Another quick and easy bread recipe …

… of the “no yeast” variety.

There's only one word for this loaf – scrumptious!

Cheese & Pecan loaf

60g Parmesan cheese, grated

350g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch cayenne pepper

125g mature cheddar cheese, cut

into small cubes

60g chopped pecan nuts (or walnuts

if preferred)

4 spring onions, trimmed and chopped

250ml full fat milk

1 large egg

170ml tub of sour cream

salt and black pepper

900g (2lb) loaf tin, well buttered and

lined

Pre-heat your oven 180c/160fan/Gas 4

Sprinkle half the grated Parmesan cheese into the loaf tin to coat the base and sides.

Mix the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper, 1 tsp salt and lots of black pepper into a large bowl. Mix in the cheddar cubes, nuts and spring onions.

In a separate bowl whisk the milk, egg and cream together then fold into the dry ingredients.

Spoon in the loaf tin, smooth the top and sprinkle with the remaining grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 50/55 minutes until golden brown – skewer test i.e. insert skewer into loaf, on removal should be clean. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, turn out and transfer to a rack to cool.

Serve warm with lots of butter.

You could serve as part of a breakfast, a brunch, a snack or just because it's scrumptious!

Then there's a muffin loaf ...

Whilst I'm on the subject of bread … hints and tips

Before you have a go at baking the bread here's the helpful stuff that the recipe doesn't mention.

I used mature cheddar cheese in the mix and unsalted butter, melted, to brush the crust.

The beauty of this recipe is that you don't handle the bread mix and so no need to knead – sorry, couldn't resist. Use a round bladed knife to bring it together.

Use a 2lb loaf tin 9x5½x3” (in old money) – 900g approximately 23x13x7cms (in new money). Grease and line the loaf tin, even if it is non-stick. You could use a cake or loaf liner – if you do then spray the liner with Fry Light sunflower oil. It takes away all the heavy duty washing up of your loaf tin.

Turn the loaf tin after 20 minutes to make sure you get an even crust.

Let the loaf cool.

Most people are addicted to chocolate and all things sweet – give me a thick slice of good bread spread with quality butter and a lump of cheese any day.

The loaf is quite dense, cheesy with a slightly sweet background. It might sound strange but it's excellent. I thought the Soda Bread loaf was the easiest and quickest I'd ever made – this loaf is quicker still.

Just in case you've forgotten the “raising agents” are the yeast in the beer and in the self-raising flour.

Now for another quick and easy bread recipe of the “no yeast” variety!

Whilst I'm on the subject of bread ...

 … here's another quick and easy bread recipe which is perfect as part of a Ploughman's Lunch. It uses beer and self-raising flour as the raising agents and I warn you it's delicious and moreish!

Beer Bread

Serves 6-8

100g cheddar cheese

375g self-raising flour

3 tbsp caster sugar

330ml ale, such as India Pale Ale

20g butter, melted (optional)

You will need a 2lb loaf tin – makes one 2lb loaf

Preheat the oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4.

Grate the cheddar cheese into a mixing bowl. Sift in the flour and the sugar, then mix well. Then, slowly pour in the beer, mixing as you go, until the mixture comes together to form a wet dough.

Pour the dough mixture into a greased loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the bread is risen and golden brown. To check if the bread is cooked all the way through, tap the bottom with your knuckles – it should sound hollow. During the remaining 4-5 minutes of cooking you can brush the crust of the bread with the melted butter, if preferred.

after adding the beer

ready for the oven

before the melted butter

fingers itching – leave to cool

just add butter to sample – worth the wait!

You might want to have a glance at the Hints and Tips coming next before you have a go ...

I forgot to mention …

… as part of the sharing plates I made soda bread – two loaves – one to be eaten over the weekend and one for Brian to take home – it's his favourite and so a treat!

It's a while since I've made it so here's a refresher for you :

Soda bread

170g self raising wholemeal flour

170g plain flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

290ml buttermilk – you may need

an extra drop and so purchase in a 300ml pot

is convenient

semolina for sprinkling and dusting

Pre heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Tip the flours, salt and bicarb into a large bowl and mix.

Make a well in the centre, pour in 290ml of buttermilk and mix quickly with a large fork until you have a soft dough formed. You may need an extra drop if your dough is too stiff but take care it should not be too wet or sticky.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.

Form the dough into a round a flatten slightly. Place on a lightly floured baking sheet. You can use flour or semolina

Slice an “x” on the top of the loaf sprinkle with a little semolina and bake for 30 minutes – the base should sound hollow when tapped.

