Let the Pork Fest begin...

Saturday 30th July 2011

The invites were out...

The RSVP's were back...

We were all ready to ...

All the pork recipes on the menu were taken from the book I was given when I visited  Jimmy's Farm. I know, I know, I had Jimmy sign it over to Claire as she had just left home to live in the middle of the countryside. Honestly, I have let her read it... once... and she loved it, the game recipes and real country feel of this book is right up her street!

Like I was saying, I used the book for the pork recipes, it was very easy to follow, a great read in its own right and I promise I will now give it back to its rightful owner!

We nibble these as appetisers with drinks

• Perfect pork crackling
• Mini Sausage bites from my butcher (Pork & Ginger and Pork, Cider & Apple)
• Mixed Olives

Our main course 

Stuffed hock and trotters!

• Rillettes
• Stuffed hock with trotters
• BBQ Sheet ribs
• Mini pork souvalaki (From Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros)
• Traditional Rustic French Bread
• Tomato Salad
• Homemade Hummus

We had a choice of two desserts ( No real photos of them as the wine was flowing and the kids were impatient, I did capture the chocolate sauce that managed to stick itself to Arty's face... does that count?)

• Apple Brown Betty & Pouring cream
• Homemade Profiteroles with dark chocolate sauce

We drank:

• Buzzards Valley English Regional Wine
• Pinot Grigio
• Merlot
• Stella Artois 
• Cherry Tango
• Pepsi 

The conversation flowed....

• Using real butchers over supermarkets
• Supporting the British farming industry
• The recent Pampered Chef Conference & relevant gossip (!)
• The merits of having teenage kids (or not!)
• How cute Rachel was when she was little (very!)

The verdict?

We all really enjoyed ourselves and enjoyed the pork dishes to different degrees. The rillettes after slow cooking for 3 hours were a great flavour but didn't have that pull apart loveliest promised in the book :-( 

The hock meat was tender and tasty but needed to be picked out of the debris that was the rest of the hock... the stuffing was very tasty especially the caramelised bit that oozed from the opening of the hock.

Sadly the trotters were left untouched, they looked pretty gruesome and with the rack of moist meaty ribs there was no competition!

Thanks for the Flowers Rachel x

&

the thank you card from the Jackson. 

Lambfest next you say....hmmm, that could be arranged!

The homemade Pitta Saga...

I had friends coming round for lunch, we'd had a big meal the day before and had a fridge full of leftovers and while I didn't want to short change them with warmed up seconds I didn't want to be wasteful either... what to serve them....hmmmmm... think, think, think.....I spend my free time reading a number of food blogs, the few I follow on Twitter are foodies and many of my Facebook friends are foodies... I read alot about what other people are cooking so over the past week I had read a link and followed it about the making of homemade pittas.  It struck me as I gazed into my fridge that the leftover lamb and chickpea side dish could have the makings of a Greek Meze and somewhere in cyber space there was a pitta recipe just waiting for me... only problem was, I couldn't find it!!! I checked my own blog only to find that I had made them once before... but the link was broken..I still had no recipe. I asked who was responsible for whetting my appetite... who, in the last week or two had made homemade pitta with such fabulous results that I had stored it away in my 'must do' folder in my head... well it didn't take long for Domestic Jules to get back to me... it was her, she'd made them, they were truly fabulous and she very kindly sent me the pitta recipe link.... so I made them...only thing I did different is I cooked them on my Pampered Chef Rectangle Stone, I think it helped it to puff up and become crisp on the underneath too.

I agree, strange shape and probably a little well done but very nice all the same!

Check out Domestic Jules blog to see how they really should be cooked!

With those I served the reheated lamb from the day before. It had been served sprinkled with pomegranates so I carefully picked those out and squeezed the juice into the meat. Wrapped it in foil and slowly reheated it and came out trumps... moist and moreish Lamb Salad!

Then I made the  Tzatziki - A photo can be seen here

350g/12oz Greek yogurt
1 cucumber
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, pushed through the garlic press
dash of extra virgin olive oil
paprika, for sprinkling

Method
1.De-seeding the cucumber before grating. Place the grated cucumber in a fine strainer and press to squeeze out all the excess liquid.
2.Combine the yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice and garlic. Add a dash of olive oil and sprinkle with paprika.
3.Leftovers can be sorted in the fridge but will separate slightly. Just mix with a fork before serving again!

