Chipotle Puree

• 15 - 20 dried chipotle chiles (slit and remove seeds if you can be bothered/are a wuss)
• 3 cups water
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 6 tbsp ketchup
• 1/2 tsp salt

Place in saucepan, bring to boil, reduce, cover and simmer. Cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally until liquid reduces to around a cup, cup and a half. Allow to cool then transfer to a blender and puree.

Raspberry crumble

• 2 punnets (i.e packs) or more of raspberries
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1/2 cup brown caster sugar
• 4oz fridge-cold butter cut into small pieces

Grease a suitable size dish for your chosen amount of raspberries with butter then add in the berries and sprinkle with some sugar. 

Make the "crumble" by placing the butter, flour and sugar into a small blender or food processor and pulsing just enough to create "breadcrumbs". Don't overdo it. 

Cover the raspberries with the crumble mixture and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes at 350F. 

Excellent served warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top. 

Shortbread

• 4oz butter, softened
• 2oz caster sugar
• 5oz plain flour
• 1oz semolina

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Using a fork gradually stir in the flour and semolina. Draw mixture together with finger tips. Press lightly into buttered 7" sandwich tin.

Prick well all over with fork prongs and around the edge to create the classic shortbread look. 

Bake in center of preheated oven at 325F for 40 minutes or until it reaches the color of straw. Remove from oven and leave in tin for 5 minutes then cut into 8 slices. Dredge with additional caster sugar.

Best vanilla fudge EVER

I'm biased, but I think this may be the best fudge you will ever have. My grandfather used to make batches of it over Christmas and New Year much to the delight of myself, my siblings and my cousins. It uses Lyle's Golden Syrup, which is a bit of an exotic item in the USA, but can easily be obtained online or from places like World Market.

Ingredients

• 1 tin condensed milk
• 8 tablespoons warm water
• 5 oz butter, cut into small chunks
• 1.25 lbs caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons Lyle's Golden Syrup
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
• butter or olive oil to grease tin

Preparation

Grease a 10" square tin (or one of similar capacity) and set aside. 

Place condensed milk in a large thick bottomed pan (I use a 5 quart dutch oven) together with the butter, sugar, syrup and salt. Use the warm water to rinse out the condensed milk tin and add that too.

Heat gently -- do not let the mixture boil -- until all the sugar has dissolved. Check for grittiness on the bottom of the pan: once it has all gone then you may increase the heat. You want to raise the temperature to what is known as "soft ball" to those using candy thermometers, or 240F (115C) to the rest of us. (Crucial tip if you live at altitude: for every 1000' above sea level reduce the target temperature by 2F, e.g. I'm at 9000' so "soft ball" is 222F. See https://bakingwithaltitude.com/high-altitude-candy-making-tips/ for more details.) This is obviously pretty damn hot and since the fudge mixture is very sticky be careful while stirring it -- you do not want to end up slopping any of it onto yourself. And you will need to stir things periodically to prevent the fudge from catching on the bottom of the pan as it heats up. Expect the mixture to be bubbling away quite vigorously and darkening in color as it gets hotter.

Once it's reached "soft ball" stage you can test that it will set properly by dropping a little into some ice cold water. If it forms a firm soft ball that holds its shape you're golden. If you don't have a thermometer to use at all the test-in-ice-cold-water trick is a reasonable surrogate, but until you have an eye for what "ready" fudge looks like it can be an exercise in frustration as you try and wait and try and wait to get fudge that will set. I digress...

Of course, if you're feeling confident in your thermometer you can just press ahead. I know from experience that mine is trustworthy so no longer bother messing about dropping hot liquid fudge into water.

If you're at all in doubt about the fudge being ready wait a little longer as firm-extra-well-set fudge is much nicer than sloppy-will-not-ever-set fudge.

Once ready, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly (just a few minutes) and then add in your vanilla essence. Beat the mixture hard until it starts to get stiff then quickly pour into your tin. Allow to set a few minutes before cutting into small squares -- this is much easier done before the fudge sets completely.

Cheddar-Brocolli soup

• 1 tbsp + 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 lb fresh broccoli
• 1 cup carrot, julienned
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 8 oz grated mature (sharp) cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Melt 1 tbsp butter and saute onion until soft and translucent. Set aside. Melt the remaining 1/4 cup butter and when hot add flour and cook for 3 - 5 minutes. Slowly add the half-and-half a little at a time, stirring constantly to incorporate. Add the chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes. 

Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Simmer over low heat for 20 - 25 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as required. Finally add cheese and nutmeg, stir in until melted. Serve.

Chipotle chicken

This is inspired by the Chipotle chicken that used be served at the (sadly now closed) Juanita's restaurant in Boulder.

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 pint heavy cream
• chipotle chile en adobo sauce *
• chopped cilantro for garnish
• butter for frying

Trim the chicken of any excess fat, then place under plastic wrap and bash to uniform thickness with a rolling pin. In a large frying pan heat butter until melted and beginning to bubble. Add chicken and cook until browned then turn and repeat on other side. 

Now add the chipotle en adobo -- more or less depending on how hot you'd like things to turn out -- and then the heavy cream. Stir it all together and crank up the heat so the cream bubbles away and reduces. Taste the sauce when it has more or less reached the right consistency, adding salt to taste. At this point the chicken should be cooked too.

Serve with rice, beans (refried, black, whatever) and a salad. Spoon over as much of the sauce as you feel you want :-)

* Note: you can either buy chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, in which case you just need to puree before use (I do this with a little of the heavy cream) or you can make your own; recipes are all over the web and often on the packaging of dried chipotle chiles.

Home made Caesar salad dressing

Considerably tastier than Cardini's...

• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 - 5 anchovy filets packed in oil (or substitute for crispy bacon if you don't have or don't wish to use anchovy)
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• juice of 1 lemon
• a few splashes Tobasco sauce
• a few splashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 - 3 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Mince together the garlic and anchovy as finely as possible. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Ideally chill for a few hours to maximize the flavors.

If using the bacon instead of anchovy then just finely chop the garlic (or use a garlic press) and crumble in the bacon.