Beef Bourguignon

It has been snowy and magical, I love the snow so much, I love the way it makes the whole of the UK stand still. In any other country people would still go about their normal lives but not here, oh no....Quick it's snowing panic buy, panic buy, shut the schools, don't leave the house, woman get's some snow on her head, front page news ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
When it's freezing outside we all crave hot comfort food and beef bourguignon is perfect for this. I adapted Gordon Ramsey's recipe for this and it turned out perfectly and I really do recommend using shin beef, it's the perfect cut for this. I served mine with buttery mashed potato and celeriac, yum.

3 tsp goose fat or Butter and a splash of oil
 600g shin beef , cut into large chunks
100g smoked streaky bacon , sliced
350g Whole peeled shallots or pearl onions, peeled
250g chestnut mushrooms (about 20)
2 garlic cloves
1 bouquet garni
1 tbsp tomato purée
750ml bottle red wine

 I peeled my shallots, quartered my chestnut mushrooms, added the smoky bacon and sauteed everything in some goose fat.

I covered my chunks of shin beef in seasoned flour, browned in batches and then added them to the pan. I then added my bouquet garni, tomato past, red wine and 100ml of water and left to cook on the hob for about 2 hours half covered and then I transferred it to the oven totally covered for a further hour and a half. 

The long slow cooking of this bourguignon makes the meat literally melt in your mouth, so utterly delicious, especially when served with a pile of steaming butter celeriac mash.

Butternut Squash Macaroni Cheese

Macaroni cheese is one of my all time favourite things to eat when I'm hungover, sad or cold and today I'm cold and slightly hungover so macaroni cheese it is but with a bit of a difference from my normal recipe. I added some roasted butternut squash puree and crispy bacon to the normal cheese sauce and oh my it worked a treat. I thought it would be a bit sweet and I was right it was so adding the crispy bacon and lot's of mature cheddar and Parmesan gave the dish a savoury depth which I think it needed but that's my opinion and everyone has different tastes so leave the bacon out if you want.

Half a large butternut squash
Macaroni
4 rashers of Bacon
Mature cheddar Cheese
Milk
Parmesan
Flour
Butter
Nutmeg
Bread Crumbs




First I roasted my butternut squash in a bit of olive oil for about 45mins.


I then blitzed the butternut into a puree with a drop of milk and put the bacon under the grill and the macaroni on to boil.


I made a roux with flour and butter and slowly added milk a little at time to make a white sauce


I then mixed the butternut puree, mature cheddar, nutmeg and pepper into the white sauce


Then I added the cooked smoky bacon to the sauce


Mix the cooked macaroni with the sauce


Cover with breadcrumbs, grated cheese and Parmesan


I cooked it in the oven for around half an hours on the middle shelf on gas mark 6





It was a bit different to normal macaroni cheese and you can pretend it's 'healthy' because of the butternut squash in it........

Brussle and Cauliflower Gratin with roast Gammon

I was invited to my lovely friend Gemma'a house for a Sunday cooking and eating lot's day because It's something were very good at. We went to the shops bought our gammon and decided what to have with it, I always have cauliflower cheese with it because its a marriage made in heaven and decided to be a little different and make a creamy cheesy gratin with brussle sprouts and cauliflower and boy it was good.

Brussle sprouts
Cauliflower
Flour
Butter
Double cream
Mature cheeder Cheese
Parmesan
Bread crumbs
Pepper


I par boiled my veg before putting in a baking dish


Next I made a roux and used cream instead of milk and stirred a mound of grated cheese into it and poured it over the veg. And yes cream is indulgent but what are Sundays for if there not for indulgence and treating yourself before going back to work Monday morning I ask you!


I whizzed up some stale bread for part of the topping


Then I covered the gratin with Cheddar, Parmesan and breadcrumbs and put it in the over for around 20 mins.


The delicious gratin in all it's glory


I boiled my gammon in water for around 20 mins before covering in foil and roasting in the over for around half an hour


Had to make some goose fat roast potatoes, it's Sunday!


