FOCACCIA

This tastes very good though supermarket breads are so good these days that it is hardly worth it. The children learned about the bread making process, but in truth it is a bit of a bore to make (this applies to anything with yeast!)

You need:
500 gr bread flour
10 gr yeast
10 gr salt
340 ml water
50 ml olive oil plus half a glass.

Mix the flour, salt and yeast. Add the 50 ml of olive oil and the water in little bits while you mix it all together with your hands. The result should be a very wet mixture. Knead it for five minutes over an oiled surface until the mixture is bound together and becomes elastic. Then put it into an oiled container and let it rest of an hour so that it doubles in size. Put the dough over a lined and oiled baking tray and extend it with your fingers until it cover the whole tray. Cover with cling film and let it rest for another hour - it should double in size again.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Make dimples with your fingers into the dough (this is the nicest bit) and sprinkle it all with oil. We added salt and oregano but you can also add: basil and tomatos; rosemary and flaky salt;  or cheese and oregano. Black olives and sun dried tomatoes are also good.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

PLUM AND DAMSON JAM

Holidays definitely over...back to the blog.

We picked some plums and damson this weekend and decided to try to make jam with them. The children helped cleaning and cutting the fruit but I did most of the rest on my own as I was far too worried about possible burns. Still it is fun for the kids to see the change in texture, though they just could not believe the enormous amount of sugar that is needed for jam.

Plum jam:
1 Kg plums
1 Kg sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
100 ml water

Wash and cut the plums and put them in a heavy bottom pan. Add the water and lemon juice. Boil the plums, water and lemon juice for around 30-40 minutes (first over high heat, but then as soon as there are bubbles lower the heat to minimum) Add the sugar and boil for another 20 minutes or so until it reaches set point. It you have a candy thermometer (try Lakeland) this just mean waiting until the mixture reaches 220 degrees - no rocket science. Put the mixture aside and spoon it into sterilised jars. Cover the jars with a circle of waxed paper ( or alternatively baking paper dipped in oil) Close the jars and store. They last for months.

To sterilise the jars wash them in the dishwasher at its highest temperature and then get them into the oven ( open side down) for 20 minutes at 120 degrees.

For the damsons follow the same procedure with the following proportions:
- 1 Kg damsons
- 780 gr sugar
- 115 ml orange juice
- half and orange zest

The main difference is that you need to boil the damsons whole and take the stones out after the damsons are soft. Easiest way to do this is with your hands but put some plastic gloves on as otherwise you will burn yourself.

MERINGUES

You need:
- 3 egg whites
- 175 gr sugar
- frozen strawberry or raspberry powder ( 1.5 table spoons)
- cocoa powder: .5 tablespoons

Preheat the oven at 150 degrees.

Whisk the egg whites (until they reach hard peak stage)Add the  sugar in tablespoons while you continue whisking. Once the mixture becomes heavy and glossy put little amounts of the mixture on an oven tray lined with silicone or baking parchment (you can do this with a piping bag or just with a spoon) Sprinkle cocoa on top of half of the meringues ( do not sprinkle the strawberry until they come out of the oven or the strawberry powder will turn out black) As soon as you get the meringues into the oven reduce the temperature to 140 degrees and cook for 30 minutes. Leave them in the oven without opening the door for a few hours or preferably overnight. Sprinkle the strawberry powder on top of the other half of the meringues. That is all.  

APRICOT CLAFOUTIS

You can do this with cherries, peaches, plums, but we do it with apricots because fresh apricots are one of my favourite fruits. Good apricots are difficult to get nowadays so cooking them improves their sweetness. 

You need:

- 500 gr fresh apricots

- 100 gr sugar

- 40 gr plain flour

- 250 ml milk

- 3 eggs

- 40 gr butter

- powdered sugar

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.

Grease an oven dish (ceramic or pyrex) with a bit of butter. Cut the apricots in half (taking the stone off) and arrange them on top of the dish. Cover them with half of the sugar. Separately mix the rest of the sugar, flour, milk and eggs and pour this mixture on top of the apricots. Cut the butter into little squares and dot them on top of the mixture. Bake for 40 minutes.  sprinkle with the powdered sugar just as you take it off the oven (you can also grill it at this point for 3-4 minutes if you like a golden finish). Eat promptly.  

Children can do this all by themselves except for getting the dish into and out of the oven. 

ELEPHANT EARS

These biscuits are called 'palmeras' in Spanish, but the children found the 'elephant ears' English name much more amusing. There are very easy to make.
You need:
-1 rectangle of shop-bought (preferably all butter) puff pastry.
-5-6 handfuls of caster sugar

Extend the puff pastry rectangle. Sprinkle a generous amount of sugar on top of it. Press a little with the rolling pin so that the sugar sticks to the pastry. Fold the pastry by bringing the longest sides towards the centre so that both longest sides meet right in the middle of your rectangle. You should end up with a smaller rectangle.
Sprinkle more sugar on it. Press down again with the rolling pin. Fold it again by bringing both extreme sides towards the centre.
Sprinkle again some sugar. Press down with the rolling pin and fold again.
You should end up with a cylinder of sugary pastry. Wrap it with cling film and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat your oven at 200 degrees. Take the pastry out of the fridge and cut little slices of the cylinder. Put them on the baking tray and flatten them a bit with a spatula. Bake for 20 minutes turning them after 12 minutes so that they get golden on both sides.

CHOCOLATE COOKIES

We have now published 100 posts and have had more than 10,000 clicks. However, we have not managed to generate any money at all. While we have had fun with the cooking I am failing to teach the children about the economics of the internet. I have tried to explain that it is all based on marketing and ultimately on trust, but even I am not sure how this is meant to work. Our sweet recipes seem to be much more popular than savoury ones, so in an attempt to encourage you to click more on the blog we will publish more sweet recipes for a few weeks. If you visit the blog please-please click on the adds on the right hand column! all we need is to reach the £40 threshold so that they can receive a cheque and then this blog can be over...

This recipe was adapted form the Usborne Beginners Cookbook. You need:

100 g soft butter
100 g sugar
175 g plain flower
1 egg
150 chocolate chips (we did this with Hagelslag, which are Dutch chocolate sprinkles)

In a food processor mix all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Add the chips at the end and mix them with a spoon. On a greased baking tray ( or even better on a silicone mat) put tablespoons of this mixture and flatten them down a bit. Cook for 12-15 minutes.

GARLIC CHICKEN

This chicken recipe is a typical Spanish one.
You need:
-Four thighs of chicken
- salt
-olive oil
- 6 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced)
-2 bay leaves
-3 tablespoons of vinegar
-1 glass of water

Heat the olive oil and fry the chicken things on all sides until they acquire a dark golden colour.  Put the chicken aside.

Wait for a while until the oil cools down. Then fry the garlic slices for a minute or so until they start getting a pale golden colour. Add the vinegar and let it bubble for another a few seconds. Then add the water and bay leaves. Let it all bubble for a minute. Add the chicken to this sauce, lower the heat and let it all bubble for 20-25 minutes until the chicken gets tender. Serve with crusty bread or with rice.

You have to be a bit careful with the kids when you prepare this dish as the chicken splatters a lot when you fry it. Also, the vinegar can produce a very strong smell while it looses its acidity and kids might dislike this.