Lorraine Pascale's Blog, page 14

Clear-conscious C

Happy Christmas all! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to celebrating New Year. Like me, many of you probably overindulged over the festive season, so I have come up with these lighter canapé ideas that would be fantastic for a New Year’s Eve bash. Turn discarded potato peelings into a fab healthy snack – just cover in cayenne or paprika and bake in the oven until they crisp up. My spicy chicken strips are so tasty on their own, as well as with the honey and mustard dipping sauce. These petite filo quiche Lorraine will be an instant hit with guests. Full of flavour but not too heavy, they are absolutely delicious. Have a very happy and healthy New Year!

Herbed-baked chicken strips with honey & mustard dipping sauce Makes 16 strips

Chicken strips

2 slices of wholemeal bread

2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

3 tsp dried oregano

3 tbsp rolled oats

4 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts, trimmed of any fat

2–4 tbsp harissa paste (depending on how hot you like it)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Dipping sauce

200g low-fat crème fraîche

2 tbsp honey

3 tbsp Dijon mustard (or to taste)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

1 lemon, cut into quarters

Preheat the oven to 200°C, (Fan 180°C), 400°F, Gas Mark 6. Line a roasting tray with baking parchment and set aside. Lightly toast the bread in a toaster or under the grill and then blitz in a food processor to give fine, dry breadcrumbs. Tip them into a wide, shallow bowl and toss in the rosemary and oregano, then season with salt and pepper.

Blitz the oats in the processor until roughly ground and toss them through the breadcrumbs.

Cut each chicken breast into four long strips. Season them with salt and a good amount of pepper and then brush them all over with the harissa paste. Working in batches, toss the strips into the breadcrumb mixture to stick and evenly coat and lay in a single layer on the baking sheet as you go. Bake in the oven for 10–12 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and golden brown on the outside.

Meanwhile, prepare the dipping sauce by simply mixing the ingredients together in a small bowl and seasoning to taste. Spoon into a small serving bowl, cover and leave aside in the fridge until ready to serve.

Check the chicken is cooked by cutting through to the centre of the thickest one. If there is any pinkness return the strips to the oven for a little longer. Arrange the cooked chicken strips on plates with the dipping sauce drizzled over and the lemon wedges nestled beside them and serve. The squeeze of lemon really lifts the flavour of the chicken.

The Truth About Fostering

In a new BBC documentary, Lorraine highlights the need for foster care in Britain today.

The Truth About Fostering is a one-off film looking at the realities of foster care in the UK, fronted by Lorraine who was herself a child in care.

Adopted at 18 months old and then fostered at eight, Lorraine believes that fostering “saved her life".

“I believe foster care is the Cinderella of the care world and there is far more emphasis put on adoption. I'm making this film to throw the spotlight on to fostering and hopefully encourage more people to consider it as an option,” explains Lorraine.

In Britain today, a child is placed in foster care every 22 minutes and the number needing homes continues to rise. Eight-thousand seven-hundred and fifty new foster families must be found across the UK over the next 12 months to avoid a real crisis. But, despite this urgency, fostering is still the poor relation of Children’s Services. Adoption often hits the headlines but only 5 per cent of all ‘looked after’ children actually end up being adopted.

In this one-hour documentary, Lorraine takes us into the world of fostering and provides an insider’s guide to foster care. As well as telling her own personal story and examining the impact of fostering on her life, Lorraine will also gain extraordinary access to the fostering process at a London local authority. Meeting with the social workers, care teams, children and young people currently being fostered, Lorraine will find out what it takes to be a foster carer, and what the children think of the system and care they receive.

Lorraine Pascale: The Truth About Fostering airs on the BBC in the new year.

Crispy filo mince pies with pear and apple mincemeat

Baking festive treats always puts me in the Christmas spirit and it’s such a good idea to have home-made goodies ready for when friends and family pop in or to give as a present. Christmas baking wouldn’t be complete without mince pies! This delicious recipe uses filo pastry and a fresh fruit mincemeat filling for a lighter mince pie, meaning you can enjoy them without being on the naughty list! These Brown Sugar Espresso Chocolate-Dipped Meringue Kisses are the prefect little treat with a coffee. They also make the loveliest home-made present – simply pop 5 or 6 into a bag and tie with a festive ribbon!

