooking time. A lentil and rice dish is referred to in west Asia as mujaddara or mejadra. Rice and lentils are also cooked together in khichdi, a popular dish in the Indian subcontinent; a similar dish, kushari, made in Egypt, is considered one of two national dishes. Lentils are used to prepare an inexpensive and nutritious soup all over Europe and North and South America, sometimes combined with some form of chicken or pork. Dried lentils can also be sprouted by leaving in water for several days, which changes their nutrition profile. Lentils with husk remain whole with moderate cooking; lentils without husk tend to disintegrate into a thick purée, which leads to quite different dishes.

With about 26% of their calories from protein, lentils, like other legumes, have the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any plant-based food, after soybeans and hemp. Proteins include the essential amino acids isoleucine and lysine, and are an essential source of inexpensive protein in many parts of the world, especially in the West Asia and the Indian subcontinent, which have large vegetarian populations. Lentils are deficient in two essential amino acids, methionine and cysteine. However, sprouted lentils contain sufficient levels of all essential amino acids, including methionine and cysteine.

Lentils also contain dietary fibre, folate, vitamin B1, and minerals. Red (or pink) lentils contain a lower concentration of fibre than green lentils (11% rather than 31%). Health magazine has selected lentils as one of the five healthiest foods. Lentils are often mixed with grains, such as rice, which results in a complete protein dish. Lentils also have antinutritional factors, such as trypsin inhibitors and relatively high phytate content. Trypsin is an enzyme involved in digestion, and phytates reduce the bioavailability of dietary minerals. The phytates can be reduced by soaking the lentils in warm water overnight. Lentils are a good source of iron.

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My final recipe is Vegetable Curry. Courtesy of Good To Know Recipes website.

Serves 4, and takes 30mins to cook.

Spray oil, a few bursts
1 x Onion, peeled and chopped
1tbsp x Curry powder
1tsp x Paprika
2tsp x Tomato Purée
2tsp x Lemon Juice
1tbsp x Apricot Jam or Redcurrant Jelly
300ml x Semi-Skimmed Milk
50g x Raisins or Sultanas
400g x Carrots, peeled and sliced
400g x Cauliflower, broken into florets
400g x Potatoes, peeled and cubed

Spray a large pan with oil and add the onion. Fry gently for a few mins, without browning. Add the curry powder and paprika and cook for a further 2-3 mins. Add the tomato purée, lemon juice, jam or jelly, milk and raisins or sultanas. Bring to the boil and then simmer, uncovered, for 10 mins.

Meanwhile, cook the vegetables in a pan of boiling water for 5-10 mins, until tender, adding shredded green cauliflower leaves, if any, for the last 2 mins. Drain the vegetables and stir them into the curry sauce. Simmer until all vegetables are tender, topping up with extra milk if sauce boils dry. Serve the curry with basmati or brown rice.

If you have enjoyed my blog, or have tried out the recipes I have included and wish to comment, please feel free to comment using the comment button or by visiting my guestbook, all comments and suggestions will be gratefully received.

Hope you enjoy!!..... ChefGarfy =D

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