Tip #1: Peeling Almonds.

Peeling almonds looks tricky, because those skins grab hold of the nut like nobody’s business…

…until you boil them.

You need three times as much water as almonds. Once you’ve heated the water to a rolling boil, throw in the almonds. After 90 seconds, pick out one almond (carefully!) and squeeze it between your thumb and forefinger. If the skin starts to come off, the almonds are done (if not, leave them in there for another 20 seconds or so). Drain in a colander and immediately flood with cold water.

Once the almonds are cool enough to touch, you can squeeze them to get the skins off. Be careful, they’ll fly out of their skins if you squeeze too hard (and the cats will end up playing with peeled almonds on the kitchen floor for the next week).

 

Tequila Smoothies

It's Spring in Beantown, and Brown Mummy likes to increase her uptake of colourful fruit when the sun comes out. The best way to do that is with a smoothie.

Even better, a tequila smoothie.
(Pedants among you may point out this is a "margarita", but I say pshaaaw, it's a smoothie).

You will need:
1/2 cup of frozen strawberries
1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
1/2 cup of frozen dark cherries
1/2 cup tequila
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
Margarita mix (optional)
Fresh oranges, limes and lemons to decorate

You can play around with the quantity of tequila, and you can also change the kinds of frozen berries in the smoothie. Add frozen berries, cherries, tequila, orange juice and a dash of margarita mix (if using) into a blender. Blend until smooth.

The beauty of this recipe is that you don't need to add ice - the frozen fruit contains all the ice required!

Pour into a pretty glass, and add wedges of lime, lemon and orange to serve.

Happy Spring, everyone!

West African Pepper Chicken Soup with Corn Pancakes (modified from the Hairy Bikers)

 

Soup:                                                           Pancakes:

1 litre/33 fl. oz. fresh chicken stock            250g/9 oz plain flour

2 medium white onions, chopped               1 tsp baking powder

3 carrots, cubed                                           1 tsp salt

2 tbsp tomato paste                                     2 tbsp chilli flakes

1½ tsp curry powder                                   350ml/12 fl oz milk

2 chicken bouillon cubes, crumbled           1 egg

4 tbsp dried chilli flakes                              275g/10 oz canned corn

4 tsp (heaped) cayenne pepper                    4 scallions, finely chopped

3 tsp vegetable oil                                       vegetable oil, for frying

2 chicken breasts

2 chicken legs, separated into thighs and drumsticks

3 large potatoes, peeled and roughly cubed

Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Pour yourself a large glass of wine (we love boxed rosé!).

Boil chicken stock in a half-quart saucepan. Reduce to a simmer, and add onions and carrots. We found we had slightly too many onions, so you may want to reduce the quantity, depending on your tastebuds.

While the soup broth is simmering, mix together the tomato paste, curry powder, crumbled bouillon cubes, chilli flakes and cayenne pepper. You can also use fresh chillies, chopped finely, and any other aromatic spices. Play around with it. It will seem a little intense – that’s ok, as it will all dissolve into the soup. If your cats are driving you crazy, as ours were, boop their paws with something cat-friendly…

Heat your oil in a large heavy-based pan. Add the chicken, and fry for two minutes on each side, until browned on both sides. Add your spicy spicy paste, until the chicken is coated completely. Cover your pan with a splatter-guard, or else face the wrath of a spitting pan!

Pour the onion-carrot-stock broth over the chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 10 minutes further, until the potatoes are tender. Leave the heat on the lowest setting while you prepare pancakes.

This is a good time to get another glass of wine ;)

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together into a large bowl, adding chilli flakes, and mixing well. Whisk milk and egg into dry ingredients, and let the batter stand for a few minutes. We found the batter to be a little too runny, so Red Mommy cleverly added more flour, before adding corn and scallions.

Heat some vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan, then drop big spoonfuls of mixture into the pan, leaving a gap between each pancake. When the top of the pancakes begins to bubble, flip, and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.

Let each pancake drain on kitchen paper, and keep them covered and warm while you cook the rest of the batter. You should have enough for 10 pancakes.

To serve, ladle soup into warm bowls (the chicken will want to fall off the bones), and put all the pancakes on a large plate in the centre of your table. This soup will warm you to your SOUL. Eat, drink and be merry!