Ingredients

Spray oil

12 sheets of filo pastry, defrosted

1 egg, lightly beaten

Icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Filling

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm chunks

1 perfectly ripe pear, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm chunks

100g raisins

100ml apple juice

75g dried cranberries

50g pecan nuts, finely chopped

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Big pinch of ground cloves

Big pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Seeds of 1 vanilla pod

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

1cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and very finely chopped

A few twists of cracked black pepper

3 tbsp cider, Calvados, rum or brandy (optional)

To serve (optional)

200g low-fat Greek yogurt

50g icing sugar, sifted

Seeds of 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°C, (Fan 160°C), 350°F, Gas Mark 4. Place a baking sheet into the oven to heat up. This will give extra bottom heat to the pies so that the bases cook through and are not soggy. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin with a little spray oil and set aside.

Put all of the filling ingredients and the alcohol (if using) into a medium pan over a medium heat. Allow to cook gently, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until the apples begin to soften. Then remove from the heat and leave the mixture to sit and infuse while you make the pastry cases.

Lay the sheets of filo pastry out on top of each other and cut them in half across the width. Then cut each half into quarters to give eight stacks of about 12cm squares of filo. I find scissors really handy to cut these out, but a sharp knife will do. Line each hole of the muffin tin with three squares of filo. I like to take a square at a time and press it into the hole, each one slightly staggered from the previous so the resulting pastry case edge looks like a kind of star. Make sure to push the pastry down so it is in the ‘corners’ of each muffin hole. Keep any filo not being worked on under a lightly dampened tea towel so that it doesn’t dry out. After lining the tin, you should still be left with 12 squares of filo, which you can reserve under the damp tea towel for now.

Spray each stack in the tin with a little oil and bake in the oven for 6–8 minutes until crisp and pale golden. Then, divide the filling evenly among the cases. Next, take the remaining squares of filo, scrunch each one up lightly and place one on top of each pie so that it looks like a scrunched-up tissue. Brush them lightly with the beaten egg.

Pop in the oven on the heated baking sheet for 10–12 minutes or until the pies are crisp and golden. While they are baking, prepare the yogurt for serving, if using: gently mix together the yogurt, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Cover and set aside in the fridge until ready to use.

Once ready, remove the pies from the oven, dust with a little icing sugar (if using) and serve with a dollop of the yogurt, if you like.

Pick up a copy of the The Sun On Sunday or subscribe to thesun.co.uk for extra festive recipes plus plenty more from Lorraine.

Lorraine's got Christmas wrapped up!

[View the story "Lorraine's got Christmas wrapped up!" on Storify]

Cakes with a sweet veggie twist

I absolutely love cake. I love making it and, more importantly, love eating it. However, I know it’s not always the healthiest option, so I have come up with these delicious recipes that incorporate lovely winter vegetables for a healthier take on traditional bakes!

Ignore that beetroot does not usually go into a cake and give my chocolate fudgy orange beetroot cake a little go. The beetroot adds a wicked sweet and moist twist, which is really quite surprising in the best possible way. My yummy carrot cake and apple uses less oil than a traditional carrot cake but is still deliciously sweet and moist. Enjoy!

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REALLY TASTY CHOCOLATE FUDGY ORANGE BEETROOT CAKE Serves 10



100g unsalted butter, softened

150g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), snapped or chopped into small pieces

3 eggs

4 egg whites

Seeds of 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

150g soft light brown sugar

150g wholemeal flour

1½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground ginger

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

200g fresh beetroots (not beetroot in vinegar)

1 tbsp icing sugar, to finish

To start, cook your beetroot in one of two ways. Either boil them for about 30 minutes to 1 hour, or wrap in tin foil and roast at 180°C (Fan 160°C) for 1.5 to 2 hours until tender. Once cool, peel and roughly grate, and set aside.

Next, preheat the oven to 170°C, (Fan 150°C), 325°F, Gas Mark 3. Use the spray oil to grease an 18cm round, loose-bottomed, deep cake tin. Line the base with baking parchment and set on a baking sheet.

Melt the butter in a pan and once it has melted, remove from the heat, add the chocolate and set it aside to melt. Meanwhile, put the eggs, egg whites and vanilla seeds or extract into a large bowl and whisk them up until mousse-like and white. This can be done by using a whisk or a food mixer. Then, working in two batches, add the sugar, whipping it up well between each addition until stiff.

Once melted, stir the chocolate and butter together and pour it around the edge of the whisked eggs. Then, gently fold it in until well blended and the mixture turns dark brown. Really scoop up the chocolate, which will fall to the bottom of the bowl, to get it nicely folded in. Gently sprinkle the flour, baking powder, ground ginger and orange zest over and then gently fold this in well also. Finally, gently fold the beetroot in and carefully pour the mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake in the oven for 40–45 minutes until firm on top and a knife comes out still a little sticky from the centre of the cake. I like to undercook this cake ever so slightly so that it stays nice and moist. It will still cook a little further in its own heat when out of the oven, so just trust me on this.

