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/

Chewy Breakfast Bar

This is another of my sneaky ways of getting fruit into the children and even better I got Mini Son to help me make them.   They were very popular and just because they have cereal in them does not mean they have to be kept for breakfast.  

The sugar, butter content probably negates the fibre from the fruit but it is better than a lot of the snacks you can buy over the counter and the children love these.

Ingredients 

100g or so of dried fruit - I used a premixed supermarket pack
100g of mixed seeds (these were included in my pack)
280g of oats - i used a mix of jumbo and porridge
50g of multi-grain hoop cereal 
200g of butter
200g sugar - light muscavado 
200g golden syrup

Mix the oats, fruit, seeds and cereal together in a bowl 

Using a large heavy based pan melt the butter, add the sugar and then the golden syrup gently stirring until the sugar has completely melted.

Once melted remove from the heat and add the dry ingredients stirring well 

Pour out into the baking tray and even out.   I tend to use the  pampered chef bar pan which I still line with greaseproof paper with but this is more to lift out than prevent sticking.  If you use a standard baking tray make sure you grease it well.

Bake at a low heat 160C/gas 3 for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown then remove and leave to cool completely.   I score the bars when they come out of the oven and again when they are cool to make it easier to cut them.

In theory these could last 3 days in an airtight tin in practice I cannot get them to last more than a day.  No matter where I hide the tin it is found and all I get are a few fruit crumbs.

Enjoy these and get the children to help which will make them even more tempting.      You could coat the top in melted chocolate or dip each bar half way in once they are cool enough.  Mine don't last that long.   I think they are very similar to flapjack but my children prefer these.

Tiggy 

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

Slow Roast Crackling Pork

Once upon a time in our household I was the only person to like crackling.  Unfortunately; but maybe better for my waistline as I grow older, the whole family now loves it.  

Ingredients 
Good joint of pork 
salt
olive oil 
onions 
cooking apples 
water 

I cut the apples in half and the onion into quarters, this will depend on how many you are using.  Place in a roasting dish as a table.

Check how the skin is scored. I find I need to cut it to the ends and more thinly than the butcher has done.     

Then smooth the skin with olive oil and salt.  Place on top of your bed of apples.

Add the water to the base of the roasting tray.   It can cover the apples and onions but should not cover the pork. 



Put it in the oven for about 40 minutes (depending on the size) on high 240C/ gas 9. The skin should turn into wonderfully crisp crackling.   Keep the dish topped with water to stop the joint drying out and the apples and onions from burning.

Cover the roasting dish and turn the heat right down to about 150C/gas 2 and leave for about 3 1/2 hours.



You don't need to carve the joint it just falls to pieces and melts in the mouth.   Take it out at least 30 minutes before carving to let it rest.   It gives you a chance to wack the heat right up again for those deliciously crispy roasties!

Serve with all the trimmings, roast potatoes, veg and cider gravy.   

Taking out the  apple and onions from the roasting dish and transferring them to a small bowl you now have your pre-made apple sauce.  The onions should have sweetened the apples but a touch of sugar could be added if still required.

 I use the roasting tray to make the gravy, scraping up all the little bits for added flavour.  Cider goes well instead of wine in this or use a little apple juice. 

Enjoy and let me how you adapt this

Tiggy

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

Braised Ginger Beef

This is not a quick simple dish.   You need to think about it at least the day before and as I made it in the slow cooker it needs all day to cook slowly and succulently.   A great dish for a Sunday dinner instead of roast or for a warming meal on Saturday evening after a day out in the cold and wet.   

After marinading overnight and then all day cooking the meat just melts in the mouth and the vegetable all fell to bits.  I served it with roasted skins,  caramelised carrots with caraway cabbage.  

Ingredients 
Braising or Stewing Steak cut to bite sized pieces
Carrots sliced
Celery sliced 
Onion  chopped
A bottle of red wine - I used a cheap one which worked very well (the experts say use the most expensive you can afford but I served that in a wine glass along side - delicious)
Thyme - good handful of sprigs
Bay leaves - one or two
Ginger peeled and cut into small bite sized chunks 
Olive oil 

Put the meat into a large basin and cover with the whole bottle of wine.

Leave overnight in the fridge.  

In the morning 

Chop the vegetables and lay them on a small slug of olive oil in a warmed slow cooker pot.

Drain the meat but reserve the juices.   Fry the meat in a separate pan to seal it.  The meat will already be deep in colour having taking in the flavour of the wine.




When browned add to the pot on top of the vegetables 

In the same pan add the remainder of the marinaded wine and and bring to the boil.   


Once boiling a scum will form so remove this and use the rest of the liquid to cover the meat mix.

Add the Thyme and Bay leaves.    Cover and leave cooking for several hours.   

At this point if I was cooking the meat in a conventional stewpot in the oven I would add a quantity of stock,  (beef, chicken or vegetable) to stop it drying out at all, it can be cooked off later but better to keep it moist whilst stewing.

I left it cooking on a low heat for 6 hours and it was heavenly, but you know your cooker best and you know your lifestyle and when you will need to eat.  You could add a few potatoes (new would work best and not mush up).  Leave them to cook in the juices so you could just come in and serve.

This went down so well and had lots of subtle rushes of flavouring.   I had planned to have it again for lunch the next day but it all disappeared that night.

Enjoy and let me know if you can come up with a variation.

For the caramelised carrots I used baby whole carrots (it is good to use whole ones anyway rather than sliced, I chose baby ones).  Place these in boiling water with a good handful of butter and sugar together with a  star anise.  Let the carrots boil away till the water has all gone and they just glaze over.  Serve them without the star anise.

The cabbage was the last minute preparation sliced then cooked in just a knob of butter with a handful of pre-roasted caraway seeds added just before serving.   

The inspiration for this meal came from the lovely Tom Kerridge at The Hand and Flowers   

.

Tiggy

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