Parsnip medallions

Estafette recipe card
Makes 8
Preparation / Cooking time: about 45m all told

This recipe comes from the company that runs our local organic shop; it is translated from the Dutch. The Mammal hasn't tried it (yet), but based on other recipes from the same source, it should be very tasty indeed.

Ingredients
400g parsnips
350g mature cheese
2 eggs
4 tablespoons sieved flour
half teaspoon ground nutmeg
pepper and salt to season
1.5 tablepsoons chives or parsley
flour for coating
2 tablespoons butter

Onion soup with Madeira and Gruyere toasts

SM 2003-03 p.46 [02.064.12]
Serves 4
Preparation / Cooking time: about 1h 30m all told

Watercress and Lancashire Cheese bread

SM 2003-04 p.90 [02.013.02]
Serves 8 [slices]
Preparation / Cooking time: about 1h 15m all told

Summer trifle

SM 2001-06 p.85 [02.004.01]
Serves 8
Preparation / Cooking time: about 6h 30m, including advance prep
Advance prep: 2h for fruit to sit; 4h for trifle to chill

Plum cobbler with cinnamon snow

SM 2001-09 p.74 [01.087.01]
Serves 6
Note: Cinnamon snow involves advance preparation; cobbler can also be made by itself.
Preparation / Cooking time: about 1h all told [cobbler only]
Advance prep: about 5h, including freezing and whisking every hour [cinnamon snow]

Mashed pumpkin [or squash] with butter and black pepper

SM 2002-01 p.42 [01.076.02]
Serves 2 as side dish
Preparation / Cooking time: about 35m all told

Cinnamon buns and marzipan buns

Makes 16–24 (or 8–12, if halving the amounts) 

Preparation / Cooking time: allow 2h 30m (in case the dough is slow to rise) 
Advance prep: needs 75g soft butter, so remember to take some out of fridge (also needs cold butter for dough, so don't take it all out!) 

The mammal doesn't often bake cakes and buns – apart from small, light scones to pack in the lunchbox – unless it is entertaining guests (so many calories, so little self-control). But every so often it throws caution to the wind and gives it a go. And when you come down to it, buns with sweet fillings are really just bigger scones ... aren't they? 

Anyway, the latest effort was actually sparked by noticing a link on the Guardian website to 'How to bake the perfect cinnamon buns': somehow, it seemed a bit more uplifting a topic than the evidence of skulduggery and disaster promised by most of the other articles. This then called to mind an existing recipe for enriched dough that we had made ages before and had worked reasonably well, so it seemed like a good idea to use the filling given in the Guardian recipe with this tried-and-tested dough. 

It turned out that the dough recipe was accompanied by suggestions for fillings, including marzipan; this inevitably gave rise to mission creep and the grandiose notion of making one set of cinnamon whirls and one set of marzipan. The result, if less than professional in appearance, was wholly acceptable as far as taste was concerned. 

Note 1: it is best to make the cinnamon and / or marzipan filling before the dough, so it is ready to be used once the dough has been kneaded. 

Note 2: If you only want to make one set of buns, halve the quantities for the dough. 

CINNAMON FILLING 
Ingredients 
75g butter, softened 
50g dark brown sugar 
2 tsp cinnamon 
pinch salt 

Method 
Beat ingredients together until soft and easily spreadable

MARZIPAN
Ingredients
3oz ground almonds*
3oz caster sugar*
2oz icing sugar*
almond essence
1 egg
* As usual, the mammal decreased the sweetness slightly, using 4oz ground almonds and a total of 4oz of the sugars.

Method
Place ground almonds, caster and icing sugar, almond essence, and egg in a bowl and beat with wooden spoon.

ENRICHED BREAD DOUGH
Ingredients
1.5lb flour
1 tsp salt [actually used a heaped half tsp]
3oz butter (chilled)
2oz caster sugar
1 sachet quick (instant) yeast
8fl oz hand-hot milk
3 eggs, beaten

Method
Mix flour and salt together. Rub in butter, add sugar. Stir in yeast.

Gradually add milk.

Add eggs and mix to a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth.
[Note: this might be easier said than done – the dough is very soft indeed, so soft that the mammal chickened out of going straight to the kneading and first mixed it vigorously with a wooden spoon in the bowl until it had reached a manageable state of elasticity. Probably real bakers will faint on reading this.]

When the dough is kneaded, divide into two equal pieces if you have halved the quantities. 

Roll the first (or only) piece out on a lightly floured board until it is about 14 by 8 inches (you can vary this a little depending on the size and shape of the rolls you want). Gently spread on the filling with a knife, leaving a margin of about half an inch on the long sides. 

Roll up along the long edges, like a Swiss roll. Then cut into equal slices (8 gives fairly hefty buns, 10 or 12 for smaller ones) and set the pieces out on a greased and lightly floured baking sheet / tray on their sides, i.e. with the filling visible.

Repeat with second dough and filling if required.

Cover buns with lightly oiled clingfilm and leave in a warm part of the room to prove for an hour or until sufficiently risen (they won't double in size because of the filling, but they should be noticeably bigger). Brush lightly with egg before baking if you like.

Heat oven to 200°C / 400°F / Gas mark 6 and, when it has warmed sufficiently, bake the buns in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes (check after 15m if your oven is on the hot side).

