BBQ Sauce

Yet another sunny weekend - it is such a pleasure to be able to plan a BBQ and almost be guaranteed a warm barmy evening to enjoy the last rays of the sun with a cool glass of wine, a few friends and the odd child running round the garden.

Of course it is so easy these days to nip to the supermarket and buy ready prepared meat for the barbie.    However on days like this when I have a plan I prefer to buy meat from the butcher and prepare it myself.  This is such a quick and simple marinade / sauce which has wonderful results.

2 tbs Clear Honey
1 tbs Soft Brown Sugar
1 Tbs Worcester Sauce 
2 tbs Tomato Ketchup 
1 teaspoon of mustard
dash of soy sauce




Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan.  



Heat very gently stirring regularly till everything has become smooth, blended and there are no sugar granules left.

Take of the heat, allow to cool slightly then  pour over the meat.  If you have enough put some in a small jug to serve separately on the table (I sometimes do double amounts and then split it)




Leave the meat in a covered bowl or plastic bag in the fridge to marinate.



Take the meat from the fridge a little ahead of cooking and when the coals are ready lay the meat over the BBQ and pour any residual sauce over the top, cook depending on meat and bring to the table.

Serve with the reserved jug to rapturous plaudits.

I have used this with chicken, beef steaks, pork ribs, kebab meat or vegetables marinaded before being skewered.   

A very versatile quick sauce; add more honey for a really sticky marinade,  add a chopped chilli or extra mustard for hot tangy sauce.   Or add some sweet chilli sauce and a touch of coconut milk (once taken off the heat) for a more oriental flavour.

I also now use this as the basic for a smoky stir fry sauce, again adding touches depending on mood.

Give it a try and let me hear your adaptations.

Enjoy.

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Tiggy Hayes

Butterscotch Sauce

We are in the season of strawberries and there are so many different recipes to create.  This is not necessarily to be restricted to strawberries but they work so well together.  I love the ease and simplicity of this recipe that then produces an unbelieveably delicious complement other than cream.  

Do not be fooled into thinking this is the calorie free alternative to clotted cream this is pure indulgence.   I remember it by 2 x 2 x 2 + 2.5.

2oz /  50g Butter
2oz / 50g Sugar (brown sugar works best)
2ozv / 50g Golden syrup
Vanilla Essence
2 1/2 fl oz / 75ml double cream 
Juice of lemon (optional)




Over a very gentle heat combine the butter, sugar and golden syrup.

Watching it carefully and stirring occaisionally allow the ingredients to melt into to each other.   Do not allow it to burn.

As the last of the butter melts stir well to mix

Remove from the heat and add the vanilla essence.  This is the time to add the lemon.  I find it cuts the sweetness and adds a subtle tang but my children definitely prefer the pureness of all sugar so we often have it without.

Allow to cool slightly before adding the cream.  Mix well so that all ingredients form a combined thick gloopy sauce.  

This can be served warm on fresh strawberries but equally can be prepared early in the day or the day before.   As it cools the sauce becomes thicker.  

Serve over fresh strawberries and enjoy.  My family were sceptical that there is any thing to beat clotted cream or double cream but finally were persuaded to try it.  Now such a firm favourite one son will only eat strawberries with  this on.

Try it out on your own brood and see what they think.  Such an easy and impressive addition to strawberries you can serve it up to guests feeling confident they will enjoy and be impressed.

Enjoy 

Tiggy   

  

see what I am up to at Tiggy Hayes

Caramelised Onion and Tomato Tart

Some times you have a glut of something left in the fridge and nothing seems to use these particular ingredients so they sit around waiting to go off.   That is when I try to create something and regular dishes find themselves having added ingredients.

We had a surplus of tomatoes and onions having been given a whole load of each.    I was not going to waste them. In this instance I had made my own pastry but bought would work just as well.