Once it has reached this stage, remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Once the cake is cooled, sprinkle over the icing sugar and serve.

Pick up a copy of the The Sun On Sunday or subscribe to thesun.co.uk for all the cake recipes plus plenty more from Lorraine

A Lighter Way To Bake: Your questions answered

Hi, readers! I’ve been busy rustling up over a hundred new recipes for my new book A Lighter Way To Bake – giving you the naughty but nutritious treats we all deserve every now and then – especially right now!

Below, I have strived to answer some of your brilliant questions on how to get a slice of Lighter Baking into your life. Enjoy!



Gareth 'Gazley J' Richards, Facebook

What do you eat, on a work out day, that you love that's healthy & nutritious?

I usually just eat some grilled salmon and pan fried asparagus with some spinach leaves – I like to try and eater lower carbohydrate meals if I’ve had a naughty indulgence like cake!

What's your absolute favourite "awww to hell with it" treat meal?

Macaroni cheese definitely! I’m a sucker for a savory treat – macaroni & cheese hits the spot every time!

Wiola Michalek, Facebook

What was your worst kitchen disaster?

I made a cheesecake and then dropped it on the floor! I was absolutely gutted, it took hours to make and I’m not sure you can follow the three second rule for a whole cake! ;)

Sarah Patterson, Orlaith McCollum and Tracey Armitt, Facebook

A slim line, lighter cupcake and frosting recipe please!

Wow - so many of you want a lower calorie cupcake recipe! Luckily for you, I’ve whipped up two little beauties in my new book. Low-fat cream cheese and crème fraiche make up most of the frosting on my Pumpkin and Spice Cupcakes, while a dash of Irish cream liquer adds a naughty edge to my Skinny Caffe Latte Butterfly Cakes! I was inspired to make the pumpkin cupcakes after a jet-lagged journey to LA – the mecca of healthy living!

I’ve substituted butter in a lot of my cake recipes for less naughty products like yoghurt – so the texture might not be exactly what you’re used to – still delightful but a little different. Cakes with a lower fat and sugar content can sometimes have a firmer crust but will still be as fluffy as a cloud on the inside!

Lynne Milford ‏@LMMilford, Twitter

My boyfriend loves chocolate. Any #lighterbaking way of making chocolate brownies healthier?

In most recipes you can reduce the amount of butter by at least a quarter and still get a really good result, Lynne. Try My Blooming Brownies recipe too. These brownies are a much lighter version, with a slightly more cakey taste but still just the right amount of naughtiness to feel you are getting a tasty treat. This recipe uses wholemeal flour – it makes an appearance in lots of my new dishes as it adds fibre and a wonderful nutty flavour. Also, the carbohydrate is more slowly absorbed by the body than white flour – so an all-round win!



Edward Smith ‏@hotrod1687, Twitter

In your opinion Lorraine, what is the best and easiest way to cook fresh salmon?

I like mine cooked simply en papillote with some garlic, ginger, carrots and spring onions. There’s also a posh-take on the classic fish finger in Lighter Way To Bake - Baked Salmon and Thyme Fish Fingers with home-made tartare sauce. The addition of wholemeal breadcrumbs for the coating is a much healthier, fibrous take on the original and will release carbohydrates more slowly into your system than white. Kids will love them just as much and you can replace the salmon with cod, haddock or pollock as well. Be careful there are no bones in the fillet before cooking!



M ‏@MelinKigali , Twitter

Do you have a leaner Potato Gratin Dauphinoise that tastes as good as a full cream one please?

Potato Dauphinoise is by its very nature a truly indulgent dish. Traditionally made using lashings of double cream, I use a small bit of crème fraiche in its place for flavour with less fat for my version with thyme and sage. The addition of cornflour to thicken the sauce stops the dish becoming watery and tasteless, and gives this little French beauty the lift it needs!

Pick up a copy of A Lighter Way To Bake from Amazon here - an absolute bargain at £9!

Beat the winter blues with a lighter pie!

As the nights get colder and winter sets in, nothing can beat a delicious home cooked pie. Here are two great pie recipes – the first is a great family meal and the other is something a little special for a dinner party or romantic meal!

