The Rose Cottage Recipe Book

Ingredients

Method

1. Heat oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan). Grease and line a 20 x 30cm baking tray with baking parchment.
2. Put the dates and milk in a small pan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and set aside for 15 mins to cool.
3. Whizz the date mixture to a smooth purée in a food processor or blender, then scrape into a large mixing bowl.
4. Tip in the butter, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, eggs, mixed spice and vanilla. Set aside while you prepare the apples.
5. Quarter and core the apples, then slice quite thinly, tossing in a little lemon juice as you go.
6. Quickly beat together the cake ingredients with an electric whisk until smooth, then scrape into the baking tray.
7. Arrange the apple slices, overlapping in rows, on top of the cake - you should be able to get 3 rows lengthways down the tray.
8. Bake for 45-50 mins until a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the tray.
9. Put the toffees in a small pan with a good splash of milk and gently melt, stirring until runny.
10. To finish, dust the cake with a little icing sugar. Drizzle the sauce all over the cake. Cut into squares or slices to serve.

A very quick and simple yet tasty recipe.

Ingredients

Technique

Chop the herbs and sun-dried tomatoes with a little of their oil, on a board.  Add the crushed garlic, feta and lemon zest.  Mix well.

Make a pocket in each of the chicken breasts.  Stuff each pocket with a quarter of the stuffing mix.  Spear shut with the rosemary sprigs.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan.  When hot, put in the chicken breasts.  Cover lightly with greaseproof paper lightly scrunched around.  When golden, turn and cook the other side.

Cut into slices and serve.

Ingredients

Method

1. Preheat grill to high and lightly oil a shallow heatproof dish.
2. Put the chicken in the dish, skin side down, and season with salt & pepper. Grill for 5 mins.
3. While the chicken is grilling, cut 4 thin slices from the lemon.
4. Turn the chicken fillets over and put a slice of lemon on top of each one.
5. Sprinkle over the thyme and a little more seasoning. Drizzle the honey over the top and squeeze over the remaining lemon and spoon around 2 tbsp water.
6. Return to the grill for 10 mins more until the chicken is golden and cooked all the way through.

You will need

Method

1. Get out a large sheet of greaseproof paper.  Put the breasts in the middle.
2. Season them and sprinkle with the spices or herbs.
3. Cover the top of the breasts with the rest of the greaseproof and bash with a rolling pin.  This makes the breasts thinner, so they cook more evenly and quickly.  Tenderised meat also releases more flavour when cooked.  Move the meat around to make sure it picks up all the flavouring.
4. Add a teaspoon or two of oil to a non-stick pan (more if it isn’t non-stick) and fry on a medium high heat until golden on each side (about 5 mins each side).
5. To make sure it is cooked, take it out of the pan, and cut through the middle with a sharp knife.  If it is white all the way through it is ready.  If it isn’t, put it back and turn down the heat slightly.
6. Slice it and put in a baguette with some guacamole or mayonnaise, and some salad.
   

Ingredients

method

1. Scrub the lemons in warm water. Into a large bowl, thinly pare the coloured outer zest from three of the lemons. It is best to use a lemon zester for this. A potato peeler can be used but be sure to include as little of the white pith as possible - to prevent the lemonade tasting bitter.
2. Add the squeezed juice of all six lemons and the sugar. No need to strain the mixture at this stage.
3. Add 1.5 litres of boiling water and stir well. Cover and leave overnight to cool.
4. The next day, stir and taste - to check for sweetness. Add a little more sugar if needed but not so much as to overcome the lemony tang.
5. Strain through a coarse sieve (such as a tea strainer). Pour into clean bottles and chill.

• Serve on its own chilled, or with soda water, and plenty of ice.