Ingredients 
Pastry
Onions lots and lots sliced thinly
butter (butter is best for caramelising but you could use oil if necessary)
brown sugar - I use muscavado and probably not as much
Spinach - I always have this in the fridge and it lines the dish giving it a rich colour but you don't have to use it.
Tomatoes - lots again sliced 
Mozerella cheese -  roughly  torn into small chunks 




Melt the butter and fry the onions very gently, stirring often so they don't burn.

when they are really soft add the brown sugar and stir in well.

initially it will liquify but keep stirring to coat the onions really well and continue on a really gentle heat. 



When the sugar has all evaporated and the onions are almost golden in colour take it from the heat and allow to cool slightly.   We are now ready to put it all together.

Roll out your pastry and line your dish

you can build your layers however you want; I like spinach on the base, onions in the middle with the tomatoes spread over the top.  This could be repeated if you had enough of the fillings.

It was after the tomato layer I threw in some salt and a good helping of pepper but that is a matter of choice

a good covering of mozzerella cheese and the tart is ready for the oven.

A hot oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melting, bubbling and turning golden.  The smell of fresh tomatoes wafts through the house and the children miraculously appear demanding food.

This makes a great lunch dish or if you have to take a dish to some buffet event, you don't have to eat it hot.   

Enjoy and let me know if you have any recipes for using up extra.

Tiggy 

Check out my other blog at Tiggy Hayes

Caramelised Onion Marmalade

Not the kind you add to your breakfast toast but fabulous with sausages and any cold meats.  It will keep for a while in the fridge so bring it out at BBQ time.

This is dead easy to make and I have given the measurements I was first given which will make about 6 jam jars.  I usually don't measure and use a few onions the rest is a bit here and there but we don't tend to make it in big batches.

Ingredients 

butter 100g  or olive oil will work
onions lots about 2kg all sliced 
dark brown sugar 300g 
red wine vinegar 300ml
red wine 250ml
balsamic vinegar 3 tablespoons
whole grain mustard 2 teaspoons 
pinch of chilli flakes (for optional kick)


I only use a little butter and melt it over a medium heat 




Lower the heat then add the sliced onions.






Allow them to soften then add about half the sugar.  Stir regularly and let the onions caramelise but not burn

Add all the other ingredients and bring it to a fast boil.



Allow the pot to simmer for up to an hour till most of the liquid has evaporated and the consistency is similar to that of marmalade.  The smell pervades the whole house and unlike pickle cooking it is enticing and reminiscent of hot dogs.

I tend to serve it still hot with sausages but it can be put into jars once cool and kept in the fridge.  I always think I have done enough but it still goes.

Enjoy

Tiggy 

See what every day life throws at me in my other blog.   Tiggy Hayes

Weekend Hot Pot

This came about one still cold weekend when going through the freezer.  I had a bag full of ends of Lamb.   There were a few chops and spare ribs and a few other odd bits; none of which would make a meal for us on their own.

The great thing about this dish was I threw it all in the slow cooker and left it.  It cooked slowly all day and melted in the mouth when we came to eat it but it would work just as well in a casserole dish in a low oven.  

Ingredients

Olive oil
onions
garlic 
celery
carrots
lamb - bones included (This would work well with chops or spare ribs but plenty)
Rosemary
Mint 
Potatoes 
Red Wine - good covering 
Chicken Stock 



Chop the onions and throw them in the warm pot with some oil.   Add the chopped garlic.

Let them warm together for a while before adding the carrots and celery.





Add the meat on top

Chop the mint and rosemary.    I removed the stalks from the rosemary and chopped the leaves with the mint then sprinkled them over the meat which by now was already beginning to brown itself.

Add a generous glug of red wine  over the top then add enough stock to cover everything in the pan including the potatoes which you can add now or wait and add nearer serving time.

I made this first thing in the morning then about lunch time threw some spuds in.  This was also the first and only stir I gave the whole dish.  Add more water or stock if there is not to cover the potatoes.

There is a warm and welcoming aroma as you come back into the house in the evening after this has cooked all day.    On a  cold wet winter's evening this is so warming and cosy and the meat just melts off the bones.  I would normally just use a bunch of chops for this but the spare ribs worked really well together.