I also made a cider gravy using some of the water I boiled the gammon in and the veg water, it was a truly delicious Sunday dinner and bit of a change to the normal Sunday roast I would cook.
If you were going to have the gratin with chicken or lamb I think adding some pancetta or bacon and thyme would be nice addition to. Happy Sundays everyone.

Pear and Chocolate Crumble

All of a sudden it got really cold and all I want to do is hibernate underneath my duvet with stews and hot puddings and what is easier to make than a buttery crumble with sticky caramelised fruit and some chocolate chunks thrown in for good measure.
I used apple as well as pears in my crumble just for a bit of different texture and flavour.

Pears
Apples
Plain flour
Butter
Chocolate chunks dark or milk
Rolled oats
Muscadova sugar
Lemon juice



To make my crumble topping I used plain flour, butter, oats, muscadova sugar and chunks of milk chocolate.



I would never normally cook my fruit before putting it in the oven but sometimes pears need a little help or they can turn out quite hard so I fried them off in butter and muscadova sugar while covering the apples in lemon juice and a bit of sugar and left un-cooked.




I baked it in the oven for around 20-25Min's, some of the chocolate chunks on top got slightly burnt at the edges but still tasted lovely.




I just dollop some extra thick cream on the side but it would be lovely custard or vanilla ice cream, I love the combination of hot and cold.

Beef and Red Wine Stew with Cheese and Chive Dumplings

Ive had a sad couple of days as I had to attend the funeral of a beautiful friend who was taken far to soon and far to young but it was a very fitting service with the soundtrack to 'Back To The Future' playing as we entered the church which could not have been more perfect for him. He was such a huge character with an amazing Mohawk, an amazing laugh and more friends than anyone I know because he genuinely cared about people and was interested in what they had to say no matter who they were.
people had to sit on the floor of the church and a big crowd gathered outside the doors which is testament to the man he was.
After a hugely emotionally draining day followed by a 10 hour shift at work starting at 5am the next day I needed something warm and comforting and what's more warm and comforting than stew and dumplings? I have used Jamie Oliver's recipe for the dumplings.

Beef and Red wine Stew with Cheese and Chive Dumplings

For the Stew you will need:

400 Grams Stewing steak
Glass of Red Wine
2 large Carrots
1 Onion
1 Leek shredded discarding the green end
Beef stock
Seasoned flour
Knob of butter
Salt and Pepper

Dumplings
170 Grams of Flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small cubes
mature cheddar, grated
1 small bunch of chives, chopped
Pinch of salt
60ml of milk

Cover the steak in the seasoned flour and brown off in a pan in the butter and a dash of oil. Remove from the pot once browned and add the chopped onion, leeks and carrots and fry for around five minutes before putting the steak back in. Next add the glass of red and stock and leave to simmer for around three hours on top of the stove or you can put in the oven covered. I like adding shredded leeks to my stew for the gorgeous flavour and the texture it gives to the stew.


For the dumplings mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and butter. Rub the mixture between your fingers like when you make a crumble until it looks a bit like large breadcrumbs.


Add the grated cheese and the chives and mix together with a fork before Pouring in the milk bit by bit. You may need extra milk but just make sure your mixture doesn't get to wet.

Divide the mixture in to balls and plop on top of the stew around half an hour before the three hour cooking time is up.

They seriously swell up and I had some mixture left over!

I finished my stew under the grill so the dumplings would brown a bit on top.

I served mine with mash and peas and it was lovely and much needed, sorry for the lack of stew photo's I just concentrated on the dumplings more!

Random Recipies #6 Nigella Lawson Macaroni Cheese De Luxe with Honey Roast Gammon

I even put the book on a festive red blanket!

