Sugary Cinnamon Buns

What you need

• Bread baking machine. Fast acting yeast - 1 sachet
• 300g white flour
• 2 eggs
• 5 table spoons of raisins, dried lemon/orange pieces
• cinnamon, brown and white sugar
• 120-150ml skimmed milk
• pinch of salt

How you do it

With Bread Baking Machine

• In the Panasonic breadbaking machine add the yeast first.
• whisk the eggs
• Put flour, milk, whisked eggs, 1 tblspoon sugar a pinch of salt into the bread pan
• select 'Dough' programme

Without breadbaking machine

• use a clean bowl. pour the flour in. in the centre of the bowl dig a small hole.
• heat the milk until lukewarm - then add yeast and sugar. whisk until all is well mixed.
• pour the mix into the small hole of the centre of the flour in the bowl.
• cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for at least 30min. before you proceed check that the yeast is actually expanding.
• next put the whisked eggs into the mix and knead the dough. add flour if necessary. It is useful to cover your hands in flour - so the mix won't stick to your hands.
• form a ball and put back into the bowl. cover again with the towel and let it rest for another 2 hours.

Making the Buns

• preheat the oven to 200 degrees (centigrade)
• put the dough on non-sticky baking paper. roll out and form a rectangle. again cover your hands in flour to avoid the dough sticking to your hands.
• once a rectangle cover the surface with a slight film of milk. this is so the fruits will stick.
• cover the surface next with cinnamon and brown sugar. then add the raisins/lemons/orange bits evenly.
• then start rolling up the dough. start at the long axis of the rectangular dough. continue rolling until the whole dough is rolled up and forms some kind of 'sausage'.
• take a sharp knife and cut the dough into separate bits.
• put the pieces on non-sticky baking paper. you may cover the buns with additional sugar/cinnamon.
• put into oven for 20-25min until slightly brown.

Classic Green Pesto

What you need

• Olive oil (ca 20 tablespoons)
• 80-100g pine kernels
• parmesan cheese finely grated - ca 50g
• 1-2 bunches of basil leaves
• salt, pepper, 3 garlic cloves - and a pinch of sugar

How you do it

• wash basil leaves, peel garlic cloves (but don't chop).
• add everything into food processor and let run until it is creamy. Add oil if necessary.

Red Pesto

What you need

• ca 200g sun-dried tomatoes
• ca 20 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• salt, pepper, chilli flakes and powder
• pinch of sugar
• some 8 basil leaves
• ca 80g pine kernels

How you do it

• put a small pot on heat and add pine kernels. Roast until slightly brown then remove from burner/oven
• put everything into a food processor. turn the machine on and let it run until the pesto is of creamy consistency. Add oil if necessary.

Why not make your own salad dressing

What you need

• olive oil, groundnut oil
• salt, pepper, sugar
• vinegar - for the dressing with mustard use either cider or white wine vinegar. Without mustard you can also use red wine vinegar
• chilli flakes
• mustard (Dijon)

How you do it

Basic Recipe

• put 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper (freshly grounded) and chilli flakes into a mug
• add 2 table spoons vinegar, 6 table spoons groundnut oil and 2 table spoons olive oil
• take a fork and whisk for a couple of minutes

Mustard Recipe

• put 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper (freshly grounded), chilli flakes and 1-1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard into a mug
• add 2 table spoons of white wine or cider vinegar, 6 tbl spoons groundnut oil, 2 tbl spoons olive oil
• take a fork and whisk for a couple of minutes

Pasta with an Asian Touch

What you need

• Veggies: mangetout, carrots, onions, garlic
• Penne (150g per person)
• Cheese - I'd recommend Emmental or Gruyere.
• Wasabi
• Single Cream ca 100ml
• Salt, pepper, olive oil
• a mix of seafood - or simply prawns

How you do it

• wash mangetout and cut into halves
• wash and dry seafood/prawns
• peel carrots and chop into small pieces. Same with onion and garlic.
• grate the cheese
• prepare a pot with hot water. Bring it to the boil. Then add salt and then the pasta. Cook until tender.
• remove the pasta from the pot and let dry.
• dry the pot. put 2 tablespoons olive oil. put the pot back on the burner and let the oil heat up. i use a medium gas burner at full heat.
• add chopped garlic, onions, mangetout and carrots and seafood/prawns. add salt and pepper. cook for ca 5 min.
• add the single cream.
• cook until the sauce starts to thicken.
• now add the wasabi. be careful with the wasabi - as it has quite an intense taste. you may also want to add salt/pepper to your taste.
• now add the pasta and stir until all of it is covered in the sauce. put on low heat now.
• finally add the grated cheese and stir. Let the cheese melt a bit.
• serve immediately.

