Corn Dogs

As promised here's the corn dog recipe. They were surprisingly easy to make and tasted incredible. We had them as a starter and then had burger and chips! Although it was way too much food and we didn't eat half of it all...which I guess is a bonus as it means more burgers today...

Happy Eating

• Ingredients - 
  
  
  vegetable oil, for deep frying
• 150g cornmeal or polenta
• 125g plain flour
• 40g sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 free-range egg
• 225ml full-fat milk
• 12-15 frankfurter sausages
• 12-15 wooden skewers, soaked
  
  
  Method - 
  
  
  1. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-fat fryer to 160C (a bread crumb should go brown in about 30 seconds) or as I did in a shallow based pan, it worked well and you don't have to use as much oil!
  2. Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and milk together and gradually stir the mixture into to the dry ingredients. Whisk together to make a heavy batter.
  3. Put a skewer through each frankfurter sausage and dip it into the batter until well coated.
  4. Place the frankfurters into the oil, a few at a time, and cook for three minutes, or until golden-brown. Drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
  5. To serve, mix the mustard and mayonnaise together in a bowl and serve with the frankfurters.

Photography...

Shamless plug - Some of my photography is now up on The Cuckoos Nest site. Please check it out and let me know what you think at http://www.cuckoosnestclothing.com/ - The first 6 images that appear are mine. If you want to see more check over at my site at www.robertbillington.com

Here's a little preview -

Tomorrow I'm going to be making corn dogs and I'll be sure to share the recipe with you! We're going to have an American evening and eat corn dogs and burgers and watch something like American Pie (hope this doesn't offend any Americans out there...)

Apple Cake

As usual the gap between blog posts has become even bigger, big apologies but I've had a word with myself and I'm going to try and get more done as I've always got loads to say!

I've recently been busy shooting and am working on my own shoots which is great. I've been doing bits of food photography and fashion photography, weird combination? I don't think so...food is the new fashion right? Anyway if you're interested in seeing what I've been up to then check out my usual website www.robertbillington.com and if you're interested in working with me then get in touch.

The other week I ended up with some spare apples that weren't looking that great anymore but were nowhere near going off so I decided to make a cake with them. Usually you'd use baking apples but this was a case of using the old apples so they were actually Braeburn apples - they didn't crumble and actually made a beautiful cake. If you use baking apples throw a bit extra sugar over them. It's well easy to make and you've probably got all the ingredients in your cupboard!

Fact about apple cake - I travelled around Poland a few years ago and there's a cocktail they have called a szarlotka (pronounced: sharlotka) which is simply Zubrowka vodka and apple juice but szarlotka also means 'apple cake' and so many times we were served a drink when we wanted cake and visa versa. Note to self - if you ever go to Poland be sure to order both Szarlotka's!

Enjoy!

Rob

APPLE CAKE

Ingredients –

2 eggs

175 g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

85 g butter

75 ml milk

125 g plain flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

2 Braeburn apples, cored and thinly sliced

Method –

-       Preheat the oven to 200C. Prepare a 9in cake tin by putting parchment on the bottom, brushing with butter and then sprinkling first with caster sugar and then with flour. (Tip any excess sugar and flour out in between each step)

-       Arrange the apple slices in a concentric circles until the bottom of the tin is covered, don’t keep stacking up loads of apples as the cake will become too wet and will take longer to bake.

-       Using an electric whisk, whisk the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl until the mixture is thick and leaves a trail for a few seconds when the whisks are lifted (obviously turn the whisk off when you do this). It should take about 5 minutes

-       Melt the butter in a saucepan with the milk, then pour onto the eggs, whisking all the time. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold carefully into the batter so that there are no lumps of flour. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.

-       Bake for 15 minutes on 200 degrees

-       Reduce heat to 180 degrees and bake for a further 20-25 minutes

Let the cake cool slightly before taking out of the tin and then while it’s still warm make sure you have the first slice as it’ll get eaten very quickly (I’d intended on taking a full cake shot but couldn’t resist eating some

Hope you're all well and I'll be sure post soon

Rob

x

Pies pies pies - My Beef and Ale Pie

I've been busy as always working on a few things recently - we've done a few more videos which will be online soon and I've also started throwing together ideas for a recipe book. It's not going to be a traditional recipe book but will hopefully fuse together my love of photography and food. I'll keep you informed of how I'm getting on and when I've figured out the format you'll be the first to have a little sneak preview..

