Breakfast Muesli Muffins

Originally this was a banana bread recipe but I tweaked it to work for muffins

1-1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

2tsp Baking Powder

pinch of salt

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups of mashed bananas

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1-1/2 cups of muesli cereal

1 cup walnuts

optional any fresh fruit that needs to be used up I often use fruit salad left over after breakfast!

Method

Put all dry ingredients into a bowl. In a separate bowl mix eggs, fruit, mashed bananas and oil together.

Combine wet with dry ingredients. The final mixture should be quite wet, you can add some milk if it seems dry

Grease a muffin tin with some margarine and divide mixture – Bake for about 20 minutes at 180C

Fruit that works well include Pineapples, apples, grapes, raspberries and blue berries.

Camillaun Lodge Classic baked Crab Starter

One of our most popular starters, which can also make a lovely lunch served with a crispy salad and a nice glass of white wine.

The recipe is very straight forward:

  • 1oz butter
  • 1 small onion skinned and finely chopped
  • 8oz white crab meat or white and brown mixed
  • 2oz fresh breadcrumbs
  • 2 level tsp of French mustard
  • 5 oz natural yoghurt
  • 3 tbsp of milk or cream
  • cayenne pepper
  • salt
  • 2 oz of cheddar cheese grated

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan, add onions and fry until golden brown
  2.  Flake the crabmeat, taking care to remove any shell. Mix the onion, crabmeat and breadcrumbs well together
  3.  Stir in the mustard with the yoghurt and cream.
  4.  Sprinkle generously with cayenne pepper, add salt to taste
  5.  Spoon the mixture into 6 lightly buttered ramekin dishes, sprinkle the grated cheese on top
  6. Stand the dishes in a baking tray. Bake in oven at 170C for 20 minutes
  7. Garnish with a slice of lemon
  8. Serve with Melba toast

This recipe works very well with smoked haddock too, just poach the haddock lightly allow to cool and flake it like the crab

To Make Melba Toast:

Preheat the grill on high, toast the bread lightly on both sides. Cut off the crusts, slide a sharp knife between the toasted edges to split the bread.

Cut each piece into 4 triangles, then toast under the grill, untoasted side uppermost until golden brown and the edges curl.

Elderflower Cordial

It’s Midsummer’s Day today and as I look out my kitchen window I see the Elderflower in wonderful bloom.  One of the great summer treats is Elderflower Cordial.

This recipe was given to me by Justin Green, it is very simple and does not require any additional preserving agents other than sugar and lemon juice but it does need to be consumed over the summer, which is never a problem in my house!

  • 6 heads of elderflowers
  • 175g(6oz) caster sugar
  • 600ml (1 pint) cold water
  • zest and juice of 2 unwaxed lemons

Put the sugar and water in a  large saucepan over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, shake out the  and rinse lightly under a cold tap

Add the elderflowers to the hot sugar solution and boil for 5 minutes, remove from the heat and add the zest and juice of the lemons. Leave aside to cool and infuse for 24 hours. Strain and bottle. Dilute to test

Serving suggestions

It is a very refreshing drink if diluted with sparkling water.

It also make a great dessert by poaching pears in the cordial and then serve them with good vanilla ice cream yummy!!

Deirdre