Lemon Cake

A very simple recipe I have been using for many, many years

What you need

• a rectangular baking form, a fork
• 200g butter/margarine
• 300g plain white flour
• 4 eggs
• 250g sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar. Difficult to get in the UK - but I found it in Waitrose (Baking department)
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 lemons
• icing sugar

How you do it

• grease the baking form
• get the juice from the 2 lemons. then grate their skin.
• store the juice in a jar and mix with 2 tablespoons of sugar.
• mix butter (soft), eggs and sugar into one bowl. Whip until creamy.
• add the vanilla sugar and the grated lemon skin.
• add the flour and baking powder until all is well mixed. Add a bit of flour (spoonw-wise) if the dough is still too liquid.
• pre-heat the oven to ca 175-180 degrees.
• pour dough in greased form.
• bake for 45min - 55min. the dough should have risen and only slightly darkened.
• let the cake cool down a bit before removing from the form.
• pinch the top of the cake with a fork. then pour the lemon/sugar juice over it - so that the juice gets into the cake.
• sprinkle with icing sugar.

Lemon/Almond Cake

What you need

• 100g plain white wheat flour
• 200g grated almonds (powder)
• a pinch of salt
• 2 lemons
• 4 eggs
• 200g sugar
• icing sugar
• a baking form. the best is a round quiche form.
• butter/margarine

How you do it

• grease the form
• get the juice from 1 the 2 lemons. Grate its skin.
• mix almond powder with salt, flour and grated lemon skin.
• put eggs and sugar in a food processor and whip until creamy
• mix the egg/sugar cream with the flour/almond mix. Add the lemon juice to it.
• pour the dough into the greased form.
• slice the 2nd lemon very thinly. Spread the lemon slices along the edge of the cake/form
• pre-heat oven to 170-175 degrees
• put in oven for 30-40min.
• when removed from oven sprinkle icing sugar over it.

Pasta with Spicy Tomato Sauce

What you need

• Spices: chilli flakes, salt, pepper, salt, red pepper powder
• Herbs (fresh if possible): parsley, basil
• olive oil
• olives (pitted)
• tomatoes (3-4/person)
• red wine
• tomato puree
• 1 red chilli
• pasta (penne, macaronis). 200gr/person is quite generous
• parmesan cheese (try to buy a whole piece - freshly grated parmesan is so much better).

How you do it

Pasta

• pot with water. Bring to the boil and then add salt (no oil).
• add pasta and cook until tender

Sauce

• Chop garlic, parsley and pancetta (bacon) into small chunks. Halve the red chilli, wash, remove seeds and cut into small pieces.
• wash tomatoes and cut into 1/4 pieces. (if you don't like the skin - bring a pot of water to the boil, insert tomatoes until the skin cracks and then peel them).
• 2-3 table spoons olive oil into the pan. Heat on a medium burner until hot.
• add garlic, parsley, pancetta (bacon), olives. Add salt and pepper. Cook for ca 5 min.
• Add quartered (skinned) tomatoes and cook for another 5 min while stirring. Tomatoes should be soft.
• Add a small (125ml) glass of red wine and a table spoon of red pepper powder to it. If you like it spicy you may also add chilli flakes to it.
• Cook for 15-20 min. By then the tomatoes should be well cooked. Make sure you stir ever now and then.
• add the tomato puree. Adding the tomato puree should thicken the sauce. If the sauce is still too watery, let it cook for a while longer.
• for the last 2 min add the basil leaves to the sauce.

Peter's Recipes

I LOVE cooking. Over the years a gathered a nice collection of recipes I'd like to share.