Slow roasted minted lamb shoulder with apricot and cranberry stuffing balls

1 rolled boneless lamb should joint
1 tsp garlic paste
Handful of mint
Olive oil

0.5 cup breadcrumbs
0.5 cup porridge oats
10 ready to eat dried apricots, chopped
0.25 cup dried cranberries, chopped
Ground pepper
1tbsp dried onion pieces
Hot water to bind

Baby tatties
2 onions, wedged, 1/8th thick
Stick of celery chopped

Mix stuffing ingredients in bowl and add water (just enough to be absorbed), leave to soak.

Split the mint handful in 2.  Strip the leaves from half and finely chop.  Retain the rest.

Score the joint.

Mix garlic paste, chopped mint and olive oil, rub on joint

Please wedges in pot, spread celery on top and place on the rest of mint.  Top with the joint.  Roll stuffing into balls and place around edge of pan interspersed with tatties.

Cook for 25 mins per 500g plus 25 mins at 170c

Remove meat from pot and leave to rest.  Remove tatties and stuffing balls and place on baking sheet, keep warm.

Add red wine to roasting pot to catch juices.  Press red wine and onion, celery and mint stock, through sieve.  Simmer and thicken with veg stock cube to make gravy.

Apricot and Whisky glazed ham with a crushed peppercorn crust

Ingredients

800g Gammon joint - unsmoked: remove all packaging, including any plastic rings surrounding the meat.

Pre-cooking:
1tbsp Ground three-colour peppercorns
Glug of white wine
Cold water to cover


Cooking:
Handful of dried apricots
1 Knorrs Vegetable stock cube, made up as per directions (450ml boiling water)
1 small onion, wedged, outer skin left on
1 tsp Peppercorns


After-cooking:
1tbsp Apricot & Whisky chutney
1tbsp Crushed three-colour peppercorns
1tbsp Manuka Honey

Method


Submerge the gammon in a bowl of cold water, add a glug of white wine and the ground pepper.  Leave to soak overnight to leech out the salt.  Discard the fluid in the morning.


Place the gammon in a roasting pan with the apricots, onions, peppercorns and stock.  Cover loosely with foil and bake for 1 hr @ 190C


Remove foil and drain out stock (retain for soup or gravy).  Glaze joint with Apricot and Whisky chutney, roll in crushed peppercorns.  Give a spray with oil before returning to the oven uncovered for 20mins.


When cooked, remove from oven and drizzle with honey and leave to rest before slicing.

Happy Hogmanay! Start as we mean to go on...

Chicken and Bacon Ballotine with sausage and cranberry stuffing and Sage and onion stuffing

1. Cut open a cheeslets/twiglets tube or a 2l juice bottle lengthways to make a mould and line with clingfilm. Then line with streaky bacon, making sure you have some overhang along the edges from each strip (if your tube is wider than the bacon, create a weave pattern using two strips). 

2. Cut open each chicken breast and fill with sausage stuffing.  Place the breasts into the mould using 2^nd stuffing to fill gaps, once full pull around the overhangs of bacon to complete the joint.  I used bamboo kebab skewers to secure, but if you want to use string, you could lay it along the clingfilm before you put the bacon in.

3. The finished joint  - Weigh it and cook with chicken roasting timings.

The results!

Lemon sizzle drizzle cake with summer berries



Ingredients
225g softened butter
225g caster sugar
lemons , 3 zested and 2 Juiced
4 medium eggs , lightly whisked
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
50g ground almonds

Topping
150g summer fruits
100g finest dark chocolate with chilli
25g butter
50g icing sugar

Method

1. Wash and chop fruits, place in bowl with 1tbsp lemon juice and sprinkle of caster sugar, cover and leave to stand.
2. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin. Beat the butter and caster sugar in a large bowl using an electric hand whisk until pale and creamy. Add the lemon zest (reserving some for decoration) and mix well. Whisk the eggs gradually into the butter mixture, beating well between each addition - don't worry if it curdles.
3. Sift together the flour and baking powder and fold into the cake mixture using a large metal spoon or spatula. Add the ground almonds and 3/4 of the lemon juice and fold until thoroughly combined. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out without any raw mix on it.
4. Put the cake tin on a wire rack to cool

Topping

1. Melt chocolate and butter, spread over cake and leave to set.
2. Place fruit on cake, retaining juice to use in icing.  Place icing sugar in bowl and add enough of the lemon fruity juuice to make a thin icing to drizzle over cake.

Based on: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3628/lemon-drizzle-cake

Summer berry cheesecake

Sping 2011 was sunny and wet in Scotland, this made for a bumper crop of soft fruits (main crop of this region).  My strawberries were huge and sweet, the golden raspberries out-performed the red and the Tay and Logan berries grew to epic proportions.  Here's one of the many ways I used them up:

    * 300g summer berries

    * 50g golden caster sugar

    * 100g digestive biscuits
    * 50g butter , melted
    * 1 tsp vanilla extract
    * 300g soft cheese
    * 50g icing sugar
    * 150ml pot double cream

1.  To prepare the berries, put the sugar and 3 tbsp water in a pan. Cook until dissolved then boil until syrupy. Add the fruit cook for a minute or two. You want them to soften but not burst. Tip into a sieve over a bowl and cool.

