Bank Holiday BBQ Picnic - #SayYestoSummer

August bank holiday weekend used to be one of the hottest weekends of the year. I can't remember the last time we had a really hot (or even dry) August bank holiday weekend, but as it's the British tradition to picnic and barbecue on this weekend we did just that.

Off we went to Cannock Chase (again) as it's our new favourite place to be. We packed a bbq (although I'm not sure if a bbq is allowed in the forest, but we were very very careful),  picnic, bottle of wine (goes without saying really) and our den kit.

Whilst the bbq was warming up we played football, hide and seek and climbed trees.

We then enjoyed bbq pork loin steaks, cheese scones, home made coleslaw, cheese & tomato skewers, chips (from the local Wimpy), followed by lemon & courgette cupcakes.

As the picnic was all part of our #SayYestoSummer challenge by Lactofree there were plenty of Lactofree goodies included in the picnic. We had cheese scones and cheese & tomato skewers made with the amazing tasting Lactofree mature cheddar, which is as good as or better than my current mature cheddar, and lemon and courgette cupcakes, made using the buttery tasting Lactofree spread, which, just like the cheese, I absolutely love.

We stayed and watched the sun setting whilst eating ice creams from the ice cream van and playing football on the common. Despite the chill in the air we had a great family evening out. This is what bank holidays are all about.

Cheese Scones

210g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
50g Lactofree spread (cold)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp English mustard
120g Lactofree mature cheddar, cheddar
170ml Lactofree skimmed milk

• Mix the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl
• Rub the spread in carefully with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs
• Stir in the cayenne pepper, mustard and cheese (reserving some of the cheese to top the scones)
• Add enough milk to the dry ingredients and mix until it starts to come together
• Squeeze together with your hands and roll out on a floured surface until approx 1.5cm thick
• Using a round cutter, cut scones out and place on a greased baking sheet
• Continue to cut scones out until the dough has been used up, re-rolling as necessary
• Top the scones with the remaining grated cheese
• Set aside whilst the oven preheats to 180C
• Bake for approx 12-15 minutes
• Serve warm or cold

Lemon & Courgette Cupcakes - makes 10
115g Lactofree spread
115g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
juice & zest of 1 lemon
1/2 courgette, grated (75g)
115g self raising flour
50g caster sugar

• Beat the spread and 115g caster sugar until light & creamy
• Beat in the eggs one at a time
• Beat in half of the lemon juice and all the zest, along with the grated courgette
• Fold in the flour
• Divide batter between 10 muffin cases in a muffin pan
• Bake in a preheated oven for approx 15 minutes until lightly golden
• Mix the remaining lemon juice with 50g caster sugar and spoon over the warm cakes
• Cool on a wire rack

I'm working together with Lactofree to provide inspiration and recipes over the summer.

Bacon and Three Cheese Scones

One food that I love is cheese. I only usually buy Cheddar and a block of Grana Padano unless it's Christmas as it's all too tempting if it's there in the fridge. As this month the One Ingredient challenge on Franglais Kitchen is cheese I thought it would be only right to treat myself to some nice cheese, and picked up some Dolcelatte. Dolcelatte, which translates as 'sweet milk' is a soft and creamy veined cows milk cheese, is lovely spread onto crusty bread. 

I decided to use it, along with my 2 usual cheeses and make some scones. I saved a little crispy bacon from breakfast and added this too, to make a really cheesy savoury scone

Bacon and Three Cheese Scones - makes 10-12

350g SR Flour
1 tsp baking powder
85g Butter
100g mature cheddar cheese, grated
50g dolcelatte, crumbled
50g Grana Padano, grated
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp Dijon mustard
110-120ml milk
2 rashers of cooked crispy bacon, cut into small pieces

• Mix the baking powder into the flour
• Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs and stir in the cayenne & mustard
• Stir in half of the cheddar along with all of the dolcelatte, grana padano & the bacon pieces
• Stir in the milk gradually until you've added enough to bring the mixture together (you may not need all of the milk)
• Roll out onto a floured surface to approx 1 1/2 - 2cm thick
• Using a round cutter cut out scones and lay onto a greased baking tray, re rolling and cutting any remaining dough
• Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with the reserved cheddar
• Bake in 1 preheated 180C oven for 12-14 minutes until crispy & golden

The One Ingredient Challenge is hosted alternately by Nazima at Franglais Kitchen and Laura from How to Cook Good Food, and they have a different ingredient for each month.