Enjoy and let me know what else you could add to the dish.  The other ingredient I would normally add but had run out of was anchovy fillets which I cut small so no one knows,  they just add a depth to the dish but nobody can taste fish.   

Tiggy

you can also see my other blog  Tiggy Hayes  to see what I get up to when I am not cooking.

Dorset Apple Cake

There must be so many differing recipes for this cake but a friend of mine brought her version in for her birthday cake and it was so light and full of fruit that I nagged her for the recipe.   

A very popular cake to serve instead of a pudding, which does not last very long in our house nor for that matter did it last in the staffroom on my friend's birthday.  I am sure an airtight tin and a good hiding place might help.

Ingredients  - I will give rough measurements with this 
225 g   plain flour
1 teaspoon of cinnamon 
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
110 g butter
225g of peeled, cored and finely chopped apples -  I used a bit more and they were not that finely chopped
juice of 1/2 a lemon in a bowl of water
110g unrefined granulated sugar
75g currants or raisins 
2 large eggs

I am suppose to use a loose bottom cake tin but as I don't have one I used my Christmas square tin and greased it really well.

I like to prepare my ingredients before I start, so I chopped all my apples into chunks and left them in a bowl of water into which I had squeezed the lemon.

Mix the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together.

Add the butter and rub it in as if you were making crumble 

Stir in the sugar followed by the dried fruit then the apples

Beat the eggs really well so they give the cake the light airy feel that was so good.   







Now it is time to mix the eggs into the mixture.  With a large spoon stir the mixture well so that it now resembles a dough, clingy and thick.  Make sure you get to the very bottom of the bowl and mix all the dry ingredients in well.  

Turn the mixture into the tin and smooth the top out.     Sprinkle with more sugar before covering lightly with greaseproof paper.

Cook the cake in a low heat oven 160C (325F) for about an 1 1/4 hours if the top is not completely golden remove the greaseproof paper and finish off for about 10 mins.

Remove from the oven and leave for about 10 minutes before turning out.

Serve with a dollop of Devon Clotted Cream if you can get it or double cream goes wonderfully with this.   My boys quite like ice-cream especially if I serve it still warm.

Enjoy this and let me know what you think.

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Tiggy Hayes

Potato and Leek Soup

Saturday lunchtime during the cold miserable winter will find me at home having made a pot of warming soup with some home made bread to complement it.  I have a huge repertoire of differing soups but we always come back to the family favourite; Potato (and leek).    With three fussy boys and an abhorrence of any kind of green vegetables the soup soon became just Potato; I get away with it as the veg is all puréed at the time of serving.

This is quick and simple to make, but like most good soups does benefit for leaving to simmer for an hour or so.  I like the ease of hardly chopping the vegetables and just throwing them in the pot.

Ingredients 
butter /oil
onion skinned and chopped roughly 
leeks (top and tailed) then roughly chopped
potatoes - lots peeled and chopped into large chunks
sherry 
stock 
cream to serve 
parsley to serve




Heat the butter or oil in a large saucepan
Turn the heat down and add the onions and leeks 
Fry gently

Add the potatoes and toss well 

Add the sherry (my secret ingredient that gives depth to the soup).  I add a good slug and mix the veg well so they are all coated.  

Let the veg cook very gently (low heat) in the sherry till it has all gone and appears almost caramalised.

Add your stock.  Use plenty and you can top up with water if you do not have enough.  (I use my own stock - ham water, chicken bones and veg boiled up - this makes the soup  already quite salty but a stock cube works just as well)

Bring the soup to the boil and turn the heat down again allowing the soup to simmer.   This can be served after the potatoes are soft enough to begin to break down, however the longer the soup is left the deeper the taste.


When you are ready to serve the soup, put it in the blender and liquidise it.  It should be thick and warming, rather than liquid.



Serve with a spiral of cream, a parsley garnish for the more discerning and home made bread still warm from the oven (Middle Son made these delicious cheese buns)


Enjoy.  Let me know your secret ingredient and what it brings to a simple bowl of soup

Tiggy 

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  http://tiggyhayes.wordpress.com/