Lemon and Blueberry Scones

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons 90gm cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 tablespoon lemon juice plus enough milk to equal 1 cup

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 egg white

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions

1. 

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Spread a large sheet of parchment paper on countertop.

2. 

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add butter; mix with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gently stir lemon-juice-milk mixture into dough, along with blueberries, lemon peel and egg, just until combined.

3. 

With floured hands, pat half of the dough into a 7-inch circle on one end of the parchment paper. Repeat, with remaining dough, spacing 2 inches apart. Brush with egg white; sprinkle with sugar. Cut halfway down but not through each circle, 6 wedges for each round. Slide paper with dough onto baking sheet.

4. 

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool slightly. Pull apart at cut lines. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yummy Lunch Pizza - 2 ingredient pizza dough

1 cup self raising flour
1 cup greek yoghurt

Mix in a bowl until it starts to come together and then knead on a floured bench(use plain flour for this, you don't get the baking powder taste on your finished pizza)







Knead for 8-10 minutes.
Add extra SR flour as needed if it is too sticky, I needed quite a bit.
Form into a pizza shape, and then brush with olive oil that's had a teaspoon of crushed garlic heated in it for 1 minute.
You can use it as a dipping bread and put in the oven as is. The original recipe said put it on the oven rack as is but mine would have drooped through I think.

Add topping to your pizza and put into a 450F/220+ Celsius oven

Cook for 10 minutes and then add a little grated parmesan and return for another minute.

Top with your favourite things

• pizza topping
• salami
• etc
• mozzarella cheese

Don't go all the way to the edges, leave about 1/2 inch

Jo's Lemon Drink

This recipe came from her Grandmother and has been enjoyed for many years. It tastes great with bought lemonade. I use the soda stream and fizz up some fresh cold water.

3 oranges
3 lemons
1.4kg sugar
28g tartaric acid(3tbsp)
28g citric acid(2tbsp)
28g epsom salts(2tbsp)
8 cups of boiling water







1. Put juice and rind in a bowl. Add sugar, acids and Epsom salts then pour over boiling water.
2. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then bottle

I use those stopper bottles for storage but decant into an oil pourer bottle as I can get the syrup and leave the rind behind. Looks good, tastes fantastic.

Ham Hocks Pot Roast with Parsley Sauce

I watched Jamie Oliver make this on his Save with Jamie show, yumm!

• 2 x 800 g smoked ham hocks, skin on
• 3 large onions
• 8 large carrots
• 1.2 kg potatoes
• 4 fresh bay leaves
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 bunches of fresh curly or flat-leaf parsley (60g)
• 20 g unsalted butter
• 20 g plain flour
• 500 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 2 teaspoons english mustard

• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

Preparation

Place the ham hocks in a large deep casserole pan, cover with cold water and place in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius.

Drain the ham hock and return to the pan.

Peel and roughly chop onions and carrots, peel and halve the potatoes and add to the pan with 3 bay leaves and the thyme.

Just cover with cold water, put on a high heat and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, skimming away the scum on the surface.

Place a piece of grease-proof paper the same size and shape of the pan over the top Transfer the  oven for 2 ½ hours or until tender.

Meanwhile, pick and roughly chop the parsley leaves, finely chop the stalks(most flavorsome part)

Melt the butter in the pan on a medium heat then stir in the flour to make a paste. Add the milk a splash at a time, stirring continuously until you have a white sauce.

Stir in the mustard, vinegar, and the remaining bay leaf, all of the parsley stalk and some of the leaves, vinegar, season to perfection and leave to bubble away for around 15 minutes until drizzling consistency.

When done remove the ham and place the hocks on a large platter. Arrange the veggies around the edge, pour parsley sauce over and scatter the remaining parsley leaves. Push bones and skin to the side as you serve

Use the broth to make a pea and ham soup. Cook peeled and diced potatoes  in the broth adding frozen peas for the last couple of minutes. Blitz and stir in any leftover ham.

Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients
Chicken
300g chicken breast, cut into 2cm chunks
3-4 large dried chillies
50g roasted peanuts
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
2 spring onions, finely sliced

Marinade
1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cornflour
2 pinches of salt
2 tbsp water

Sauce
1 ½ tsp ginger, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns, ground
1 ¼ tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry)
1 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar (or ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar mixed with ½ tbsp water)
3 tbsp water