Hazelnut Scones

It's strange how a simple tweet can change your plans for the day. The tweet that did it for me on Tuesday was this one :

You may mistakenly think that @JessiesKitchen1 is me, which it isn't , I'm @Jessies_Kitchen. I started following @JessiesKitchen1 a while ago, after someone tweeted me to say they had enjoyed a lovely breakfast at mine, which obviously surprised me as I didn't recall feeding anyone bacon that morning, never mind a stranger. 

Jessie's Kitchen is an award winning cafe in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee which, by all accounts, serves some excellent food. This morning we got tweeting each other about scones (the ones that had just come out of the oven) and turns out they were Hazelnut scones which, for research purposes, were then sampled with Nutella, whilst I was drooling at the thought. There was only one thing to curb my craving of hazelnut scones and that was to make some...

 

Hazelnut Scones - makes 10-12

100g Hazelnuts

250g Self Raising Flour

2 tsp Baking powder

85g Butter

1 tbsp caster sugar

175ml Milk (I used Almond milk to add more flavour, next time I will try Hazelnut milk)

• Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray & place in a preheated 170 C oven for approx 10 minutes
• Crush the hazelnuts quite finely, leaving a few larger pieces
• Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder
• Stir in the sugar and hazelnuts
• Mix the milk into the dry ingredients and bring together to form a dough
• Roll out onto a floured work surface & cut out scones

• Place on a greased baking sheet & brush with milk or beaten egg
• Bake in a 200 C oven for approx 10 minutes 

Serve warm or cold - delicious spread with Nutella

One day I hope I will get the chance to sample the Hazelnut scones from THE Jessie's Kitchen, but for now I'll happily eat the ones from this Jessie's kitchen.

Chilli Cheese Scones with Garlic & Basil Butter

I'm a big fan of anything that makes my life in the kitchen easier, be it gadgets or ready chopped and frozen vegetables. I'm always adding herbs to cooking but I often buy cut fresh ones and then freeze them as I'm not great at growing and looking after them myself. Recently I've discovered Gourmet Garden herbs and spices which are in a squeezable tube and can be kept in the fridge and used in recipes where needed.

They come in a wide range including some of the everyday favourites such as garlic and basil, as well as the new blends that include Thai, Moroccan, Mediterranean and Indian.

I chose to use Chilli, Garlic and Basil to spice up my scone recipe.

Chilli Cheese Scones with Garlic & Basil Butter

Scones
350g SR Flour
1 tsp baking powder
85g Butter
100g Mature Cheddar Cheese, grated
1 tbsp Gourmet Garden Chilli paste
175ml Milk

Butter
100g Butter, softened
1 tsp Gourmet Garden Garlic paste
1 tsp Gourmet Garden Basil paste

To make the scones

• Rub the butter into the flour & baking powder until it resembles breadcrumbs
• Stir in the grated cheese & chilli paste & mix well, making sure there are no lumps of chilli paste
• Add the milk, a little at a time, mixing well until it starts to come together - don't add all the milk if it becomes too sticky
• Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to approx 1-1.5cm thick
• Cut circles out with cutters and place spaced apart onto a lightly greased baking sheet
• Brush with milk
• Bake in a 200 C oven for approx 7-10 minutes until golden brown

To make the butter

• Beat the garlic & basil into the softened butter

Serve the scones warm with a generous spreading of garlic & basil butter

This is my entry into the Gourmet Garden Blog/Cook Off

I was sent a selection of herbs & spices to use in my recipe