I then turned the chick pea side dish into hummus by adding a large glug of oil and a tablespoon of tahini paste before whizzing it to a smooth paste (sort of... we all like a bit of texture in our lives!!!)
A beef tomato salad  - Ripe tomatoes slices, white onion finely chopped, torn basil (used dried at a pinch), glug of oil, salt and pepper and a generous glug of balsamic vinegar and you're done! Cover and let marinate until you're ready to serve.
 
A mixed green salad finished it all off nicely!!

Pitta bread made with wholemeal bread was equally good!



We served all this with copious amounts of Procecco, sparkling water and squash for the kids. For dessert I made Turkish Delight Syllabub  again I need to apologise to Nigella, I subbed lots of things in this but it still turned out fab... Tia Maria instead of Cointreau for a start and the chocolate on the top was more appropriate with the change too I think... hey, it worked for us, so no complaints!!!
 

This struck a cord, thanks Marie!

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.

Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.

Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.

Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.

Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa......but I first read it on Marie's blog and it struck a cord.

Now me and Marie go back a long way, we have been friends for years, we're on the same journey but we just choose to sit on different buses. Not that we've ever let that get in the way of our foodie friendship! She's a pleasure and a delight to be with and with things like this for me to read on her blog every day, she gives me food for thought too... thank you Marie, you a very special lady x

Another special thing this week is this....

Tia Maria Cheesecake

I've never made a baked cheesecake before, no idea why I've put it off for so long, it was very simple to do, and the outcome was fab!!!  I found the recipe in a little booklet that came free with my Good Food magazine this month and while drooling over it, I figured I had Tia Marie left over from Christmas and all the other stuff was sat in the kitchen just waiting for me to bake it.... how could I refuse?!! The original recipe had it topped with continental chocolates, that was a step too far for us, we just wanted the hit of cheesecake... so here goes.... I baked it in the Pampered Chef Springform Pan used my batter bowl to mix the filling, it was so easy, in fact chilling it in the fridge took the longest time and it was pretty hard to wait, so we didn't!!!

Looking a little bit slumped!!!

It was rather sickly eating it warm and it didn't look the bees knees either but it was worth it, warm chocolate boozy goodness... delish!

Chilled and looking lovely!

Thankfully it is all gone and we can now start our 40 days without such temptation in the fridge.

First mince pies of the Season!

Homemade mincemeat, with fresh all butter pastry made in the deluxe mini muffin pan... no pastry rolling for me, I just 'dib' them out with the tart shaper and just like magic the tin is lined with pastry.

These are the first batch of many that will be made during Advent and the Christmas season... don't you just love them?

What I love about these ones are they are just one bite big! The lid which I cut with my Pampered Chef creative cutter set, comes off with ease so you can fill it with brandy cream and then replace... oozing slightly when you bite into it... delicious!!!

Topped with a heart for the one you love!

Jamie's 30 minute meal

I sat watching Jamie O's 30 minute meals on catch up earlier today and watched the one where he makes mushroom risotto with a cucumber and spinach.

I checked the fridge and I had all the ingredients to do the spinach salad but lacked mushrooms for the risotto...

 but I did have asparagus, mint and lemon... so that's what I did, cooking it in the 30 minute style. It turned out fabulous!

 Didn't have the stuff to do the dessert he suggested but did have everything to make a huge banoffee pie!

This was delicious... expertly made by Jo.  The recipe she used as base loosely on this one here however she used butter and kept it plain.

Banana Sponge Pudding in the Microwave

Now in any good kitchen there is a calamity corner, you know, where all the mishaps are placed. The recipes while taste good don't actually look good enough to hit the blog? Well today I thought I'd share one such 'disaster' with you...

Got a great little recipe for you, but as I am doing a pampered chef children's fund raising show next week I thought I'd adjust this recipe so I can have two teams of two making a small pudding each. Are you still with me???

My first attempt....  not as appetizing as I was hoping!

