Loligo Blog

A blog on Photography, Cooking, Programming, Alchohol Making... Contact me at Blog@loligo.co.uk

Christmas Cake Truffles

clock December 10, 2008 00:02 by author Mark Compton

 

Christmas Cake Truffles

In order to make these loverly treats you first need to get hold some un-used fruit cake or christmas cake, or like me you can try to make a christmas cake, burn it a bit, then drop it on the sideboard by accident and watch it fall to pieces..  then after crying for a while and wonder what you've done wrong to deserve this, you realise there is a bright side to the story :)  never let old cake go to waste heh.  

   

Ingredients for this Recipe
(This made roughly 17 Truffles.)

200g Milk Chocolate 
(I used cheapo asda stuff, but would imagine that a nicer chocolate would yield a better result)
150g Fruit Cake, Crumbled
30g Butter
15ml Cointreau (or other orange liquer)
1 Tbsp Cocoa (and some extra for dusting)

Instructions

For this you'll need a mixing bowl, scales, bowl and saucepan.


    

First of all ensure all your cake is crumbled up nicely, I did this with my hands, and not just because I like the feel of fruit cake heh, but it also allowed me to check for burnt fruit lol.

When it's all broken up nicely pour over the cointreau and mix it in well (as well as you can lol) 

add a Tablespoon of Cocoa, it's not needed, but I'm using cheap chocolate lol.

 

 

     Now melt your chocolate in a bowl resting on a saucepan of water, ensuring the water isn't touching the bowl.  when the chocolate is nice and melty, add in the butter and keep stirring.
 
When the butter has all melted it will start going forming a stiff paste, this is fine, we want this :)  take it off the heat now, trying not to burn yourself, which I only say because I burnt myself several times lol.
 
Add all the chocolate into the cakemix (don't lick the metal spoon.. it's hot lol.. yes, burnt again..)

give it a good stirring until it's all looking nice and mixed.
 
now grab little handfulls of it and form them into little balls,

You can dust them in cocoa, although it doesn't really dust as you can see... so kinda just coats them lol

place them on a baking sheet and put them in the fridge to go hard.

No idea how long these will last, but if your cake had as much booze in it as mine did, they should last a month in an airtight container..

 

   


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Chilli Bean Soup

clock December 4, 2008 07:39 by author Mark Compton

 

Chilli Bean Soup

This soup requires a little preparation if your using dried beans, which I do, cause you can get so many more different types of bean.  Basically, I went to asda and grabbed a packet of each bean, then mixed them all together in a tub, now I have mixed beans, yay.  I'm using them for all sorts of things, curries, Chilli with different beans and soups too.  

This particular soup I made after a recommendation from my good friend Stan to just make a watery chilli if you want a bean soup..  sorted :)  so I took my basic Chilli recipe and made a few amendments, the results were fantastic, probably the best soup I've ever made.  

   

Ingredients for this Recipe
(This made roughly 4 bowls of soup, of which I ate 3 heh.)

50g Dried Mixed Beans
(I can't remember what all the beans were called, but in there was Kidney, Haricot, Black eye pea, Pinto, Chick pea and a few others that looked cool lol)
1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes 
1 Tbsp Tomato Puree
1 Pint Chicken Stock
1 Onion
2 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 1/2 Tsp Ground Coriander
1 Tsp Paprika
1 Tsp Sweet Paprika
1 Tsp Smoked Paprika
1 Tsp Mild Chilli Powder
1 Tsp Hot Chilli Powder
1/2 Tsp Different Hot Chilli Powder
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Crushed Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp Turmeric
1/2 Tsp Coriander Leaf
1/2 Tsp Basil
1/4 Tsp Thyme
1/4 Tsp Oregano
1/4 Tsp Mint
2 Bay Leaves

a Little Cream, if you like.. it's great without, but better with a little dash :)

Yes, I know that's a lot of stuff.  but this is a nice Chilli Soup.  My chilli recipe isn't far off this, but with the addition of wine and lot more cooking, and some fresh chilli's and Mince etc.

and I use different Paprika and Chilli because each one has a different flavour.

Instructions

First of all your going to have to prepare 24 hours in advance, the Beans need soaking..  unless you intend to use canned ones, then you don't have too.. You'll need a processor or hand blender if you don't want it lumpy.


     So, Put your beans in enough water to cover and cope with the fact that they will swell.  leave them in the fridge for at least 12 hours, or overnight.  These are going to take another Hour to finish cooking, so when your about to start preparing the meal for cooking (the following day) Drain and rinse them, then put them in some fresh water in a saucepan.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for an hour, ensuring it doesn't boil dry. 
 
It's a good idea to have all the spices in a single tub ready to throw in, along with the can of toms open and the chicken stock..  

