Mince Pies

I've been making mince pies for many years and have never been too happy with them, so this year I tried something different.  A recipe similar to the one given here was found on the internet which I've tweaked a little:

100g trex or similar
125g butter
200g white flour
125g wholemeal flour
25g cornflour
100g caster sugar
1 egg

Whiz all the ingredients in the food processor, adding a little water.
Pastry doesn't need to rest so can be rolled out immediately.
Roll out pastry and cut out 24 larger circles for the bottom of the tins.
then cut out 24 smaller ones for the lids.  Some I tops were square just for a change, as I couldn't find the Xmas tree or star cutters.
Add some brandy to the mince meat for that extra little something.
Cook in the oven at 180C for 20 minutes, cool on wire rack and dust with icing sugar before serving.
This made 24 mince pies and four jam tarts.

They were really delicious, and not too sweet

No mincemeat in the house? My mother in law didn't have any mincemeat this year so she half filled a jar with a mix of raisins, currants and sultanas, then added some Baileys, some other liquier (can't remember what) and then some butter.  It was rather nice.

Christmas Cookery

When I was growing up we had all sorts for birds for Christmas: chicken (when chicken was still a luxury), guinea fowl (small), quail (even smaller), duck (yummy, esp the skin), goose (oooh, that wonderful crisp skin!), pheasant (great with fried breadcrumbs and tasty gravy).  

However, for the last few years it's been turkey, as this seems to suit everyone, and I've found that Delia's recipe for turkey has been, like her, dependable and delicious. 

For Delia's way to cook a turkey see: http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/chicken-and-other-poultry/how-to-roast-turkey.html, and these are her recipes for stuffing - which are also scrumptious:

Sausage and Bacon Stuffing
8 oz streaky bacon, chopped
8 oz sausage meat
8 oz breadcrumbs
1  tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp thyme
s&p
Fry bacon until brown, add to rest of ingredients. Either stuff bird or make into balls.
Cook 30 mins in a medium oven.

Lemon Oatmeal Stuffing
8 oz sausage meat
grated zest and juice of a lemon
6 oz breadcrumbs
2 oz chopped nuts
2 oz butter
4 oz oats
2 oz suet
1 tbsp marjoram
s&p
2 eggs
Melt butter, add oatmeal, cook until golden, add sausage meat.
Cool slightly, add rest of ingredients.
Stuff the bird or cook in foil covered dish for about 30 mins.

Another recipe for stuffing (not just for Christmas)

1 onion, diced
1 apple, diced
225g pork sausage meat
100g fresh breadcrumbs
1 sprig thyme leaves
1 pinch grated nutmeg
2 tbsp chopping parsley
juice of half a lemon

1. Heat some butter in a saucepan, add onions and soften over a low heat, stir in apples and continue cooking until they are just beginning to lose their shape.  Remove from heat.
2. Stir in sausage meat, breadcrumbs, thyme, nutmeg and parsley, squeeze in lemon juice.
3. Mix well (best done with the fingers!)
4. Stuff the turkey or bake separately in oven dish. Bake at 180C about 25 minutes.

Red Cabbage: See Delia (font of so much culinary knowledge) at: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/party-food/accompaniment/traditional-braised-red-cabbage-with-apples.html

Now I'm on the look-out for a good Chestnut Stuffing recipe, using tinned chestnut puree as I've bought a tin on impulse....

For other ideas for cooking see:
http://foodspeople.com/roast-turkey/
http://mrsipskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/11/mini-christmas-puddings.html




Christmas Pudding Cheesecake from FairTrade:
http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/homemade

Nigella's Ideas

Mini Christmas Puds
Crumble 100g Christmas pudding into bowl, add syrup and sherry (or 200g double cream).  Then add 100g melted chocolate, mix and form the mixture into small balls.  Top with some melted white chocolate, with red and green cherry pieces.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/search?programmes[]=b00g9kvg
also: http://mrsipskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/11/mini-christmas-puddings.html
and what to do with left over Christmas pudding: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search.do?keywords=christmas+pudding&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=

Nigella's version:

• 125g best-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 350g leftover, or freshly cooked and cooled, Christmas pudding
• 60ml sherry
• 2 x 15ml tablespoons golden syrup

Jenny's version:

200g leftover Christmas pudding

125g dark chocolate

50g double cream

25g brandy butter

 

Other ideas:

Chilli Jelly: recipe to follow

Fruit Salad:
Mango, pomegranate seeds, blueberries and lime juice.

Cake to serve with Fruit Salad above:
8 oz butter
350g flour 
300g sugar
6 eggs
vanilla
1/2 tsp bicard
1/2 tub natural yoghurt
Whiz in processor, cook about an hour.

Cheesy Supper:
Slices of bread in a layer in a dish, perhaps French stick.
In processor whiz: mozarella, parmesan, cheddar cheese, sour cream eggs and spring onion. 
Pour over bread in dish, leave overnight and cook about half an hour.

Chutney
Put cooking apples, beetroot, red onion, fresh and crystalised ginger, sugar, allspice, salt, red wine vinegar into a pan, heat up to a rolling boil. Cook about an hour, stirring occasionally.  Pour into steralised jam jars

Potato skins:
Bake potatoes, scoop out potato. (Put into soup? everything goes into the soup!)
Mix together chopper spring onion, strong cheese, sour cream, worcestershire sauce, pepper.
Put mixture into the skins. Cook.
If liked, crumble cooked bacon on top when removed from the oven.