Second attempt went well, in fact this recipe was spot on the first time, it just needed to be split into two coffee and more cups and it would have turned out just fine.

The sponge is very moist thanks to the banana in it, and looks good with the bananas on top, served with ice cream this is going to get the thumbs up from kids at my 'Kids can cook' fundraiser.

Easy Microwave Banana Pudding

4 tablespoons butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
1 ripe bananas
4 tablespoons light muscovado sugar
4 tablespoons self-raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoons Milk
1 eggs
Icing sugar

Serve with ice cream (optional)

Put the butter in small batter bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute till melted. Add 1 ½ bananas, mash into the melted butter using mix n’masher, then add the sugar, flour, cinnamon measured with adjustable measuring spoons, eggs and milk.

Mix together well using mix n’scraper. Place mixture into two well buttered coffee n more cups.

Slice the remaining banana using egg slicer plus and spread them over the top of the batter. Return baker to the microwave and cook on high for 4/5 minutes till cooked through and risen. Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar using sugar flour shaker or ice cream using the ice cream dipper.

Serves 4 people, or two greedy people! prep 10 minutes and cook 10 minutes.

Tip: Save over ripe bananas for this recipe. Freeze them whole in plastic bags. The browner and softer the bananas, the stronger the flavour when baked.

The Bahrainian Grand Prix clashed with Mothers Day!

Not only was it Mothers Day here in the Uk, it was also the first race of the new 2010 Formula One Grand Prix season... As my regular readers will know, we are huge F1 fans in this house. This also meant I had a treat on my hands, my challenge was to cook a traditional dish from the Bahraininan region.  As usual I went to my favourite recipe site and found this recipe Traditional Bahraini Chicken Machbous

WOW it was wonderful, such a plate full of flavours that my taste buds couldn't quite keep up with it. Limes, coriander, caramelized chicken pieces, rose water, baharat spice blends....it was all so amazing!  Light and full of flavour, it was almost like a salad rather than a curry with sauce as I am used to.

I served it with a fresh Okra Salad  not sure how traditional this is, but it made a great side dish, the okra was blanched for 3 minutes which kept it crunchy. I used balsamic vinegar in the dressing and this added something special to the dressing!

For dessert I made Semolina Halwa this is not our typical dessert but it was lovely, I reduced the sugar by half as we don't have a sweet tooth but the texture and flavours were great, stuffed with sultanas, pistachios, coconut and 
almonds.

A good mothers day all round!

To Welliesheep, Geeksheep & Gingersheep - Thank you for my gifts!

The Village Bakery Organic Christmas Treats!

I got sent some fabby organic Christmas Goodies the other day.

 A lovely Christmas pud

...and 4 deep filled mince pies.

I was really surprised by the quality of these mince pies; I don't usually buy them as I’m a homemade girlie but seen as these were among other things, wheat free I was interested!

Thick crumbly 'pasty' with a sugared topping. I didn't think this would go down well, I’m not a sugar topping type person, but it really helped with the overall pastryness (yes, that is a word!!!...well it is now!) It was crispy with a melt in the mouth deliciousness just like regular pastry. I was very very surprised as in my experience of wheat free pastry is like cardboard. Not this one...yummo!

My first bite revealed a centre packed to the brim with moist tasty filling! Rich, spicy and moreish...:-( I am ashamed to say that I ate the whole packet of 4 in one day!

The only downside to these is they are not real pastry, they lack that buttery crumbly pasty texture but with a wheat intolerance that gives me jip if I scoff down the real ones these are (IMHO) the best on the market! If you’re a mince pie lover but have to follow a gluten free, wheat free, dairy free or vegetarian diet you will love these!

I’ll be placing my order with Able and Cole before Christmas, you can too by clicking here

As for the Christmas pudding, I'll pop back and tell you about that later. With Paul working away I haven't had chance to try it. After eating ALL 4 mince pies, I'm sure I'm going to love the pudding too...don't really think I should eat it all to myself, so will wait until he gets home and share it. I'm sure you'll appreciate two reviews instead of the one...now where's that white sauce recipe???

Look at my Christmas Tree!

