Finely chopped red onion, salted, and soaked in lime juice to take of the power
finely chopped apple (or grated?)
mix together
Onion salsa
December 31, 2020
Jalepeno Dip
December 31, 2020
In a Blender, simply blend a jar of jalepenos (with juice) and a spring of fresh mint
2020 Christmas turkey
December 31, 2020
Prep the night before
- veg for baking tray : giblets, rosemary, chunky carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onion, shallot, 2 satsumas/clementines halved etc
- + two large shallots and onion and garlic for cavity, bag and chill overnight
- Parboil 9 about 20 mins
- 2 large Parsnips halved (lengthwise)-unpeeled,
- 3 baking potatoes, cut into flat chunks
- 2 sweet potatoes,
- and 3-4 carrots cut into 2 or 3 chunks
- Cover and chill overnight
- make stuffing and fill loaf tin add butter on top and chill overnight
Xmas day
- remove turkey from fridge 2 hours before cooking
- Partially Bake veg at 180 (160 fan oven) for 1 hour
- Bake Carrots in olive oil and clementine juice
- Bake potatoes rolled in Goose fat, paprika and a little flour + more goose fat in tray, and drain off excess when baked
- Bake parsnips in butter with a splash of red wine vinegar
- MEANWHILE:
- Make stuffing for turkey shoulder
- Make cheese sauce
- Prepare Turkey
- season, rub on olive oil,
- arrange 4 pieces of bacon on top
- arrange 1 piece of bacon on to each leg
- fill main cavity with shallot carrot and garlic bulb
- empty veg into baking tray and arrange turkey on top
- fill turkey shoulder cavity with stuffing and fold skin down well
- place turkey onto veg in baking tray
- insert popup
- Bake turkey 7+kg for total of 2.5 hours – it popped up at just over 2 1/4 hours, and baked further for 10mins.
- 1 hour at 180 in fan oven
- covered with a small rectangle of foil as bacon had slipped off at 1 hour
- then for a further 1.15 hour at 160 in fan oven – popper still down
- then for a further 15 minutes and it had popped.
- removed turkey from oven placed it in to a different baking tray
- covered with foil and tea towels
- RE- Bake potatoes, carrots parsnips and stuffing for 20 mins
- make gravy
For the Gravy
- From the tray the turkey was baked in skim off the fat
- sprinkle with flour and mix well
- place the mixture into a big saucepan and heat and add red wine
- add 1 litre of stock (1 pint not enough in 2020)
- mash it all up,
- Sieve it
- put cauliflower on to boil for 20mins max
- Bring gravy to the boil, season to taste and simmer until baked veg are ready (for 20 mins)
- Heat cheese sauce
- Make bread sauce
- dish out cranberry sauce
- Set table with napkins
Shortcrust XMAS Pie Pastry
December 31, 2020
- 375 g Plain Flour and 3/4 pack of unsalted butter
- OR (or 500g plain flour and 1 whole pack of butter)
- seasoned with salt and blitz until smooth in Food processor
- add 1 egg and some water into the centre and mix with a fork until pastry comes together
- 1/2 pastry and wrap both in cling film, and chill for at least 1/2 hour in fridge
- Roll pastry for base until the thickness of a one penny
- Egg wash the edges so top layer sticks
- Fill with filling mixed with gravy
- Roll out top, and cut out pieces with pastry cutter
- Place sheet with holes over pie, and egg wash
- Add cut-outs to cover almost all the holes
- Egg wash all over
- Trim edges
- and crimp with a fork,
- line one teaspoon of turkey fat in the pie dish
- Bake ON BOTTOM of OVEN, for 45 -50 mins at 170, But in fan oven, I baked as follows :
- (150 for 15 mins, + 160 for 5 mins + 170 for 5 mins)
For the filling
turkey chunks and stuffing and sliced leeks smothered in lots of gravy (but not runny)
For the gravy
- 2 rashers of chopped streaky bacon
- 2 chopped leeks
- 3 sliced mushrooms
- 1 small teaspoon of grainy mustard
- 2 dessertspoons of plain flour
- 1.5-2 pints of stock
- Boil
- Then add 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche
- simmer
- liquidize – until thick, smooth and creamy
Chicken Ciabatta recipe
February 24, 2016
The pasta I was going to cook this sauce for had exceeded the sell by date, I hadn’t realised until the sauce was almost done, so I toasted some ciabatta instead, ditched the pasta and served the chicken sauce on the toasted ciabatta, with grated cheese on top. This is a dish I would Def do again.. much lighter than eating it with pasta.. and really really tasty,
- 1 red pepper diced into small cubes, sautéd with olive oil and butter and salt and chilly seeds
- 1 desert spoon of sweet chilli sauce
- 1 soup bowl of small cubed cooked chicken
- 1 pot of Delmaine pomodoro sauce
- Grated cheese to serve
- 1 large ciabatta roll – serves 2
- Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan
- Add the diced red pepper salt and chilly seeds and cook till tender
- Add about a tablespoon of water (or two, or wine even) so that when the diced cooked chicken is added it has some tasty juices to absorb
- Add chicken and cook until all juices soaked up
- Add a little pomodoro sauce and stir in well, when hot add the remainder of the sauce and heat through.