Feast your eyes on this easy-to-make Chicken Leak Bacon and Tarragon pie. Brilliant for a family meal and with 40% less calories compared to its full-fat friend, you won’t even have to count your calories!

The Beef, Guinness & Porcini puff pie is a great choice for a dinner party. Using light ready-rolled puff pastry makes this a lighter main course option – leaving you plenty of room for pud! Enjoy!

Beef, Guinness & porcini puff pie

Serves 6

Filling

Spray oil

1kg lean beef (stewing steak pieces)

4 tbsp plain flour

2 medium onions, quartered, with root left intact

500ml beef stock

330ml Guinness

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Leaves from 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped

2 bay leaves

2 large carrots, cut into chunks

25g dried porcini mushrooms

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pastry

320g sheet of light ready-rolled puff pastry, defrosted

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp semi-skimmed milk

To serve

Garden peas

Preheat the oven to 170°C, (Fan 150°C), 325°F, Gas Mark 3. Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment and set aside.

Spritz a large non-stick casserole pot with spray oil and set over a high heat. Toss the beef in a large bowl with the flour and season. Then, working in three batches, brown the meat well in the pan to get some good colour on it. This will add lots of extra flavour to the finished stew. Scoop the meat out into a bowl as you go and spray a little more oil between batches if necessary.

Once all the beef has been browned and removed, fry the onion wedges over a medium heat for 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until just turning golden. Return the meat to the casserole pot, add the stock, Guinness, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, rosemary, bay leaves and season. Bring to the boil, then pop the lid on and place in the oven for 3 hours.

Meanwhile, unroll the puff pastry sheet onto the prepared baking sheet. Cut it in half down the length and then across the width in thirds to give six evenly sized squares (approximately 12cm square). Separate out the squares a little, cover with cling film and place in the fridge to firm up until you are ready to cook.

Stir the carrots and porcini mushrooms into the casserole for the last half-hour. At this point don’t put the lid back on, and also turn the heat up to 180°C, (Fan 160°C), 350°F, Gas Mark 4.

As soon as you have put the casserole back into the oven, mix the egg yolk and milk together in a small bowl and brush this over the puff pastry pieces. Then, bake the pastry in the oven with the casserole for the final 30 minutes of cooking.

Once cooked, the pastry should be puffed and golden. To check that the meat is tender, you should be able to literally cut it with a spoon. Check seasoning and adjust if necessary. To serve, remove the bay leaves from the casserole then divide it between six plates or wide bowls. Put a puff pastry square on top and serve with some peas.

'Twitter can be a tough crowd'

Lorraine shares her love for her iPhone and apps with The Guardian - but she draws the line at text speak (apart from the occasional lol).

Cooks seem to be divided into two camps – those who love their gadgets and others who stick with the basics. Which do you belong to?

Definitely the basics. I like to keep it simple in my kitchen apart from my two mixer gadgets, a KitchenAid and a kMix, both of which I love. With a KitchenAid you get lots of different attachments, making it great not just for baking but also for making sausages, fresh pasta, or getting ingredients chopped quickly and efficiently.

Which tech has revolutionised the kitchen?



Sous vides [the devices for slow-cooking food beloved by modernist chefs such as Ferran Adrià and Heston Blumenthal] enable you to cook ingredients in little pouches until they are succulent and beautifully tender. Results like this really weren't possible before sous vides were introduced and now they are available for home kitchens as well as professional ones. That said, I don't have one.

How has technology changed cooking?

Getting food on the table fast and conveniently seems to be the priority these days, and technology like the microwave facilitates that. I think cooking was done for pleasure more, and that food brought people together more regularly, in the old days.



Satnav or map book?

I know London pretty well, I've been here since I was 16, but on bad days I do rely on my satnav.

Would you keep your phone on the table at dinner?

If I'm not with my daughter, then yes I do, just in case she calls, but otherwise I try not to...

Read the full interview with The Guardian Technology here.

Cheddar cheese scones with spring onion and paprika

Fresh from A Lighter Way to Bake are these better-for-you, buttery scones, as seen on This Morning.

Pick up the recipe for crispy filo mince pies and coconut shrimp salad on the This Morning website, too.

"The brown sugar scones with mascarpone from Baking Made Easy were rich and sumptuous to the extreme and something I still make often, however I have had repeated requests by way of tweets, Facebooks and yells from passing cars, to make some of my dishes a little bit lighter (so that people can have a choice of which one they want to make). I was challenged a little with these savoury scones due to my desire to get the cheese flavour strong enough, but I got there in the end. The wholemeal flour is naturally better for us and, funnily enough, the flour that I prefer. I implore you to eat these fresh from the oven with the teeniest bit of butter to moisten. Utterly delicious."