See also: http://uktv.co.uk/food/stepbystep/aid/596994

I met Nigella's father once, in a lift with his aides.  This was when he was an MP and Minister under Margaret Thatcher, in the days before he became so slim.  He was quite a gentleman and offered that I could leave the lift first.  This was completely the opposite of how the media portrayed him as stuck up and greedy.

Why are there no turkey eggs in the shops?

According to the site: http://www.britishturkey.co.uk/cooking/faq.shtml - 
'Turkey eggs are not available on a commercial scale simply because there is very little demand. They are also expensive to mass-produce. Turkey hens lay an average of 4.5 eggs per week over 24 weeks. Although the runny yolk is not ideal for frying, turkey eggs are delicious scrambled and particularly lend themselves to baking for an extra fluffy texture! Many farms sell eggs at the farm gate to local shoppers.'

(from: http://harvestmarket.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/turkey-time-again/)

However, in this site: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/10/turkey-eggs-uk-supermarket-debut 'Waitrose responds to demand from consumers keen to cook with growing range of speciality eggs'. 


So perhaps next year I'll try some and see what they're like!  Has anyone eaten one before?

Allotment Sites here in Paignton

I have recently taken  over as Secretary of Paignton Home Garden & Allotment Society (PHGAS for short) and realise that we have a very long waiting list for plots.  

So, as a start, today I have been contacting the people who are waiting for a plot who have emails, suggesting that they could perhaps band together and approach the Council to see if more land could be released for allotments.  Immediately I received the following link: http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/Plans-150-new-Bay-allotments/story-11706069-detail/story.html, which shows that more land is to be made available but it doesn't unfortunately give a time scale.  Two people have also offered to contact the Council direct.  So, it does now seem we have started to roll.... Watch This Space ...

Crackling

4.00pm: For years I've rubbed oil and salt into pork fat, hoping to get good crackling and have very rarely succeeded.  So, I've just been having a good look on the internet and found these ideas:


Firstly choose a piece of pork with a thick layer of fat beneath the rind.

Score with stanley knife, scalpel or similar as ordinary knives don't tend to score deeply enough, but make sure the scoring doesn't extend down to the lean meat.  Otherwise, when cooking, the juices will bubble up, making the rind moist.  


Dry the rind with kitchen towel or similar, then massage salt into the rind. Repeat this for maximum 'dryness'.

The secret seems to be to have the rind as dry as possible so the fat can bubble up and constantly baste the rind.

Some people even suggest drying with blow torch or similar. Whilst others suggest pouring boiling water over on the day before (like with crispy duck) as this tightens the skin.  Then leave it hung up to dry.


Advice given by others says liberally apply olive oil or even molten goose fat.


I was instructed by good cooks in the family to put meat in the oven on as high a temperature as possible as the initial blast of heat for about 15 minutes is vital. Then to turn it down to about 180C.  It was much easier in 'the old days' when we had a Aga as it was the hot 'top oven' followed by cooler 'bottom oven'.


Apparently there's no need to baste as there's enough fat to keep it moist.


If, at the end of all that performance it still isn't crisp, someone suggests that the crackling is put under the grill - or in the microwave.


Well, I'm off to try this and will report back later .....


10pm: I dried the rind, twice. Then massaged in the salt, dried and massaged in again.  
Underneath the joint I put some rosemary and pieces of garlic and on top lots of pepper and the crackling was much better than usual but rather hard.  (Still not as good as my mother's)
The best bits of crackling were the ones where there was a thicker layer of fat underneath.  Perhaps next time I'll go to the butcher instead of the supermarket and ask for a piece of pork with more fat underneath the rind - and try again.
... and after all that investigation - we're not having pork for Christmas dinner!  Now I'll need to bone up (ha ha) on how to cook turkey ...

December Allotment Notes

1st December: Well the first thought is 'will there be any December Allotment notes?' as the weather will probably mitigate against it.  We haven't been up there for several days because of rain but are going to make the effort to go today, whether it rains or not, to see how it looks.  We can still clear out the shed, hand-cut some of the grass and plan for next season ...

(thanks to Linda Mellor for this photo)

4 December: dry weather - but I've caught the cold, so don't feel up to digging.


12 December: it keeps being rainy so reluctantly the allotment will have to be left until the weather improves.   At least half of it has been dug over and covered with polythene and about 1/8th has been planted with green manure (vetch and rye grass), leaving some leeks and brassicas fending for themselves.


13 December: still chilly and we had four seasons in one day today: sunshine, wind, hail and mist.

23 December: and my mind is more on Christmas cooking than allotmenteering, especially as it's raining - again.  However, we are looking forward to Christmas dinner with lots of our own veg - and later perhaps some raspberries with clotted cream.

29 December: Chilly and damp, have been up to the allotment to have a look at it and make plans for next season and pick some greens.  The leeks are coming along well, and some brassicas.  The onions and broad beans planted in late autumn have taken root and started growing.  Next year, I'd like to plant some red cabbages in the autumn as well.  We'll be having a new shed soon which will help with storage and for sitting in on damp days

.