Raspberry Cheesecake

Sunday lunch is now getting popular at Skylark Farm so it is important to produce some delicious homemade sweets for our customers.

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Cheesecake is always a popular dessert in my opinion so once again i took a trip round google to find the best recipe. I finally found this one on the BBC Good Food website by Gordon Ramsay for a chocolate swirl cheesecake and adapted it to include fruit rather than chocolate.

You will need:
For the base
8 digestive biscuits (crushed)
25g butter

For the topping
175g caster sugar
450g soft cream cheese
2tsp vanilla essence
75ml lemon juice
175g crème fraîche
475ml double cream (stiffly whisked)
2 small punnets of raspberries

METHOD

1. Melt the butter and stir into the crushed biscuits. Press into the base of your tin, I use a standard flan dish for mine, and chill.
2. Blend together the sugar,cream cheese,vanilla,lemon and crème fraîche. Mix in the cream. Put half the raspberries in the mixture and give it a whisk. Give it a good stir so the pink colour is even throughout your mix. Using half of the 2nd punnet, cut the raspberries in half and stir into your mix. Spread evenly over your chilled biscuit base and return to the fridge.

Serve chilled with cream or ice cream

Delish!

Perfect Poached Eggs

I have never quite mastered the art of poached eggs and for the past 4 months on the farm have pulled my hair out quite often when an order has come on with the dreaded words "poached egg on toast"

It isnt just me either, both of the chefs that work with me pull their hair out too!

To help out, Sam bought a plastic device from Lakeland to cook the eggs in a microwave but, altho they cooked fine, personally i found it a bit of a pain keep checking the microwave and also that they looked quite "plastic".

So i googled results for perfect poached eggs and hey presto i found the solution!


To a pan of water i add a small amount of vinegar. Not masses else your eggs can have a sour taste.

Bring the water to just before boiling point. I crack each egg into a cup first then slide it into the water. Turn off your heat and add a lid to the saucepan, then set your timer for 4 minutes.

Remove the lid and serve - nothing could be easier!
And there you have it,

Skylark Farm's Perfect Poached Eggs!

Pecan Pie

BRITISH PIE WEEK is March 5th to 11th and at Skylark we are promoting homemade pies this week. Yesterday i gave you a savoury recipe and on todays menu is something a little sweeter!

I have never made PECAN PIE but it is a favourite dessert of mine and when i saw a recipe in "THE ULTIMATE DESSERTS COOKBOOK" i was keen to give it a try.


INGREDIENTS
For the pastry
115g/40z plain flour
50g/2oz butter, cubed
25g/1oz caster sugar
1 egg yolk

For The Filling
175g/6oz golden syrup
50g/20z dark muscovado sugar
50g/2oz butter
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2.5ml/1/2tsp vanilla essence
150g/5oz pecan nuts

METHOD
1. Place the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter cubes with your fingertips til it resembles breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar,egg yolk and about 30ml/2tbsp cold water. Mix to a dough and knead lightly on a floured surface til smooth.
2. Roll out the pastry and use to line a 20cm/8 ins loose based flan tin. Prick the base , then line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Chill for 30 mins and preheat the oven to 200degs C/ 400degs F /gas 6.
3.Bake the pastry case for 10 mins, then remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 mins.
Reduce the temperature to 180degC/350degF/gas 4.
4.Heat the syrup,sugar,and butter in a pan until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla essence and stir in the pecans.
5. Pour in the pastry case and bake for 35-40 mins until the filling is set.
Serve with cream or ice cream

Not sure the photo does it justice but i can assure you it tastes devine!

ENJOY!

British Pie Week

It's British Pie Week this week.
You can find more info on the JUS-ROL website along with lots of pie ideas.
At Skylark we have "pie of the day" on our menu so this week we are embracing British Pie Week with lots of different flavoured pies.
We began our week with CHICKEN, MUSHROOM, WHITE WINE AND STILTON pie, followed by BEEF IN RED WINE pie.
Today i chose something a little different from "THE HAIRY BIKERS PERFECT PIES book that i got for christmas. This is a brilliant book and i would definately recommend it. HAM AND LEEK POTATO TOPPED PIE.