Just to confuse the issue I've found buttermilk in different weights. A low fat version weighing 284ml and a full fat version weighing 300ml.

This bread makes great toast too!

Another easy peasy and inexpensive treat.

Whilst I'm on the subject of bread ...

The Tartlet filling

4-500g mashed potato

1 tsp Dijon mustard

3 generous handfuls of grated

Gruyere, Red Leicester and Mature Cheddar Cheese

black pepper

sprinkle of dried parsley

This is perfect for leftover mash or perhaps a good reason to cook more than you would use!

Mix the Dijon mustard and black pepper into the mash, add the cheeses, cover and fridge until you're ready to use.

Remove the bagged tartlets from the freezer and fridge on the morning of the day you want them.

Fill each tartlet with the mash mixture and top with a sprinkle of parsley, it should be generous and irregular.

Pre-heat oven to 200c/180fan/Gas 6 and a baking sheet.

Cook for 20/25 minutes until the tips of the mash are golden brown.

Serve with the Sharing Plates.

Any leftover cheesy mash can be frozen for another day.

It's providence – I must have known how useful they'd be – they were a huge hit and I'll definitely be making the tartlet cases for stashing in my freezer!

Coming up … ideas for the Tartlet cases

The Tartlet recipe

… I'm ignoring the weather forecast and pressing on regardless.

This is where my freezer came into its own – a little while ago I experimented with tartlet cases, bagged them, uncooked ready for filling and into “the store cupboard” aka my freezer they went, for another day.

Here it is – a tartlet case made from wholemeal flour and blitzed walnuts and Parmesan cheese, which I thought would make a perfect receptacle for anything that took my fancy!

The Tartlet recipe

200g plain wholemeal flour

pinch of baking powder

75g unsalted butter

25g Parmesan cheese, finely grated

50g walnuts, finely blitzed

ice cold water

Using a small Kenwood mini food processor, blitz the walnuts.

Using a standard size food processor place the flour, baking powder and butter and blitz until you have breadcrumbs, then add the Parmesan cheese and blitzed walnuts to combine. Add a drop of ice cold water and blitz again until the pastry comes together (do not over blitz). Tip the pastry out onto a sheet of clingfilm, using the film gather the pastry together into a ball and fridge for at least 30 minutes.

After resting the pastry, lightly flour a work surface with a little wholemeal flour, roll out, using a 10cm fluted cutter cut 6 shapes to the thickness of a pound coin and line the tart tins, pressing gently to the the edges. Bag and freeze, uncooked.

10cm fluted cutter

10x2.5cm tart tin

… now for the filling

In the face of adversity … crack on

I must have known about the snow – only because the dessert I had planned was similar to the Christmas Sundae and only one element needs to be prepped!

This dessert is a variation on a theme … but this time it's lemon.

You'll need :

Spring Sundae

Lemon drizzle cake or Madeira will do just as well

Lemon syrup – see recipe below

Sicilian Lemon Curd – courtesy of M&S

Amaretti biscuits crushed – roughly 25g per person

Swedish Glacé ice cream

Limoncello Liqueur – optional

You can make your own cake if you prefer – you're going to soak it in lemon syrup.

Using the same sundae dish as for the Christmas Sundae, begin to build. One standard slice of cake per person, cut into small pieces, drizzle lemon syrup over the cake then add a dessert spoon of lemon curd in the centre, add one scoop of ice cream and top it with the crushed Amaretti biscuits.

If you want an adult version, pour a shot of Limoncello over the ice cream, before sprinkling the Amaretti biscuits.

Here's the syrup recipe :

Lemon syrup

200g icing sugar, sifted

8 tblsp lemon juice

To make the syrup place the lemon juice and icing sugar into a small saucepan and heat gently so that the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.

This will give you 300ml approx of syrup.

Sifting the sugar ensures it dissolves evenly, no lumps required!

This is the most versatile syrup, here's a few extra ideas :

A Soft drink, a drop of syrup in a tall glass, top with chilled soda water and just swizzle.

Spiked – add a generous drop of Limoncello liqueur.

Sparkling and special – for that celebration - add a drop in a Champagne flute or a Martini glass, top with Prosecco, swizzle and enjoy.

I can make it ahead and freeze it – if you'll pardon the pun!

Will they make it … Friday morning and many of the roads are blocked in the Peak District – after a blizzard to begin our day in Northamptonshire it's clearing.

It's lunchtime and in what seems like an interminable length of time and toing and froing I'm delighted to report that Whizzer and Brian are on their way, ETA 4.30pm, via the M6.

Happy Spring time!

Next up the Three cheese and potato tartlet recipe …