Mini Cinnamon Christmas Tree Rolls


Makes 24

375g ready rolled puff pastry or 2 packets chilled fresh ready to bake croissant dough (to make 12 croissants in total – sometimes there are only 4 in a packet!)
25g butter, melted

55g caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

170g mixed dried fruit (raisins, currants etc as you like)

To Decorate:
1 small tub of red/yellow/green glace cherries

Icing:
115g icing sugar mixed with 2-3 tsp boiling water

Method:

1. Oven 200C/400F/gas mark 6.

2. Unroll the pastry or croissant dough and lay it out in a long strip or sheet .

3. Brush with melted butter. Mix cinnamon with sugar and sprinkle evenly over pastry,

4. Add mixed fruit in an even layer then roll up the pastry

4. Cut evenly into 24 mini logs. Arrange them on their sides on a flat stone like a Christmas Tree, but do not arrange them too close together:

5. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, lowering the oven temperature near the end if need be. Cook until golden brown. When the ‘tree’ is cooked and cooled, arrange the glace cherries over the branches and drizzle over the icing as you like.

Chocolate Sponge Pudding using the Classic Batter Bowl

There's only one thing I like more than my job and that is other consultants who pass round recipe that can be demonstrated at cooking shows!

This arrived in my inbox last night and me and Jo hit the kitchen running....it was 10pm but we didn't care. With a cook time of just 7 1/2 minutes we knew we could have chocolate pudding by quarter past 10. Not the healthiest supper in the world, but 14 year olds don't worry about things like that.

The bottom of our world fell out when we realised we were out of cocoa, there was a nano second there, when we contemplated making it with drinking chocolate! Thankful we came to our sense and decided to head to the supermarket first thing in the morning!

Well, we've made it, and to be fair its a pimped up version of Mrs Jones' magic cake turning the cake into an amazing dessert. We served it with double cream but it would be delicious with ice cream

Thanks Barbara, who passed it on from Linda!

Printable recipe

Chocolate Fudge Sauce
6tbsp golden syrup (use a measure all cup)

4oz light brown sugar
1oz butter

3 tbsp cocoa powder
4tbsp of double cream

Sponge Pudding
4oz butter

6oz self raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder

4oz soft light brown sugar
2 eggs

4 tbsp milk
Double cream or ice cream for serving!!!!

Sauce
Place all fudge sauce ingredients into classic batter bowl. Microwave for about 1 ½ minutes on High. Mix well.

Sponge Pudding

Melt the butter in a micro cooker on Medium
Add all the other ingredients and mix.
Put mixture over fudge sauce to create a cover and cook for 6 mins on High

NB When you are putting the sponge mixture on top of the fudge sauce don’t just throw it on otherwise the fudge sauce will jump up due to weight displacement.What you need to do is put one scoop at a time around the edge creating a circle which will hold down the sauce and then add the remaining mixture in the middle and spread it about to cover the sauce. When it is cooked turn it upside down onto a large plate.

Great served with double cream or ice cream, using the ice cream dipper of course!

Recipe of the Month!!!

Mini banoffee pies made in the deluxe mini muffin pan

A list of ingredients more than a recipe...

• 
  
  short crust pastry rolled into walnut shaped balls, dibbed out with my mini tart shaper
• 
  
  prick bottom of pastry with a fork to stop it puffing up

• 
  
  Cook at 200c for 15 minutes
• 
  
  Slice a banana using an egg slicer and place a slice into the tart
• 
  
  Top with a teaspoon of Carnation caramel
• 
  
  Whip cream with a double balloon whisk
• 
  
  Pipe cream on top of the tarts with easy accent decorator
• 
  
  grate dark chocolate with microplane

Now you don't need all these pampered chef products to make these scrummy little tarts but they do help to whip them up in no time! These are the most requested dessert of October, my kids love them and lets face it, bananas, toffee, chocolate...hey what's not to like???

Printable recipe

Please....I need help with my Heavenly Pink Lemon Cake...

October is Pampered Chef's 'Help Whip Cancer' appeal month. Consultants hold pink fundraising shows or sell fab pink products to raise fund for this worthy cause. More on the pink products later...at the moment I have a bigger fish to fry...