- When the sauce is reduced to a thick consistency spoon onto toast, smother with grated cheese
- Meanwhile toast the ciabatta, and grate the cheese and serve
All in One Cheese Sauce
October 26, 2011
This ones for you John! 😉
This is a fail proof, and effortless recipe for a smooth and tasty cheese sauce, which is great on Tortellini pasta and in Lasagna.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tabelspoon plain flour
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups of 2% milk (extra to thin if needed)
- 1 cup of diced cheese (Red Leicester cheese makes the sauce a nice rich colour)
- 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese (optional)
- grated nutmeg to taste (optional)
- Place the butter, flour and milk into a pan and heat stirring all the time
- When its almost boiling, and thick and creamy (add more milk if too thick) stir in the cubed cheese
- Grate in a little nutmeg
- Continue to stir until the cheese has melted completely
- Serve immediately
Note: The sauce can be made in advance but will form a skin when cooling if not covered, so transfer the sauce to a small microwavable bowl, cover with cling film so that the cling film makes contact with ALL the surface of the cheese sauce and then when ready to serve, microwave the sauce, still covered until hot, stirring occasionally *** Do not boil, as this will make the sauce runny.
Raspberry Puree
June 24, 2011
Ingredients
9 oz Fresh Raspberries
3 oz Icing sugar
- Blend the Raspberries in a blender with the icing sugar
- Press through a metal sieve and chill before serving
Great for Meringues and many other desserts
Shrewsbury Sauce for Roast Lamb
June 18, 2011
Ingredients
Roasting tin with juices from lamb (reserve two tablespoons of the fat)
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon mustard powder
1 pint red wine
5 tablespoons good quality redcurrant jelly
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
juice of 1 lemon
seasoning to taste
- Using the roasting tin with the leftover fat and juices from the roasted leg of lamb, add the flour and mustard powder and mix into a smooth paste
- Place the tin over a low heat and slowly add the wine while stirring with a wooden spoon to begin with, then switch to a hand whisk
- Add the redcurrant jelly, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and seasoning then whisk again until all the jelly has dissolved.
- Let sauce gently reduce for about 15minutes, pour over served lamb and into a warmed serving jug.
Other links: Roast Leg of Lamb Recipe
Chicken Livers in Mushroom Sauce
June 18, 2011
Ingredients
1 pack of fresh chicken livers soaked in milk to tenderise
1 pack sliced button mushrooms
2 bacon rashers , thinly sliced
1 diced onion
1 pressed garlic
1/2 -1 cup vegetable stock
1/2 – 1 tub creme fraiche
soy sauce to taste
- Pat dry the chicken livers and stir fry in a little olive oil
- Add diced onion and garlic and bacon
- Add sliced mushrooms and simmer with a little vegetable stock for 15-20 minutes
- Gently stir in half a tub of creme fraiche (more if required) and heat through
- Serve on rice or on tagliatelle
Orange Sauce for Orange Desserts
June 18, 2011
Ingredients
2 eggs
6 tablespoons caster sugar
2 oranges, peeled
1 lemon – juice and zest
200-285ml whipped whipping cream
- Seperate the eggs and whisk the yolks with sugar until pale and creamy
- Whisk the egg whites in a seperate bowl until stiff, then fold them into the yolk mixture
- Slice the oranges into small pieces and mix them in
- Add lemon juice and zest
- fold in whipped cream
- Serve ice-cold with orange desserts or over pears and sprinkled with chocolate chips or chocolate sauce
Toffee Sauce for Ice cream
June 18, 2011
Ingredients
200ml whipping cream
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons golden syrup
100g butter
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar OR a few drops of essence
Pour the cram sugar and syrup (and vanilla essence if using) into a saucepan and mix thoroughly.
Add in half the butter and let sauce boil until thickened like soft toffee
Stir in ground ginger, vanilla sugar (if using) and remaining butter and serve on ice cream
Spicy Tomato Sauce for Fondus
June 18, 2011
Also delicious served with prawns or crab
Ingredients
200 ml sour cream
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 clove of garlic
black pepper to taste
tabasco sauce to taste
- Mix sour cream, mayonnaise and puree, and mix in the remaining ingredients
- Chill for at least 20 minutes before serving
Pineapple Sauce for Fondu
June 18, 2011
Delicious served with chicken salad
Ingredients
1/2 can drained crushed pineapple
200ml sour cream
1 teaspoon mustard
Stir the sour cream with the mustard before adding the drained pineapple
Horseradish and Apple sauce
June 18, 2011
Serve with Chicken or Turkey – warm or cold
Ingredients
200ml apple sauce
200ml sour cream
1/2 lemon juice to taste
2-3 tablespoons grated horseradish
- Add the sour cream to the apple sauce
- add lemon juice to taste
- stir in grated horseradish
Parsnip Sauce and Peas for Pasta
June 18, 2011
Great on pasta
Ingredients
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
200ml vegetable stock
200ml whipping cream
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
4oz thawed peas
seasoning to taste
- boil parsnips in stock until tender (about 10minutes)
- Puree parsnips and stock
- Add cream, seasoning, marjoram and peas
- cook for a few minutes until the peas are cooked
- Serve on pasta
Mushroom and Garlic Sauce for Pasta
June 18, 2011
Great on pastas and with Fondus as a dipping sauce
Ingredients
400g finely sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon butter
1 clove crushed garlic
55ml white wine
200ml single cream
soy sauce (optional)
6tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- Saute the mushrooms with pressed garlic in a little butter
- Add wine and cream and stir
- Let sauce boil uncovered for 10minutes or until it thickens
- Season and add soy sauce to taste
- Stir in parsley