Chop the onion as small as you can, and put a big saucepan on the hob on a high heat with the Vegetable Oil in, when it's heated up throw in the onions and stir fry until brown.

When they are browned quickly throw in all the spices, and stir very quickly, ie seconds..  then throw in the chopped tomatoes before all the spices burn heh.
stir this all in and make sure it's mixed, don't let it get dry,
after a quick stir throw in the Chicken Stock and the tomato puree. give it a stir then bring to the boil.
after it comes to a boil, give it a final stir, reduce the heat to a simmer and leave with the lid on to cook for a about 40 minutes. 

Don't forget to check your beans, they need about an hour..  if they finish before you've finished cooking the soup, don't worry, we add them soon heh..
 
After 40 minutes, assuming the beans were cooking for 20 minutes prior to starting the 40 minute timer. if the beans have not had long enough, don't panic, just reduce the heat on the soup and let it simmer till the beans are done.

Once the beans are done, drain and wash them. Don't add them to the soup yet.

Grab your hand blender, give the soup a blitz until it's nice and smooth.  now return to the heat.  

if it's looking too thick, add a little more water or chicken stock.

add all the cooked beans in (I also added a few bits of sweetcorn too, but not needed, I just like it heh.)  now let it cook on a low heat for another 15-20 minutes.  

Once the 15-20 has passed it's done, put it in a dish, and serve with a swirl of cream, if you can manage that, I failed and just had a random splash heh.
 

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Banana Muffins

clock November 27, 2008 00:55 by author Mark Compton

 

Banana Muffins

What do you do with all those old banana's you get left over??  I hate throwing them away, so today converted a few of them into loverly Banana muffins.  and I know they don't look as good as those muffins in the shops, but my oven being a fan oven tends to blow em into funny shapes..  still taste good though :)

 

Ingredients for this Recipe
(for 12 Muffins)

250g Self Raising Flour
80g Melted Butter (I tend to use 50g butter, 30g Margerine, but only cause I'm stingy)
140g White Sugar 
Pinch Salt 
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Vanilla Flavouring
2 Eggs
120Ml Milk
3 small bananas or 2 large ones

Instructions

You'll need a weighing scales, muffin tin, muffin cases and a food processor (or a big bowl and a good arm heh)


  First Mash up your banana in a bowl on it's own, looks great don't it heh. Try not to spoon this into a sandwich and eat it, you'll be needing this for your muffins.
 
 
 Mix up all the dry ingredients briefly, just to make sure all the powders are mixed up and you don't get clumps of cinnamon or anything.
 
   Now melt the butter and add into the processor (or bowl if your doing it the hard way lol)
add in the milk, vanilla, eggs and process until it mixes up nicely (this will not take long.)
 
   When it's mixed, throw in the banana and give it a quick stir, you don't want to cut up all the banana, so just a quick whizz or a quick stir to get it mixed in.  It should hopefully look something like the photo shown by now :)  if it's too thick then add a little more milk, too runny then add a little more flour.
 
   Now you need to turn your oven on, put it on about 180, you may have to play around with this, all ovens seem to be different.  so you may need a few trial runs to find out what your oven likes.  
Spoon the mix evenly into 12 cases and put in the oven for about 20 mins, or until golden on top.
 
  

When you think they are done you can given them a quick test with a skewer to make sure they are cooked inside.  You'll know if they are done if the skewer comes out clean, and not covered in un-cooked mix.  be aware with these muffins that sometimes the skewer looks like it has uncooked mix on, when it has in fact got banana on it heh. fooled me a few times :)

If they are done, they put them out on to a cooling rack and try not to burn yourself when you try to eat it straight out of the oven.  You know you will.. I still do, i'll never learn..


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Apple and Cucumber Relish

clock November 24, 2008 02:15 by author Mark Compton

 

Apple and Cucumber Relish

I had a ton of cucumbers left over from our trip to the market last week, our family is rather large, so we buy in bulk between us and divide it up, you get a ton of stuff and at an excellent price, but also means you sometimes get 6 cucumbers you don't know what to do with :)

Well this week, along with a few apples left over too I decided to make a little relish, this could be used as a dip, or alongside a curry maybe. 

   

 

Ingredients for this Recipe
(This is for 2 x 250ml Jars )

4 Cucumbers (Roughly 400g after peeling and seeding)
4-5 Apples (Roughly 300g after peeling and seeding)
3/4 Pint Vineger (I just used brown pickling vineger)
1/4 Pint Water
100g White Sugar
100g Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1/2 Tsp Chilli Powder
1 Tsp Ground Ginger

Instructions

You'll need a saucepan with a lid, and also either a hand blender or food processor.  you may be able to do this with a potato masher, but you'll have a few lumps left in it, it'll still taste nice though :)


Peel, De-seed and Dice the apple and Cucumbers and place them in a cooking pot 
 
  Add the Vinegar, Water, Sugar, Spices into the pot and put the saucepan on a high heat, bring to boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.

