Feeding the first-footers

You've had the turkey, the turkey curry. the turkey pie, the soup, the cold turkey with chips and pickle and the re-fried sprouts.  Now you are qualified to use a new ingredient and I will be doing salmon.
My kids don't really like fish unless it comes in an orange jacket but they really do like this recipe:

Salmon with prawns and bacon.

This is basically fish with parsley sauce, pretending to be something more glamorous.

For each person;
1 Salmon fillet
1 Slice of smoked salmon
1 rasher streaky bacon
Several large prawns
A few slices of onion
Half a carrot
Bread crumbs



You can do this in individual gratin dishes or side by side in a lasagne dish - leave some room around each fillet of salmon for quicker cooking and easier serving.

Begin by oiling the dish and putting a few thin slices of onion and carrot in the bottom.
Now put the salmon fillet in, sprinkle with olive oil and add black pepper.
Place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees centigrade for about 10 minutes.

While this cooks, make the sauce:

Fry small pieces of bacon until crispy.
Add a small piece of butter and 2 tspn of plain flour.
Now add milk, a little at a time in the usual way for a white sauce.  It will thicken as you go.
When you are happy with the thickness, add a handful of chopped parsley.
Now add the prawns and heat thoroughly.

Remove the salmon fillet from the oven, top with a slice of smoked salmon and pour the sauce over.

Now sprinkle with bread crumbs and return to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until the top is browned and crispy.

Serve with fresh greens.










Around the Grounds

The high winds and driving rain have ceased thankfully and here and there are little hopeful signs of

great things to come in the new year.

Frozen Assets

Lets be honest.  We all buy herbs in pots from the supermarket, use half and then throw the rest away.  Not any more! 

The best thing to do with fresh herbs - even if they are home grown, is chop them up and store them in the freezer. 

Chop the stalks finely and leave the leaves larger.

I keep a constant supply of parsley, coriander and basil.

Now, it does clump up a bit but its easy to persuade out of the tub with a fork.  The coriander is lovely in curries and the parsley goes in to soups and sauces.  Obviously, it is too soggy for salads but you can whizz it up with olive oil for a herb dressing. 
You know it makes sense.

Funny of the Week

The return of The Unbelievable Truth.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b018g3nz/



Love Your Sprouts

The sprout.  Its not just for Christmas.  Not only delicious but the purveyor of  sulforaphane - a potent anticancer chemical. 
Its cool to like sprouts again so lets all eat lots over the holidays.

The best ways to cook 'em to retain their flavour and beneficial properties are stirfrying and steaming. The days of cutting a cross into the base and boiling for twenty minutes are over.








Fabulous Sprouts with Bacon.

Slice your little beauties and set aside.
In a deep frying pan, cook litte strips of streaky bacon in olive oil until crisp.
Now throw in a handful of pre-cooked chestnuts.  The vacuum packed ones are nice.
Lastly the sprouts go in.  Stir fry for a few minutes and then add a little water to the pan and put a lid on to create steam.
Cook like this for about five minutes or until the sprouts are just tender. 
The time taken will depend on how finely you have sliced them.

This is a delicious side dish at Christmas but add a tub of creme fraiche and a heap of parmesan and it makes a lovely pasta sauce at any time of year. 




Delicious Braised Red Cabbage

This is only a recent edition to our Christmas dinner but it quickly became an absolute favourite. Its also another dish that can be made a day or two before and re-heated, or frozen well ahead of time.

You will need:
1 Red Cabbage - finely shredded
1 Onion - finely sliced
2 Cooking Apples - sliced
Lots of freshly grated nutmeg
Red wine vinegar
Balsamic vinegar
Soft brown sugar

In a large pan, gently fry the onion in olive oil and a little butter until softened.
Next add the apple and stir again for a few minutes.
Then the cabbage goes in with about half a nutmeg, grated.
Slosh in the vinegar - about 100ml of each. And a heaped tbspn of brown sugar.

Combine and put a lid on.
Cook on a gentle heat until the cabbage is tender.  This will take about an hour.
From time to time, stir and check that its not drying out - add a little water if you need to.

What you don't use will freeze really well and reheat in the oven to go with sausage casseroles of the future.




Christmas Pie

The best thing about the Chistmas feast is the left-overs. What could be nicer than a re-fried sprout?  Well, this pie actually.

Its made in a 7" cake tin with hot water pastry and inside are layers of sliced turkey and stuffing and a seam of braised red cabbage.

Its lovely warm with gravy and vegetables or cold with a fresh salad.

Hot water pastry is really easy to make but its only workable while its warm - roll out and cut your lid before you start filling your pie.




Have a brillaint Christmas and don't stress out about the dinners.