Remove from oven and cool on a wire tray. 

If you want to try the dough as per the Guardian recipe, you can find it here: 
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/may/22/how-to-bake-perfect-cinnamon-buns (the article also discusses various opinions and alternative recipes for making the best cinnamon buns).

The source of the dough recipe given above is lost in the mists of time and transmission, so apologies for failing to credit it.

Celeriac schnitzel

The Mammal was away recently on two separate trips, visiting friends and family. This brought, of course, the inestimable advantage of having lovely meals served up by charming hosts. This particular dish is one of those ones that sound rather improbable until actually tried: the trick here is to make sure that the celeriac is cooked until nice and soft, so that it becomes beautifully tender and sweet. When trying to reconstruct it without the recipe, we found it difficult to get the right level of sweetness using the pan alone (our hostess clearly had magic powers), so experimented by adding an extra stage of baking beforehand. This worked a treat.

Serves 2–6, depending on the size of the celeriac and on whether it is the main ingredient or a side helping.
Cooking and prep time: about 1h all told

Ingredients
1 large-ish celeriac
2 eggs, beaten
flour
breadcrumbs, seasoned with salt and pepper
oil for frying

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Peel the celeriac, and cut into rounds about half a centimeter thick. (It might actually be easier to cut he rounds first and then peel). Put the rounds on a tray and bake in the oven for 20–30 minutes.

Let the baked rounds cool slightly; dip in flour, then in beaten egg, and finally in breadcrumbs. Heat oil in a frying pan, and fry in batches until breadcrumbs are golden.

Serve with boiled veg, mash, salad or whatever takes your fancy.

Apple strudel

SM 2002-01 p.52 [01.075.02]
Serves 6
Preparation / Cooking time: Advance prep.- defrost filo pastry; after that, about 1h 20m all told

Spiced pumpkin soup with cheddar toasts

SM 2002-01 p.48 [01.074.02]
Serves 6
Preparation / Cooking time: about 1h 10m all told

Orange creme caramel

SM 2002-02 p.93 [01.072.03]
Serves 6
Preparation / Cooking time: about 8h all told, incl. 4h in fridge

English muffins

SM 2002-02 p.80 [01.071.02]
Makes 10
Preparation / Cooking time: up to 3h [incl time for rising]

Orange and demerara granita

SM 2002-02 p.60 [01.070.04]
Serves 8
Preparation / Cooking time: not clear - several hours (need to freeze, breaking up at 30m intervals)

Muscovado sugar meringues with lime cream and mangoes

SM 2002-02 p.60 [01.070.03]
Serves 6
Preparation / Cooking time: up to 5h all told [meringues bake for at least 4h]

Brigade pudding

SM 2002-02 pp.59–60 [01.070.02]
Serves 6
Preparation / Cooking time: about 4h all told [steamed pudding]

Lemon tart

SM 2002-02 pp.58–59 [01.069.02]
Serves 6–8
Preparation / Cooking time: about 3–4h all told
[advance prep: chill pastry; also needs to cool completely after baking]

A very chocolatey mousse

SM 2002-02 p.58 [01.069.01]
Serves 6
Preparation / Cooking time: about 3h all told (incl. chilling)

Spinach, tomato and chickpea curry

The Mammal picked up a leaflet for this recipe in Waitrose on its most recent visit to the fine city of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is very simple and straightforward, and very tasty indeed. It has since become a firm favourite: it features on the menu tonight, which reminded us to share it here. It works fine as a weekday supper or dinner with naan bread or rice, but also scrubs up well as the central element of a meal for more notable occasions.

Serves 4
Preparation / Cooking time: about 30m all told

Ingredients 
1 tbsp veg oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp Medium Curry Paste [or 1.5 tbsp mild]
400g can chopped tomatoes
410g can chick peas [in water, preferably, as the liquid is used as well]
250g bag Spinach, roughly shredded
4 tbsp natural yogurt
4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander 

Method
As this is Waitrose's recipe, please go to their website for the rest: http://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/s/spinach__tomato_and_chick_pea_curry.html

Garlic soup

In Praise of the Potato p.115
Serves 6
Preparation / Cooking time: about 45m (a bit longer if you don't have a hand-held liquidizer)

This firm favourite is a very simple yet delicious and richly flavoured soup from Lindsey Bareham's In Praise of the Potato: she took the recipe from Colin Spencer. Since Google Books does not provide a preview, the Mammal will risk life and liberty to bring you this lovely recipe through what is probably technically a breach of copyright. Though if publicizing garlic soup doesn't constitute fair use, what does?!

Ingredients
700g floury-variety potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 heads of garlic, peeled
6 tablespoons olive oil [yes, tablespoons is correct]
generous pinch saffron [use turmeric if no saffron; purely cosmetic in any case]
2 pts water
275ml single cream
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Method
Roughly chop the garlic and sauté it in the oil for 3 or 4 minutes until soft but not brown. Add the potatoes, saffron, seasoning and water. Simmer for 30 minutes, then cool and purée [cooling not necessary with hand-held liquidizer]. Reheat gently and add the cream and parsley.

© Lindsey Bareham / Grafton Books

Asian salad with cream cheese and sweet chilli sauce

SM 2002-02 p.72 [01.068.01]
Serves 4
Preparation / Cooking time: 15m