The Pampered Chef's Heavenly Pink Lemon Cake is a pink sponge cake topped with a lemon glacé icing and served with raspberries, and they assure me it will have my October guests asking for seconds.

This is their version...

...and this is mine!!!!

The pampered chef reicpe uses a packet cake mix, which is probably ok in the States, but here in the UK, IMHO they're not as good. Anyway, I much prefer making things from scratch, but I have a problem! My first attempt tasted great without all the boxed additives, but didn't look nearly half as good as the Pampred chef version...not nearly as pink as it should be either .... this version was an 8-8-8 & 4 all in one version. Which with hind sight I should have creamed the butter and sugar first, until as white and as fluffy as possible, THEN add the food colouring before continuing on with the recipe, that will be the basis for my second attempt. I will also change it to a 12-12-12 & 6 egg version for a deeper cake, after all the rectangle baker is a large pan to fill.

My second problem was the icing, the edges were too wobbly, it was too thin in places and when I cut it into pieces the icing stuck to the knife and made it even more messy!!

I now know the icing needs to be a bit thicker in texture and spread a little more evenly on the cake, I need to dip my knife into hot water before attempting to cut the iced cake. But the reviews were good, the cake rose beautifully and the lemony icing complimented the sweet cake and cream topping beautifully. I just need to work on Heavenly Pink Lemon Cake MarkII now...

Inverted baker with cake cooling underneath... what does this do to help the cake?

This is where you my dear readers could step in to help me! I know there are so many amazing bakers out there, full of tips and helpful advice, that I am sure with your help I could turn my second attempt into the final one that has my guests ooohing and ahhhhing and my fellow consultants running to their kitchens to make their own!

Anyone up for the challenge???
Please post any tips or advice in the comments box below, I'll be forever grateful, you will also be doing a little bit towards the 'Help Whip Cancer' appeal as this recipe once perfected will be passed around my fellow pampered chef collegues and we will use it to raise funds during our October fundraising shows, so I'm sure they will want to thank you in advance also!

Cake ready for the oven - it looks a bit pinker than the finished cake?

Cooking it in the rectangle baker ensured an evenly baked cake

This is my recipe so far...I'm happy to change it!.

For the cake
5-6 drops red food colouring
12 oz softened butter
12oz granulated sugar
12oz self raising four
4 level teaspoons baking powder
6 medium sized eggs

For the Glaze
1 lemon
280 g icing sugar
150 ml double or whipping
cream, whipped to form soft peaks

To serve
Canned (or fresh raspberries stood for 30 mins with I tbs castor sugar and 1tsp of vanilla extract)

Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/Gas 4. Lightly spray Rectangular Baker with sunflower oil and line base with non-stick baking paper; set aside.

For cake
In Classic Batter Bowl beat the sugar and butter until very very pale, almost white using Bamboo Spoon. Add eggs, food colouring, flour and baking powder alternatively until thoroughly mixed using Stainless Steel Whisk. Pour mixture into prepared baker; spread evenly.
Bake for about 40 -45 minutes or until top is deep golden brown and a fine skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean. (Do not underbake.)
Remove baker from oven; invert onto Stackable Cooling Rack. Without removing from baker, let stand until completely cool (about 1½-2 hours).

For the glaze and topping,

Zest 1 lemon using Microplane® Adjustable Grater to measure 1 tablespoon zest using Adjustable Measuring Spoons. Juice 1 lemon using Citrus Press to measure about 3 tablespoons juice. In Small Batter Bowl, stir together icing sugar, lemon zest and enough lemon juice to make a thick, spreadable icing, beating until smooth.
Remove cake from baker; discard lining paper. Spoon icing onto cake; spread carefully and evenly using Large Spreader or back of Classic Scraper. Let stand about 15-20 minutes or until icing is set.
Whip cream in Classic Batter Bowl using Stainless Steel Balloon Whisk.
Attach open star tip to Easy Accent® Decorator; fill with whipped cream. Decorate cake with whipped cream; cut cake into squares to serve. Serve using Mini-Serving Spatula; top each serving with raspberries.