Funny of the Week
Father Dougal is almost as excited as my household.

http://youtu.be/1hx6s_hpI8w

Taking the Irk out of the Turkey

Non-irksome Turkey

I have a rather radical way of cooking a Christmas turkey to share with you.
All of the preparation is done on Christmas Eve and the carving will be entirely stress-free.
No doubt you have already ordered your bird so what you need to do is go to your friendly butcher and ask him to prepare it for you.  Ask him to remove all the bones so that you will get the boned crown and also, boneless leg meat.  Don't forget to mention that you want the bones for your gravy.

When you get it home, brown the bones in a large pan and then add lots of boiling water, onion, carrots, celery, bay leaves, a small piece of star anise, half a cinnamon stick and black pepper.  Simmer for ages to make delicious turkey stock.  This will be transformed in to the best gravy ever by passing through a sieve and thickening with butter and cornflour. 

To prepare the leg meat:

Take a large piece of strong foil and smear with butter.
Lay out the leg meat in a nice even layer.
Add a filling of sausage meat stuffing and roll up.
Now wrap the foil around nice and tightly and place in the fridge.

This will be roasted in the foil at 200 degrees centigrade for about an hour - perfect to slot beside the roast potatoes.

To prepare the breast meat:
Lay strips of streaky bacon across a roasting dish so that they drape over the side.
Now put one side of the crown in the middle of the bacon.
On top of this put your stuffing - this year I've made cranberry, apple and sage.
Now the other half of the crown goes on.
Smear with butter and then bring the bacon strips over the top.
You can now cover it with foil and put it in the fridge for the big day.
This joint will require about 1 and a half hours at 180 centigrade.
Take the foil off with about twenty minutes to go.  Make sure that your turkey is cooked by skewering and testing that the centre is piping hot and the juices are running clear.
Rest under foil for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

If you need to cook both joints in one oven, turn the heat up when you take the foil off the crown. You can then put the leg meat in when the crown comes out and this will be fine resting under foil for an hour.



Around the Grounds

This little robin is paying more frequent visits. 
The robin is one of only a few birds that defend a territory. This is why you will seldom see more than one at a time.  The red breast is for territory defence, not courtship which is why male and female birds are identical.  They have been known to attack stuffed robins.

Remember to keep your feeders topped up and provide fresh water when the bird bath freezes.





Frozen Assets

Mince Pies

You don't need to make your own mince meat from scratch. 
Start with a jar of the gloopy, bought stuff and add:
Sultanas, raisins, pecans and hazelnuts toasted and chopped, shredded suet, marzipan chopped in to little cubes and a nice slosh of cherry brandy or port.
Now put your superior mince meat in a large jar and give it a festive hat.  Every time you see it on your worktop you will be reminded that you are a Christmas cracker.

To make the pies you will need sweet, shortcrust pastry:

8oz plain flour
4oz butter
1oz caster sugar

Rub the fat in to the flour and then stir the sugar through.  Add enough cold water to make a nice soft ball of dough.  Wrap in cling film and allow to rest in the fridge for about half an hour.
Cut the bases and fill with your lovely mince meat.
I made mini ones this time and I prefer to cut holly leaves for the top for less pastry in each bite.
Wash the top with a little milk and sprinkle on some sugar.
They freeze really well. Cook them until they are just pale golden so that you can re-heat before you need to serve them.

Funny of the Week.

A timely reminder of why we are celebrating next weekend.

http://youtu.be/fTzXJMU1sLc



Stir it up...

Stir it up Sunday found me other-wise engaged. This is not a Bob Marley reference
but the traditional day for making your Christmas cake.

Put the dried fruit in a dish and cover with 170ml of Christmas spirit.
This year I used a mixture of brandy, port and amaretto.
I have heard of people using orange juice instead. Weird.
Leave to soak overnight.

So this week I had a stir it up Wednesday - hopefully not to the detriment of the cake.
The great thing about this recipe is that you weigh out all of the dried fruit the day before and soak it overnight in the booze. Therefore you have a Delia moment when the ingredients have been pre-measured for you.

8oz sultanas
8oz currants
8oz raisins
4oz glace cherries - quartered
40z mixed peel
170ml brandy

8oz butter
4oz caster sugar
4oz soft brown sugar
12oz plain flour
4oz ground almonds
2tsp mixed spice
The rind of 1 large orange - finely chopped
4 large eggs - beaten
1tbsp black treacle



Heat the oven to 150 centigrade and prepare an 8" square cake tin.  This involves greasing the tin and lining with a double layer of baking paper.  You then wrap the outside of the tin with brown paper or in this case, wallpaper and cut a piece to go on top with a hole in the middle to release the steam. This is the most bothersome part of the whole thing so to reduce to agony, I save the paper and re-use every year.