2. Butter the base and sides of a 22cm spring form cake tin then line with baking parchment. To make the base, whizz the biscuits in a processor to crumbs. Mix with the butter then tip them into the prepared tin and press firmly into the base to create an even layer. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

All the while singing along to this:

3. Mix the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth then tip in the cream and mix until combined (it's better to use a wooden spoon for this as electric beaters will overwhip the cream). Stir through half the berries then spoon onto the base. Smooth the top of the cheesecake. Leave to set in the fridge overnight. 

4. Take the cheesecake from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving. Release the tin and remove the paper from the sides. Slide the cake onto a plate leaving the base paper behind. Spoon over the fruit and syrup before serving.

Recipe based on http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1578633/vanilla-blueberry-cheesecake

Nori rolls

My first attempt at sushi, some simple Smoked salmon and zested cream cheese and Sweet and Spicy steak and spring onion Nori rolls.

 



Here is a recipe for making sushi rice. Japanese rice is short grain rice and gets slightly sticky when it is cooked. Long grain rice isn't proper for sushi because it is drier and doesn't stick together.

 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Japanese rice
• 3 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

 

Preparation:

Put the rice in a large bowl and wash it with cold water. Repeat washing until the water becomes almost clear. Drain the rice in a colander.   DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.

Place the rice in pan and add water. Let the rice soak in the water at least 30 minutes. Put on heat and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes and remove from heat, cover top of pan with clean dish towel (or kitchen roll) and let it steam until all moisture is gone (for about 15 minutes).

Prepare sushi vinegar (mirin) by mixing rice vinegar, sugar, and salt and microwaving on a gentle heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool the vinegar mixture.

Spread the hot steamed rice into a large plate or a large bowl.   Please use a non-metallic bowl to prevent any interaction with rice vinegar.

Sprinkle the mirin over the rice and fold the rice quickly using a plastic or wooden spatula, being careful not to smash the rice.

To cool and remove the moisture of the rice well, use a fan as you mix sushi rice. (I opened my window, it's windy this time of year!) This will give sushi rice a shiny look. It's best to use sushi rice right away.

Based on: http://japanesefood.about.com/od/sushiforbeginner/r/sushirice.htm

Now that makes loads, enough for 6 Nori sheets - so I only made up 1 cup of it.

Fillings

Smoked salmon and zested cream cheese:

Save back some nice strips to place directly on sheets, chop the rest through the cream cheese and add zest and a dash of lemon juice.

Sweet and spicy steak and spring onion:

Fry up some good quality steak and cool before slicing.  Add sliced spring onion and sweet pepper, stir through sweet chilli sauce.

Preparation

1. Lay nori sheet on clingfilm, shiny side down.

2. Spread the rice thinly onto nori sheet, leaving a 1 cm gap at either end.  Spread filling in thin line and place on strips of meat/fish/veg before rolling up. 

(Rolling is made easier with a rolling mat: bamboo place mats make a good cheap readily available alternative.)

3. Slice by dipping sharp knife in cold water (so it doesn't stick and holds shape).

Serve immediately with pickled ginger, soy dipping sauce.  You can garnish further with strips of: sweet peppers, cucmber, spring onions, etc.

Notes: You can leave it overnight before slicing if you need to prepare the night before. 

You can use any fillings you like, we didn't think the beef ones worked that well, they weren't moist enough to hold their shape well and didn't taste quite right either, flavours just didn't go well.   The salmon ones were lovely, as were the Chicken and pineapple and the Tuna mayo.  The best we've had so far though, were cooked salmon fillet with zested mayo.

You can also roll them up so the rice is on the outside and cover with toasted sesame seeds to add variety.  Here's a few links for ideas on filings and rolling patterns:

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/vegetarian_sushi
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/smoked-salmon-sushi-roll/

Search google images for Sushi roll for further inspiration!

Chocolate cake with toffee icing

My first go at piping with whipped cream - it's a disaster!!

Moist Chocolate Cake

150g plain flour

200g caster sugar

5 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

125ml milk

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

4 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons groundnut oil (I substitute 4 tbsp melted butter)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

125ml boiling water

Prep: 20 mins | Cook: 1 hour

1. Preheat the oven to 150 C / Gas 2. Lightly grease a 20x20cm or similar sized dish.

 

2. In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda.

 

3. In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients - egg, salt, milk, lemon juice, oils and vanilla extract. Then add the boiling water and stir to incorporate.

4. Mix the wet and dry together, folding in until just combined. Try not to over-mix.

 

5. Quickly pour the batter into the prepared dish and bung into the oven for 1 hour. Check for doneness by inserting a skewer, if it comes out clean, it's ready. Allow to cool.

Toffee Icing 2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup icing sugar, sifted

Gently heat butter and sugar in saucepan until sugar is dissolved.
Add milk, bring to boil, remove from heat.
Gradually pour butter mixture into sifted icing sugar, sirring continuously.
Pour over cooled cake immediately.