Share your family recipes to win a copy of Rachel Allen's Recipes From My Mother PLUS a £100 Lakeland voucher

[SorchaMumsnet]

Full of warmth and nostalgia, Rachel Allen's Recipes from My Mother is a book of culinary inspiration passed down through the generations. To celebrate, we're asking you to share your own family recipes.

Rachel’s food is heart-warming. She uses gorgeous ingredients in abundance to create comforting, vibrant meals. Her love of food started when she was very young, sitting in the kitchen with her mother, helping and tasting. Her mother taught her their Scandi family recipes, as well as those she picked up from living in Ireland. Rachel became more and more passionate about food as she grew up, and she drew inspiration from her childhood memories of helping her mother cook and sitting around with her family enjoying delicious meals and treats.

In Recipes from My Mother, Rachel celebrates the food memories of her childhood, alongside those of friends and other members of her family. Packed with much-loved recipes and stunning photography, this is the book to make you fall back in love with cooking.

One of our favourite recipes from the book is the mouth-watering Mother's Plum Shortcake. See how to make it for yourself.

For a chance to win a copy of the cookbook and a £100 Lakeland voucher, just share the recipes that have been passed down to you from your mother or family.

This discussion is sponsored by HarperCollins and will end on midday, 29 March

Books T&Cs apply

I wish I had listened more to my mother when she tried to teach me about cooking! One thing she did teach me was how to cook perfect rice. Wash rice first in cold water. Use the ratio of one part rice to one and a half parts water. Put the rice and water in a pan with the lid mostly on. Put the heat on medium high, turn down when bubbling. As soon as all the water is absorbed, turn the heat off and put the lid on pan. The rice will stay warm for a while. Works every time!

Oaty cookies

250g unsalted butter (room temp to soften)
250g light brown soft sugar
2 eggs
2-4 tsp vanilla
About 390g porridge oats
150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
A bit more cinnamon than seems sensible
200-400g chocolate chunks or sultanas or whatever

heat oven to 180c/fan 160
cream butter & sugar together in large bowl.
beat in eggs & vanilla
add oats, flour, baking powder & cinnamon & mix until well combined.
stir in chocolate/sultanas & mix well.
divide into blobs about the size of walnuts & space well apart on baking sheets lined with baking paper & press down lightly.
bake for 15-20mins until golden at the edges.

what a lovely concept for a recipe book. My big regret is not learning to cook more dishes from my mother. One of the meals she did make was an amazing okra stew (before okra became fashionable again).

Her measurements are all over the place but here is the recipe exactly as she wrote it:
1 pound okra
1 pound beef steak
1 onion
4 tbsp tomato puree
oil or butter
salt, pepper
4 cups rice
a pinch of saffron

1. peel and chop the onion. fry in oil. cut meat to pieces and add the meat. add salt and pepper to test (she meant taste!)

1. In a separate pan, fry the okra and add the tomato puree to it.

1. Bring all the ingredients together, add some water and simmer until most of the water has evapourated.

1. Cook the rice and pour over some melted butter which has had ground saffron mixed into it.

Serve with a green salad and plain yogurt.

I always used to bake cakes with my mom. My favourite recipe and one that I now cook with my DC is flapjacks.

You need:
8oz margarine
4 oz sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
12 oz porridge oats
2 oz plain flour
2 handfuls of crushed cornflakes
4 oz sultanas
Whatever else is in cupboard such as pecans, glacé cherries etc

Melt fat, sugar and syrup over a low heat until dissolved. Stir in remaining ingredients. Put in a greased baking tray and sprinkle with sugar. Cook for 15-20 minutes at gas mark 4. Cut into bars and leave to set.

simple lemon cake
200g sugar
200g sr flour
6 eggs
200g butter
1 lemon + rind

Cream butter and sugar. Gradually mix in beaten eggs. Fold in flour and bake for about 20 mins! Yum!

Reading this, I realise I don't have much. I have recently borrowed a recipe for spag bol as my kids prefer my mum's, grumble grumble.

Other than that, microwave scrambled egg, which is really super complicated.

Beat two eggs, add a bit of milk, mix up in microwaveable bowl. Stick in microwave. Do for thirty seconds and see how it is, may need to do another 10 or 20 seconds.

Ta-dah!!!