Cream the sugars and the butter together until light and fluffy - I put this in the electric mixer.  In a separate large bowl, mix the flour, mixed spice and ground almonds with a whisk.  To this, add the creamed butter mixture and the beaten eggs and gently fold together.  When combined, add the boozy fruit, black treacle and orange rind and mix again until evenly distributed.

Spoon in to the prepared tin and bake for 3.5 or 4 hours.  Don't forget to put the paper lid on to protect the top.  The cake is ready when the top is springy and a skewer comes out clean.

Around the Grounds

I have noticed an interloper or two in my flock of chaffinches. 
The rather attractive bramblings are back. 
Similar in size to the chaffinches but much more orange down the front.







Frozen Assets

The Christmas Feast has many elements and to make things easier, its good to get a few done ahead of time.  This week I got my sausages wrapped in streaky bacon and put those little babies in the freezer.  Just remember to get them out the night before you need them.

Quick and Delicious - Cheesy Bacon Pasta

Quite often at this time of year, I find that I am hungry, tired and I haven't given a thought to tea.
This is the meal for those occasions.  Its more delicious than you think - even if you think its pretty delicious.
The sauce cooks in the same time as the pasta so put that into boiling water first.
Take a deep frying pan and fry some chopped up streaky bacon.  (The quantities will depend on how many you are feeding).
Once this is crispy, reduce the heat to low.  If there is not much free oil in the pan, add a little butter.
Now add 2 tsp of plain flour and allow to cook for a while.  Keep stirring.
Next add milk, a little at a time so that the sauce thickens as you go.  Once you have a nice thick sauce, stop adding milk and instead, spoon a little of the liquid in the pasta pan in to achieve the thickness you require.
Now add a handful of cheddar, the same of parmesan and a little dried sage.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the sauce. 
Cook together for a minute or so, stirring to combine.  Everyone in my house loves this and its so easy.

Funny of the Week

For anyone still struggling - here's a guide to the internet.

From the IT crowd.

http://youtu.be/sDA1HUmuuJo

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Yes! Advent is here.  Opening little doors and having chocolate before breakfast.  Most of my decorations are up apart from the tree as I find it best to throw oneself  head-long in to the festive period.
This does not extend to hoovering up pine needles for five weeks however and so that will have to wait for a while. 
When the kids were younger and I feared that the tree would become a climbing frame, I decided instead to suspend a branch from the ceiling and put the fairy lights on that, out of reach. 
This was such a hit that now we do both every year and the hedge is getting thinner.

Remember to put your favourite decorations in the kitchen as you will be spending ages in there over the next few weeks.






December is definitely a marathon so here is a recipe to keep your energy levels up:

Best Chocolate Brownies

2oz Plain Chocolate
4oz Butter
2 Beaten Eggs
8oz Sugar
2oz Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
Pinch Salt
4oz Chopped Nuts -
            Walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts or whatever you fancy.
Melt the butter in a pan on a very low heat.  Add the chunks of chocolate. 
It will melt in to a smooth gloss with no lumps.  Trust me.
While this is happening, toast the nuts in a dry frying pan.  Keep them moving so they don't burn.  When they're browned, chop them.

In a separate bowl, stir the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar together with a whisk.  Add the beaten eggs, chopped nuts and chocolate mixture.  Mix.

Pour in to a well greased tin measuring about 7"x11".
Bake at 180 centigrade for 30 minutes.

Around the Grounds

December is the month for pruning your apple trees. 
If you have five or more you have an orchard and they need not take up too much space. 
However.  With great plants comes great responsibility.

Pillarette apple trees like this need a good haircut. 
Reduce each branch to two buds after its last bifurcation and remove any dead or damaged pieces.


Frozen Assets.

This week's freezer essential is the multi-purpose tomato sauce. 
There are dozens of uses for it and its so easy and cheap to make.
The quantities are up to you:
Onions
Celery
Garlic
Tinned Plum Tomatoes
Lots of Fresh Parsley and Basil
Seasoning
Dried Oregano


Chop the onion, celery, garlic and the stalks of the herbs and fry gently in olive oil. Add the tinned tomatoes - its doesn't matter what brand you buy as they are all the same so get the cheapest.  Add your dried oregano and season to taste.
Simmer and reduce for about half an hour - use a splatter guard so that the kitchen won't resemble a crime scene.

Now add the leafy fresh herbs and whizz with a soup wand until smooth.  If the sauce is too runny for your liking, simmer and reduce again.

Freeze in jars or tubs - there is no need to sterilize these.
If you don't have a funnel either, cut the neck of a tonic bottle like I have.

Great as a pizza sauce, in bolognaise, for simmering meatballs in, to enrich a stew or curry...

Funny of the Week

This is how Christmas specials should be done.

Eric and Ernie.  Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/0n-mwWzR6IQ