Leave to simmer, stirring occasionaly for about 30 minutes.

Whilst this is simmering, prepare the 2 empty jars.  Wash them and sterilize them.  I use sterilizing powder with warm water, it's the same sterilizing powder used for my brewing.
 
  After 30 mins the cucumber and apple should become more translucent than white, now get your hot jars and spoon the mix into them.  Put the lids on and leave to cool.

Loverley :)
 

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Red Wine :)

clock November 22, 2008 13:53 by author Mark Compton

Well today I made up a bit of Red wine out of some grapes I found growing in my garden :)  

was a simple process, although it's likely to come out more a rosé than a red I think.

following the guide written in the Cider/Wine Section to make this, so won't go into full detail, but do have some pics of some of the stages to help.

There was roughly 400g of red grapes, which is just enough to make a gallon of red wine, cause you put a lot of water in it heh.

so, first step is wash your grapes off and chuck em in a sauce pan, then cover them with water and smash em up.
It looked kinda gross, but hey, if it's alcoholic I don't mind heh :) 

Then I put it on the stove on high heat until boiling, remove any of the scum and reduce to a simmer.
I now leave it simmering for about 20 mins.  Look at the colour, fantastic eh :)  (well the red colour, not the scum that's not yet been removed lol.)

After 20 mins of simmering, I add 200g of sugar and fill the pot up to the top with water, simmer and stir for a few minutes, then turn the heat off and leave to cool for about an hour.

I then strain the liquid off and throw away the skins and stuff, leaving me with a nice, very sweet liquid :)  it's quite nice at this stage, and it should be very sweet.  if it's not then you may need more sugar.

Before putting in the demijohn it must be cooled, so make sure it isn't hot still before popping it in.
at this stage I also may take a reading on the hydrometer to check what the OG is, mine was a little low for a Wine at about 1.040, so I added more sugar to push it up to around 1.090.  which should leave us with a wine around 11-12%

If adding more sugar it's usually best to mix it up with water first, but you can add it straight to the demijohn and stir it around until it's all dissolved.

ok, when all your liquid is in the demijohn you may need to top it up with water to about the mark shown in this photo, you need to leave space for any frothing etc that the yeast will cause. 

*Note: If you add more water this will adjust your OG, so take another reading.

today is day one for my wine, so I've popped in a crushed Campden tablet to destroy any natural yeasts that might be present.

You then need to fill the airlock with Vodka or water (I only ever use water, not had an issue yet.) then stick the airlock in the demijohn.

so in 24 hours I'll add Yeast, Yeast Nutrient, Pectolase and Citric acid into the demijohn and watch the storm brewing :)

Hopefull in about six months time I'll be able to tell you what it's like.

 

However, I also bottled up a gallon of elderberry wine today, and I have to say, it's the most fantastic wine I've made so far.  

The elderberry wine was made pretty much in the same way as this red wine, berry pulled off the bush, crushed in some water and boiled, sugar added, popped in a demijohn.. hey presto 3 months later I have 6 Bottles of fantastic elderberry wine at 11.2% Vol (ABV)

 


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Shooting Water droplet with the Loligo Nikon Tether.

clock November 20, 2008 11:57 by author Mark Compton

No recipe today again, I know I'm a slacker.. I did actually cook, but made a pie using some pastry that was made for me by my mother on the weekend, it's a "Secret recipe" although I know it now, so will reveal all when I attempt to recreate it :)

So, i've decided to talk about shooting water droplets and how I achieved the above photo.

 

This was actually a very simple setup, a pan of water, a desklamp, some card to reflect light, and some paper to create a kinda snoot for the on camera flash.

The setup looked like this: 

 
although that's not the lens that was in use at the time, I was using a Nikon Micro old manual focus thing that I got off ebay for about £80.  nice :)  it's a fantastic lens, and if you like the idea of macro photos a cheap ebay lens is a nice starting point.. and manual focus really doesn't cause you grief.
 
So, how was it done, apart from clicking the shutter and hoping for the best..  well, I also had a water dropper that I dropped continuous drops of water into a location that I had focussed the lens onto previously.  and then I wrote a program called Loligo Nikon Tether, which although it currently has the name Nikon in it, I recon it'll work with other cameras considering that I just wrote something that can talk to the camera via PTP (Photo transfer protocol).  so one of the options in this application is to trigger the camera, which is handy :) so I set the camera to fire every 5 seconds so that I could concentrate on dropping water in the correct location :)  much easier..  the Tether application also has the ability to transfer the pic back to the pc and show you a preview of the pic.  
 
