I've had lots of letters from viewers saying how much they liked the ring

Making a drink

(Elementary Task Listening Unit 11)

Fern: Hello, Steve. How nice to see you. Come in.
Steve: Hello Fern.
Fern: You look awfully hot.
Steve: Oh, I am.

Fern: Would you like a drink?
Steve: Oh, I'd love a drink. What have you got?

Fern: Well anything you like, you tell me.
Steve: Mm. What I'd really like is a banana egg nog.
Fern: A banana egg nog! What on earth's that?

Steve: It's just like a milk shake.
Fern: OK. You tell me what to do and I'll try and make it for you.
Steve: All you need is a banana, some milk, an egg and some sugar.
Fern: I've got all of those.
Steve: Have you got a blender?
Fern: Yes, I've got a blender too.
Steve: That's fine then.
Fern: OK. What do 1 do first?
Steve: Now you chop the banana into the blender.

Fern: Mm-mm. There you are.
Steve: Add in half a pint of milk.

Fern: Half a pint... OK.
Steve: That's about it. Now crack the egg into that.
Fern: Yes. That looks all right. Funny actually.
Steve: And then you just put in two small spoons of sugar.
Fern: One, two.

Steve: There you are. Just whip that up.
Fern: Right... Mm, got a nice head on it!
Steve: That looks good.
Fern: I'll pour it out for you. How about that?
Steve: That tastes smashing.

Cooking soup

Tinned tomato soup is horrible. Why not make your own? It’s dead easy and it tastes delicious.

You need some onions, some tomatoes, butter or margarine, salt, pepper, some wine and any herbs that you feel Iike putting in.

The first thing to do is to pour yourself a glass of wine Then chop the onions up small, wash the tomatoes carefully - you don t know what sort of chemicals they’ve had on them, do you? - and cut them into quarters. Then you – I’m sorry I didn’t say how many tomatoes, did I? My book says 700 grams for four to six people, but I don’t find that’s enough because the soup’s so good that everybody asks for more. So I usually make twice as much.

If they don’t eat it all you can always freeze it. I use about one and a half kilos of tomatoes and two or three big onions or five or six small ones. You must have enough onions – that’s what makes soup taste good.

OK, so you chop the onions and cut the tomatoes into quarters. When you’ ve done that you put some butter in a big saucepan – or you can use margarine or oil instead if you prefer - put it on a low eat and fry the onions and garlic gently for three or four minutes.
Yeah, sorry, it should have said - you need two cloves of garlic chopped up small or crushed. You might like to throw in a piece of bacon rind as well. Keep stirring everything gently while it is frying.

After three or four minutes put the tomatoes into the saucepan and pour in some water - about a quarter of a litre. A bit more if the tomatoes aren’t very juicy. Add plenty of salt and pepper and herbs if you want to. Stir everything thoroughly, put the lid on the saucepan and bring it to the boil. Then leave it to cook slowly over a low heat for an hour or so. Pour yourself another glass of wine.

When its ready-you can tell if its ready because everything is soft and it smells terrific - when it’s ready take it off the cooker and strain it carefully through a sieve. Actually, its best if you’ve got one of those little machines where you turn a handle and it pushes everything through around metal plate with little holes in - you know what I mean?

Put the soup back into the saucepan and see whether it needs any more salt. Then bring it to the boil again. Cook it gently for two or three minutes, keep stirring it. When you serve it you can mix in some milk if you like but I don’t bother - I think it’s nice as it is.
You’ re supposed to make croutons as well - you know little squares of toast or fried bread - but I don’t bother about that either. It’s too much trouble.

Do try it. You’ll thank me.

Making doughnuts

(FCE List 3 Test 10 Part 2)

TV chef:

I've had lots of letters from viewers saying how much they liked the ring

doughnuts when we made them last time, but the recipe wasn't in our information sheet. Well, sorry about that. This week we'll make some more doughnuts and I promise you the recipe will be included on our next information sheet.

Doughnuts, as I'm sure you all know, can be absolutely delicious, but people seem to think they are difficult to make. I don't think they're difficult if you just follow some basic rules. First, you need a good, sweet doughnut mixture.
And second you must use clean oil at the right temperature.

Let's start with the mixture. I use 300 grams of strong bread flour and 200 grams of plain flour with 200 millilitres of milk, 100 grams of butter, 100 grams of sugar, 2 eggs and a 10-gram sachet of yeast.

I'll run through that again if you want to jot the recipe down rather than write in. That's 300 grams of strong bread flour and 200 grams of plain flour with 200 millilitres of milk, 100 grams of butter, 100 grams of sugar, 2 eggs and a 10-gram sachet of yeast.

Mix all the ingredients together and you should be able to roll the mixture into a smooth ball. There...it should look like that. If the mixture's dry and crumbly, add a little more milk. If it's too wet, then add a little flour. Leave the mixture in the bowl in a warm place for two hours and the mixture should double in size. And it'll come out like this.

Take a knife and cut the ball of doughnut mixture into as many doughnuts as you want. You should get about 25 good-sized doughnuts from this recipe. Roll each piece into a little ball and push your finger through the middle to make the hole. Put the little doughnuts in a tray and leave for another hour until they have doubled in size again.

When they've risen again they look like this...and it's time to cook them...Use clean oil, preferably a light vegetable oil which has very little taste of its own. Heat the oil to 190 degrees centigrade. When it is hot enough, drop the doughnuts in, one or two at a time. (sizzling sound) Don't put in too many or they won't cook properly. Cook for two minutes on one side then turn them over and cook for one minute more.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 540