So here's the next video of our Master Baker series which you can watch here, this time I chose to make a good old beef and ale pie. It's a classic for a reason. A great pie for all occasions! The pastry turned out a bit 'rougher' than expected but, for me, a pie should never be too fussy - it's about the flavour right?

I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed making it!

New Viddy - Strawberry and Blueberry Pavlova

We did this video quite a while back but for some reason forgot to put it on my blog. It’s for my pavlova and it’s a cracking desert to whip out at a dinner party as it’s relatively easy, looks impresive and (most important) tastes incredible.

Once you’ve made a few successful meringues you’ll be able to whip it out for all occasions and is a great one to have in your arsenal. Last night I halved the recipe and made a few smaller ones for tea and they went down like a storm.

The photography industry tends to be way less busy over Easter so I’ve got a bit of time off to make some new videos, work on some recipes and bring you treats for your eyes and bellys! Check out for updates soon!

PAVLOVA

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

170g caster sugar

300g double cream

1 punnet strawberries

1 punnet blueberries

Method:

-       Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees centigrade

-       Line a baking tray with parchment ready for the meringue

-       Separate eggs and put the whites into a clean bowl

-       Whisk to stiff peaks

-       While still whisking add the sugar one tablespoon at a time until all encorporated. ª

-       Spoon the mixture on a baking tray in blobs forming a circle about 8in

-       Place the meringue in the oven and turn down to 140 degrees

-       Bake for 1 hour

-       At this point you can either take the meringue out of the oven which will leave it slightly gooey in the centre or turn the oven off completely and leave the meringue in to fully dry out over night. Both are lovely

-       Top with whipped cream and chopped fruit

(DISCLAIMER) Be careful only to make this recipe for people you want to come round again as it’s guaranteed they’ll want to come back!

ª The trick is to rub the meringue mixture between you finger and thumb until the grittiness has almost gone but not fully. If the mixture is too gritty then you will have a gritty meringue, if the mixture is smooth then the sugar has melted resulting in an unstable mixture and a flat meringue. 

Tartiflette

Apologies for not posting in ages but I’ve been silly busy with work. So far this year I’ve shot on a beach in South Africa, On top of a mountain in Slovenia, I had my first taste of surfing (I was rubbish), my first taste of skiing (I was pretty good) and now it’s briefly started to slow down. This all prompted me to book my first skiing holiday which I came back from last week - we went to the French Alpes and I absolutely loved it. The first thing I wanted to try when I got there was Tartiflette, it’s a classic French dish that originates from the area, if you like cheese then you’re going to absolutely love this dish.

Reblochon cheese originates from the Alpine region of France and this dish was actually created to increase sales of the cheese in the 1980’s, that said it originates from a recipe that can be tracked back as far as 1705. It is a filling and warming dish, ideal for these confused nights we seem to be having – is it going to snow again or is it going to turn into Spring? Today we had glorious sunshine followed by hail and then heavy snow. Weird. Anyway please try out this dish and let me know what you think!

(Serves 2)

TARTIFLETTE

Ingredients –

1 Reblouchon cheese

2 handfuls new potatoes or 4 medium potatoes

1 onion

6 rashers smoked bacon or a good handful of smoked lardons, chopped into small chunks

8 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Method –

-       Turn your oven to about 200 degrees centigrade

-       First you need to boil your potatoes and then set aside to cool slightly

-       Meanwhile fry the onion for a few minutes on a medium heat until soft, add the garlic towards the end so as not to burn the garlic

-       Add the bacon and fry for a further few minutes until the bacon is cooked, season with salt and pepper but be careful not to add too much salt as the cheese and bacon are already quite salty

-       Chop the potatoes into small chunks and add to the pan with the bacon and onion mixture and mix gently together

-       Divide the mixture between 2 oven proof dishes and top with half a reblouchon cheese sliced in half across its equator

-       Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted and has gone slightly crusty on top

-       Leave for a minute or so before you eat so you don’t get burnt from the moltern cheese loveliness

Oh and be sure to eat the crust as it adds a totally different dimension to the dish, all you need to go with tartiflette is a small salad and a good glass of red!