It did actually help me out at university :)

Tastiest chocolate flapjacks recipe:

112g unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
pinch of salt
2.5 cups of quick oats or old fashion oats
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180c
melt butter, add brown sugar, golden syeup and salt. Stir until dissolves.
Remove from heat, stir in vanilla,
Add the oats and stir until they're all coated.
Press mixture into greased/ lined pan
Bake for 15 minutes until edges just start to go brown
Remove and smother melted chocolate on top, leave to set

Most memorable is the stew with strawberry dumplings that my DF inadvertently made. Didn't taste that bad actually.

My Godmothers lemon drizzle is the best, can't believe I used any other recipe before this!

4oz marg/butter
6oz caster sugar
6oz SR Flour
4 tablespoons milk
2 large eggs
1 lemon
3 rounded tablespoons of icing sugar

Set oven to 160 fan, grease & line 2lb loaf tin (or 2 * 1lb)
Cream fat & caster sugar, add eggs, sifted flour, grated lemon rind & milk.
Put in tin, smooth & bake for 40-45 mins.
Mix sifted icing sugar & 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice.
On removing cake from oven pierce top with a skewer and pour the icing mixture over it.
Leave in tin till cool, best kept wrapped in grease proof paper & foil, freezes well.

This is the best cake ever! I make the 2 smaller ones as my husband and kids will eat a large one in minutes!

Butternut squash risotto

1 butternut squash
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup risotto rice
2-3 cups chicken or veg stock
small glass white wine (optional)
parsley
Parmesan cheese

Half the butternut squash, remove the seeds, add a touch of olive oil and roast for an hour at 220 degrees.

Saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil, add the rice and toast for a minute. Then gently add the stock a ladle at a time constantly stirring until absorbed. Add all the stock like this and the wine, the process should take about 25 minutes, or until the rice is one with a slight bite. Add hot water if the stock runs out.
Scoop the roasted butternut squash out of the skin and add to the risotto along with a handful of chopped parsley and a large handful of grated Parmesan (or to taste).
Serve!
I also add a little grated Parmesan on top as well.

I've passed this recipe onto so many people who not have it as part of their repertoire! Loved by my whole family and a great veggie option (if using veggie Parmesan).

Beef stew: Seal 500g of stewing steak in a frying pan. In a separate, overproof pan, soften a finely chopped onion and red pepper. Add a lot (I use a punnet) of chopped mushrooms and cook until they have collapsed a bit. Add 400ml of veg stock, some cornflour (mixed with water) and a small pot of creme fraiche. Then add the beef and simmer gently. Put lid on and in oven at 160 for a couple of hours. Serve with rice and chopped parsley.

This goes down well every time

These recipes are great. I'm off to get a pen. Any other risotto recommendations?

Tatw Pum Munud (Five Minute Potatoes) handed down from my Welsh mum.

INGREDIENTS
6 Rashers unsmoked bacon
500gms Potatoes peeled and sliced
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 large onion sliced
Chopped parsley
Salt and pepper

METHOD

Heat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Fry bacon and onion in large frying pan until both begin to brown and remove from pan. In the same pan fry the potatoes for five minutes in the onion and bacon residue. Cover with stock. Put three rashers of bacon and onion back, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Transfer to casserole. Season sparingly with salt, but with pepper to taste. Lay remaining bacon on top and add any remaining stock to cover. Cover and place in in the center of the oven for half an hour or until the potatoes have cooked and have absorbed some of the stock. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

My Nan has passed down her boiled fruit cake recipe.
12oz mixed fruit
8oz water
6oz sugar
4oz marg
1 heaped teaspoon mixed spice
1 level teaspoon bicarb
Put all in saucepan. simmer for 2 mins. Then leave to cool.
Add 4oz self raising flour
4 oz plain flour
1 large egg
Cook for 1hr 40 mins on gas mark 4

i have an old recipe book passed on to me from my mum with all the old family recipes

My gran was in service for most of her life and prepared lots of dishes for the wealthy families she worked for. Most of them were too expensive for her to cook at home, but she always did what she called "chopped salad " for her kids, and all her family still make it! It's tomatoes, lettuce, spring onions and hard-boiled eggs, all chopped up, and mixed with salt, pepper and lots of salad cream. Delicious! My sister once used mayonnaise and everyone told her off for being too posh!

Blackcurrant flapjack made with blackcurrants from our own bushes.

Melt 7oz butter, 2tbs golden syrup and 5oz demerara sugar in a large pan. Add 12oz porridge oat and stir in then add 4oz fresh blackcurrants and stir again.
Press into a lined tin and cook for about 20 minutes at 170.
Wonderful...