Makes 8 scones

Equipment

Food processor or large bowl,

6cm fluted cutter,

pastry brush

Spray oil

Ingredients

5 spring onions, finely chopped

200g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

100g wholemeal flour

50g unsalted butter

50g low-fat cream cheese

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp paprika

Big pinch of salt

100ml skimmed milk

1 small egg, lightly beaten or 1 egg yolk, mixed with 1 tbsp cold water

25g Cheddar cheese, finely grated

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C, (Fan 180°C), 400°F, Gas Mark 6. Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment and set aside.

Heat a medium frying pan over a medium heat and spray in a little oil. Gently fry the spring onions for 4–5 minutes until softened, but not coloured.

Put both flours, the butter, cream cheese, baking powder, paprika and salt into a food processor and pulse until they form fine crumbs. Add the milk and the cooked spring onions and pulse again briefly until they come together into a soft dough ball.

If you don’t have a food processor, then put the ingredients into a large bowl and use your thumb and forefingers to pick up bits of the butter and cream cheese along with the flour mixture and rub them all together. Keep doing this until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add the milk and cooked spring onions. Mix everything together quickly with a table knife before getting your hands in and squidging it all together to form a smooth, soft dough. Make sure you get all the dry bits in the bottom of the bowl and really squidge them into the dough.

Dust a clean surface with a little flour and roll the dough out to about 2cm in thickness. Use a 6cm fluted cutter to stamp out rounds and arrange them on the baking sheet as you go. Make sure that when you cut them out, you don’t twist the cutter as this will result in the scones not rising straight up. Re-squidge the leftover dough pieces together and re-roll out to give eight scones in total. Brush the tops with the egg, avoiding letting any drip down the sides, which could prevent a good rise. Finally, sprinkle a little cheese over the top of each.

Bake for about 10–12 minutes or until the scones are cooked through, nicely risen and are golden brown. These are delicious served warm.

Alternative chicken roasts

"Nothing beats cooking up a delicious Sunday roast with all the trimmings for your family and friends, however this can be a really time consuming process. I absolutely love roast chicken – it’s easy to cook and is perfect for experimenting with flavours and marinades! Make the most of your bird with these fab alternative roast chicken recipes, great for mid-week suppers or a chilled weekend roast with friends.

My roast sesame soy honey chicken uses a wonderful sweet and spicy marinade to flavour the chicken which works so well with the honey and sesame glaze. Try to leave the tandoori marinade for as long as possible, to really let the Indian flavours infuse into the bird. This roast Thai green curry chicken is gorgeous for a mid-week supper. Enjoy!"

Roast sesame soy honey chicken

Serves 4-5

1 chicken, approximately 1.8kg

1 clove of garlic, finely sliced

2 tsp sunflower or vegetable oil

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp mirin

4 tbsp of honey

1 red chilli, finely chopped

2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger, finely chopped

2 ½ tbsp of sesame seeds

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas Mark 6. Place a large piece of foil in a roasting tin. Remove the chicken from the packaging, clean if necessary, then place onto the foil. Fold up the sides of the foil and tuck in towards the chicken to make a tray to hold the cooking juices so they don’t burn.

Make 10 slits in the chicken on the breasts and the legs. Insert a slither of garlic into each slit, season well with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little oil. Then place the chicken in the oven for one hour. Just before an hour is up mix together the soy, mirin, honey, chilli, ginger and sesame seeds. Once ready remove the chicken from the oven and slather with the honey and sesame mixture, and return to the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the oven and slowly spoon over the cooking juices and basting liquid that will have gathered in the foil tray. Return to the oven for a further 20-25 minutes, carefully removing and re-basting the chicken every 10 minutes to keep it juicy. Take care not to knock off the sesame seeds as you baste.

Once the chicken has had its full cooking time, remove from the oven and insert a knife into the thickest part of the thigh meat and press down. Any juices which run out should be clear and not pink at all. If cooked, place some tin foil over the chicken and leave to rest for 15 minutes or so. This will even out the temperature and make the bird much more succulent and juicy.

Tip the basting juices into a small saucepan while the chicken is resting and spoon off any fat that rises to the surface. Warm the juices through in a saucepan over a low heat.

Carve the chicken and serve each portion with a little of the honey gravy. The chicken is delicious served with either roast potatoes, rice or stir fried vegetables.