Marinated Mushrooms

I found yet another reason to always have some of my cider vinegar dressing at hand. These mushrooms are great as an appetiser or served alongside bread and cheese as a ploughman's lunch.

Fill a screw top jar with cleaned mushrooms.  250g of mushrooms will fill a 500ml jar.  If using button mushrooms, leave them whole or if using larger brown or portabellini mushrooms, slice them into quarters.  Add some salad dressing to fill about a third of the jar.  Now marinate the mushrooms for at least 8 hours, turning the jar upside down once in a while.  When ready to serve, add some finely chopped peppers, red chilli, red onion and fresh herbs.

Lemony baby marrow ribbons

I think it is a real shame if you boil baby morrows.  I almost always eat them raw, and actually prefer them above cucumber in a green salad.  But my new best way with them is to marinate them in lemon juice and olive oil - lovely!  You need to make this salad at least 2 hours in advance.

6 - 8 baby marrows, thinly sliced into ribbons  (a peeler works well)

juice and zest of 1 lemon

100ml good quality olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 round of peppered feta cheese

Whisk together the lemon juice, zest and oil and season.  Toss the baby marrow in the dressing and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours.  Add the crumbled feta before serving. 

This salad goes well with grilled chicken or fish.

Next time I make this, I am going to add some chopped green olives, I'm sure that will make it even more delicious!

Breakfast Rusks

It is a bit risky to call rusks, "health" rusks, but I like to think of these rusks as healthy.  It contains lots of seeds, is not very sweet and is made using less butter than most other recipes.  It is standard practise by now that my mom bakes a batch of these when she comes for a visit.  My son finishes three of these easily, for breakfast with a mug of Rooibos tea. 

Makes +/- 48.

First prepare two loaf tins as follows:  Cut two pieces of foil the same size as the bottom of the tin.  Grease the foil and place inside each tin.  By not greasing the sides of the tins, the dough will rise better. 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

500g stone ground wholewheat flour

140g cake flour

1 teaspoon salt

6 teaspoons baking powder

200g demerara sugar

250g butter or baking margarine, at room temperature

100g rolled oats

100g sunflower seeds

100g mixed seeds: lin, sesame and poppy seeds

500ml buttermilk

250ml water

3 extra large eggs

Mix all the dry ingredients.  Rub the butter in with your fingers.  Add the oats and seeds and mix well.  Lightly beat the buttermilk, water and eggs and stir into the flour mixture until just combined.  Do not over mix.  Spoon into the prepared tins.  Flatten the tops and make a slight indent down the middle.  Bake for 30 minutes, covered with foil.  Remove the foil, lower the temperature to 160 and bake for another 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and with a sharp knife, cut the crust down the middle in half and then in slices of +/- 1.5 cm.  Cool completely in the tins.  Run a knife along the sides to loosen and turn out.  Now cut into neat rusks, following the cuts in the crust.  (By cutting the rusks in this way,  you will minimize crumbling.) 

Arrange on oven racks and dry out at 70 degrees for 3 to 4 hours, leaving the oven door slightly opened.  Cool and store in an airtight container.

One minute mustard sauce

There is nothing better with gammon, than home-made mustard sauce.  This is one of those recipes that you should actually know by heart.  It is so quick to make and really delicious.    It will keep for a few days in the fridge, so you can make the full quantity and serve it with any cold meats, or use it on sandwiches.  I also love green beans or tender stem broccoli,cooked  dente, drizzled with a bit of this sauce.

This is one of those recipes that I always make using the microwave and it literally takes only 1 minute. 

3 eggs

100ml vinegar

1 cup sugar

25ml mustard powder

a pinch of salt

Whisk all the ingredients together in a glass bowl.  Cook in the microwave oven for 1 minute, stirring every 10 seconds.  The mixture will thicken from the sides.  Make sure to stir often, or you will end up with scrambled eggs.  Cool.

To make it on the stove top, cook the egg mixture in a double boiler, stirring until the mixture thickens.