Dorset Apple Cake is my Mother In laws recipe which used to be very popular it in a tea room she once ran next to a Dorset tourist attraction

Ingredients
225g self-raising flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
115g unsalted butter, diced and chilled
115g light brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
6-8 tbsp milk
225g Bramley Apples
2 tbsp demerara sugar For sprinkling on top

Method

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Grease and line a deep 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.

Mix the flour and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour using your fingers, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the light brown sugar. Beat in the egg followed by 6 - 8 tbsp of milk – you want to achieve a smooth, thick batter.

Add the apples  and mix to combine. Scrape the batter into your prepared tin and gently level out. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes and then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool further.

badgermum really want to try that,. How finely do you chop the apples, or are they sliced?

For me, it's not just the recipe, it's the way it's cooked. So yes, sponge cake is a huge reminder of my dear mum and yes I still use her exact recipe - it's the weight of an egg one mentioned up thread.

But what really makes me think of Mum is the details. So I always use stork margarine - I always have a tub of it in the fridge even though cake is the only think I use it for - I use butter for everything else. And when I want to check if the cake is done I listen to it, to see if I can hear it sing. Yes really, put your ear close to the surface of a sponge cake straight out of the oven and, if it's done, you'll hear it sing,

And if I use buttercream, I'll use good old stork again and after spreading the icing with a table knife, I'll use a fork to make a pattern around the edges. Perfect - just like my mum used to make...

As a children myself and my brother were taught how to make flapjack which we really looked forward to eating as treats were rare back then for us. I still make it now and it's invaluable when hiking or camping because it's a great slow release energy bar. It is also gluten free. I put raisins in but you can take these out or substitute with chocolate chips, nuts or other dried fruits, whatever you please really.
Recipe is so easy
125g butter or margarine
100g dark brown soft sugar
4 tablespoons golden syrup
250g rolled oats
40g sultanas or raisins

Not expensive ingredients and easy to obtain, only two pans required so hardly any washing up either!

Preheat the oven to 180 C
In a saucepan over low heat, add the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until butter and sugar have melted.
Stir in the oats and sultanas until coated. Pour into a baking tin.
The mixture should be about 2 to 3cm thick.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is golden. Cut into squares, then leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.

I usually use non stick greaseproof paper in my baking tin to line it. Just makes it a bit easier to get everything out in one piece.

Chocolatey pear desert!

Slice a large chocolate Swiss roll and place at the bottom of a large dish. Open a tin of sliced pears and place on top of the Swiss roll. Top with chocolate angel delight!
Chill for 30 mins then serve... yum!

Tip... you might not want to put all of the pear juice over the Swiss roll.

Best ever Yorkshire Pudding Batter

140 grams Plain Flour, 4 large eggs, 200ml milk - makes 12 large ones done in a muffin tin when done at 200 degrees for 22 minutes Perfect!

Turkish Pecan Paradise Cake

INGREDIENTS

For the caramelized pecans:
A cup of chopped pecan nuts
2 tbsp butter
2tbsp brown sugar

For the cake:
175g of self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
175g margarine
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence

For the cake filling:
A pot of double cream
Rosewater
Half a cup of chopped rose flavour Turkish delight

To serve:
Sugared rose petals
Icing sugar

Method
For the pecans:

On a low heat melt the butter then add in the pecans and brown sugar. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly until the mixture is caramelized.
Spread onto some wax paper and allow to cool.

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 and have two 8 inch silicone cake pans ready. In a large bowl sift the flour and baking powder then add the margarine, sugar, eggs and vanilla essence.
Whisk the mixture together until it is well combined then fold in the caramelized pecans. The mix is ready when it drops off a spoon.
Divide the mix between the two cake pans then bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown and the centre of the cake is springy to the touch.
Let them cool for a few minutes then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool down completely.

For the cake filling:

Whisk the cream to soft peaks then gently fold in a little rosewater to taste and also the chopped Turkish delight pieces.

To serve:
Spread the cream on top of one of the cakes and sandwich together with the remaining cake.
Dust the top with the icing sugar and for an added touch of glamour sprinkle some sugared rose petals on the top to wow your friends and family!

Mint no-bake tray bake.

Crush 100g of biscuits and mix with a spoon of cocoa and 50 g melted butter. Press into a square tin and cool in the fridge.

Make butter icing (twice the icing sugar to creamed butter) and add peppermint to taste and green food colouring. Spread on top of the biscuit base and chill.

Melt chocolate (200g) and pour/spread on top of butter icing. The chocolate needs to cool for a few minutes so as not to melt the butter icing.

Chill. Take out of the fridge an hour before serving so you can slice it.

You can flavour/change the butter icing to your preference-orange works well too!

Yum!