The Desklamp was providing some light, and the flash was providing the rest via the snooted on camera flash (the paper wrapped up badly is a snoot heh) 
 
I put the camera on the fastest it would allow with the flash switched on, and let my program go :) 
 
So after taking roughly 500 photos, which happens pretty quick when taking one every 5 seconds lol.  I had a tinker around, found a few favourites and cleaned them up a little, then added a bit of a blue tint, cause I like blue :)
 
The program was written in .net 3.5  so if you want to have a play with it you'll need that runtime.
You also need to create a directory of C:\tethered_Out (for auto transferring)
you'll need to connect your camera via usb before starting the app. 
also if using Vista it seems to have a limitation of only supporting Jpg, so you'll have to set your camera to shoot raw and jpg if it's a nikon.  if your on xp you may be lucky enough for it to find the raws.  but i've only used this on Vista.
 
*Disclaimer* This is very much an alpha piece of software, use it at your own risk. it's not my fault if it somehow destroys your machine, camera or anything else related to you in any way lol.. 
 
 
Enjoy, and keep clicking heh.  it's all about practice, and knowing that out of hundreds of photos, you might get a few good uns :) 
 

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New Page Added - Pocket PC Games

clock November 19, 2008 05:52 by author Mark Compton

Due to being lazy today, I didn't cook food, I actually had cheese on crackers heh, very nice, but i'm sure I don't need to explain how to put that together, or do I...  heh.

Anyways, todays update is actually to notify of an addition to the "website", which is the Pocket PC games, this is the first addition of downloadable items created by myself.. this page contains a few of the Pocket PC games that I wrote, which you are now able to download for free from this page Here

The games are quite simple, all feature high score tables to compete against yourself, or friends (yourself.. who else plays on your Pocket PC???)

Have a play with them, they are all quite simple and fun (in my opinion.. cause I wrote em heh)

 

I'm currently in the process of converting these games to run embedded on a web page, so if you don't have a Pocket PC, don't fret, they will be available at some point :)

 

Over the next few days i'll try and get more downloads available, I have a selection of random programs I've created that someone may find a use for, which range from Large File Reader, Nikon Thethering Application, Alarm Clock, Small Media Centre Alternative, and many other random things I decide might be a good idea heh.  I'm also in the process of writing some PC games, so if I ever get any of those finished or at least playable they will be appearing on here too :)

 


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Leek and Potato Soup

clock November 18, 2008 08:35 by author Mark Compton

 

Leak and Potato Soup

Tonights meal was Leek and Potato soup, fantastic for the winter, I do love it :)
Lots of people cut off the green parts of a leek and just use the white, but what a waste.. I like my soup looking a bit green :)

but if you don't, then just use the white part.

 

Ingredients for this Recipe
(This is for 1 person, 2 at a stretch )

1/2 a Leek (Roughly 150g)
2 small ish potatoes (Roughly 250g)
1 Pint Chicken Stock ( I currently use the cheap Tesco ones to save my pennies, substitute with Vegetable Stock if you don't eat Chickens heh)
Salt and Pepper
a Knob of butter (roughly 20g)
Milk - I used about 100ml, but you can adjust this to how much you like, or use cream instead, which is yummy :)

Instructions

You'll need a saucepan with a lid, and also either a hand blender or food processor.  you may be able to do this with a potato masher, but you'll have a few lumps left in it, it'll still taste nice though :)

Slice your Leeks into roughly 1/2cm wide rings 
 
put the saucepan on a high heat(not the highest) and add the knob of butter to the pan and let it melt
 
When the butter has melted and started sizzling, add in the leaks, now cover the pan with a lid and let it "sweat" whilst your chopping potatoes
 
Dice the potatoes into 1cm squares or smaller, it doesn't matter too much how tidy this is cause your going to process em, if you can be bothered, cut them smaller they will cook down faster.
I also leave the skins on because it makes the soup have a more "earthy" flavour which I quite like, but you might not like this and it's not "traditional" so you might want to remove the skins. I'm also too lazy for that, so i'll use the excuse that it's for fibre :)
 
add the pint of stock and the diced potatoes to the pan, now reduce the heat slightly and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes.
after 30 minutes it should look like this photo.
 
Now it's time to take the blender to it, keep blending it till it's all nice and smooth, once it's looking good it's time to add salt and pepper (a dash of each to taste), and add in the milk/cream of which I use about 100ml but you'll have to play with this to find how you like it.

and your done :) serve up into a dish and enjoy.

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And it begins.

clock November 18, 2008 00:09 by author Mark Compton

This is the start of the Loligo Blog, here we are planning on blogging and providing various bits of information on a combination of subjects including Photography, Home Brewing, Programming, Games and Cooking.

All of the information provided here is based on experience rather than hunting around the net for random information.  Everything posted will have been tried and tested, and the results both good and bad will be recorded.  

So welcome to the blog :) we hope you enjoy your time with us.

 


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