All you need is shortcrust pastry, potatoes,leeks,ham, double cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg

Roll out your pastry and line your pie tin.

Peel and slice the potatoes then arrange a layer on the base of the pie case.

Top the potatoes with some chopped ham and cooked leeks. Add another layer of sliced potatoes.

Season your cream with salt, pepper and nutmeg and pour into your pie.

Place on a baking tray.
Bake in the oven 180 deg/160 deg fan oven/gas mark 5
for approx 45 mins until golden brown and cooked through.

Leave to stand for 10 mins to allow the cream to set more.

ENJOY!!

Farmhouse Cafe, An Update

Well it's been 4 months since i have recorded in my blog. So disappointing not to have recorded the whole journey i have been through but definately back on track now.
This has been by far the hardest job i have ever undertaken in my life but it now feels like i am starting to get in some kind of routine and things seem to be getting slightly more organised!
So many hours worked, so many tears have been shed, so many frustrations, and sooooo much tiredness but i am still here and now have the mentality now of onwards and upwards and to achieve so much more than we have already.
So we finally opened the first weekend in December.
Our cafe went from this ...... To This!!!

Then, we seated 54 and have since added more tables and now seat 73! At one point in half term last week we had 75 people enter the cafe in the space of an hour!! Boy that was hard work!

We started with 3 chefs in the kitchen. One lady left after 4 days as she couldnt cope and the other lady walked out on New Years Eve with a "clash of personality" as her reason! I worked solo for a week or so in the new year until we managed to find 2 more staff to work with me. We found 2 brilliant workers and we have now formed a great little team to go forward together as the business grows!

Work is now in progress outside so that we can have tables outside in the summer and a kids play area. Solar panels are also being installed tomorrow.

We open 9-5 seven days a week and 4 weeks ago started doing sunday lunches, which are starting to really take off.

And there you go, a quick update of how things have progressed and a promise to get the blog back on track with lots of new recipes and top tips that i've learnt over the past 4 months.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Farmers Breakfast At Skylark Farm

After weeks of waiting our opening day is almost here!
One more day of practising and preparing our menu and on Thursday we finally open to the public!
Today i prepared breakfasts and designed how they would be served.
This is the farmers breakfast for the big appetite.
This is the Peckly Breakfast for the smaller appetite.

Both come with tea and toast included in the price.

Delish!

The Finishing Touch

Often we can spend hours preparing food for guests but it can be a garnish that can really make the end result look quite spectacular. Today i'm demonstrating two such ways of wowing your dinner guests.

How To Make An Apple Swan

Take your apple and slice off the bottom 1/4. Leave to one side for later.

Sit your apple on it's now flat base and cut two wedges from each side of the apple making sure you leave a center strip about 1 centimeter wide.

From each wedge, cut another wedge.

Repeat this process again and sit them all inside each other and slide out.





From your center strip use a pointed edged knife to cut out a small rectangle.

Using the original 1/4, that you cut off the bottom slice, off the rounded end.

This is the tricky part. From your apple circle cut out the shape of a swan's neck.

Use a small piece of the red to make an eye.

Insert your swan's "neck" into the rectangular hole you made in the center strip of the apple and place wedges back where originally cut from.

And there you go an Apple Swan.

To keep from discolouring, spray with a solution of lemon and water.

How To Make A Tomato Rose

Using a sharp knife gently slice into the base of your tomato.

Without tearing the skin continue cutting round and round the tomato to form a long strip.

Start to curl the end round.

Keep winding round until it sits in the round base.

Cut semi circles of cucumber to sit at the base to look like leaves.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and give it a go yourself.

I'm entering this post in the Handmade Monday blog hop organised by Wendy of 1st Unique Gifts. Pop along to see what other crafters have been up to this week.

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