This will be the first time I participate in Dom's Random Recipe Challenge and I'm really happy to be taking part and it's about bloody time I did so here it is.
I have a huge collection of cookbooks and I love them all, I'm one of those people that reads cookery books in bed and I bloody love it I do!
It was really hard to choose due to my undeniable love for each and every one of my precious books, It could have been 'The Prawn Cocktail Years' by Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham who both also wrote and contributed to 'Roast Chicken and Other Stories' which is another all time favourite and regarded as one of the best cook books ever written. I adore all Nigel Slater books especially 'Good Food' that I am pretty sure I have cooked every dish from! Or what about a recipe from Sam and Sam Clarke from 'Moro' with their rustic bowls of beautiful food......
Well I came to my decision and I know it's July but the weather has hardly been that fabulous and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that Nigella Lawson's book 'Nigella Christmas' was not one of my all time favourite books and the fact I have a year round obsession with Christmas may also have something to do with my choice, I would have been fully prepared to do roast goose with all the trimmings, no joke.
I adore the photography in Nigella's book, it's just so beautiful and I love the way she writes a little story and her own thoughts on each and every recipe which is why it's exactly the kind of cook book I will snuggle up in bed with.
I got my boyfriend to flick through the pages and I closed my eyes and shouted when to stop and it turned out to be 'Macaroni Cheese De Luxe', now I'm not gonna lie I was a teeny bit disappointed because Ive made macaroni cheese a thousand times before and was hoping for something new and exciting but I have never made one using evaporated milk so that was a little bit exciting, every cloud and all that.
I will admit that I did not stick to the recipe exactly as I forgot the Dijon mustard and I almost halved the quantities because it felt slightly excessive to use three cans of evaporated milk so I just used one and omitted the mustard. Here is Nigella's full recipe that unless your cooking for a small army you may want to scale down.

Nigell Lawson's Macaroni Cheese De Luxe
175g Soft butter, plus more for greasing
150g plain flour
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
3 cans evaporated milk 500g in total
1.5 litres of semi-skimmed milk
2 550g packs of macaroni
275g of Emmental, grated
300g Cheddar
75g Parmesan
salt

You make this as you would any other macaroni cheese and I'm pretty sure you all are accomplished cooks here and can make a macaroni cheese so Im not going to write out the reipe and some may say that's lazy but hey ho I say it's paying you all a compliment! The only difference with this one is mixing your semi-skimmed milk with the evaporated milk and use that to make your cheese sauce with when adding to the roux.


Accidentally picked up 'light' evaporated milk, I hate anything that's diet or light so was not impressed when I got home.


I bought a small gammon joint and boiled it before covering in honey and roasting in the oven. And yes there is a bit missing because I ate it alright.




Starting to add the mountains of cheese, you can never have enough cheese in a good cheese sauce and that is a real fact


Yes there is a hell of a lot more sauce than pasta and even I think I may have gone over board this time as that is a very deep saucepan with the macaroni just resting on top, but it was inevitable I like sauce, I always make to much and I always will


Ready to go in the oven


Ohhh....


So gooey and cheesy with a delicious golden crust


You may have noticed that my tomato's are un-roasted and that's because I forgot but still included them because you really do need something to cut through the richness of the cheese sauce.

After trying Nigella's version of macaroni cheese with evaporated milk I don't think I would make it again as the evaporated milk gave it a strange taste and I much prefer when I make it using just normal milk. I usually love the taste of evaporated milk so was a bit surprised by that but there you go. Thanks Nigella and thanks Christmas, I love you both! And Thanks Dom for coming up with such a great idea, I will be taking part far more often!

Pork Belly

I love pork belly and would eat it every day if I thought I could get away with it, it's creamy fat that renders into the meat so it's meltingly tender and of course the best bit of all....the crackling.
It's a very sad affair when your crackling doesn't crackle and there are many tried and tested methods for getting it right and I have tried them all. The trick is to the skin as dry as you possibly can, I cover my slab of belly in rock salt and leave it for around an hour then wipe the salt off with kitchen towel a nd try to soak up as much of the moisture as possible for using a hair dryer to dry it out even more!!!
To cook my pork belly I cover the sides in tin foil to protect it when the oven is turned up to the fullest to achieve the crackle!!






Here she is in all her glory with cauliflower cheese, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, Roast parsnips and lot's of lovely veg. There was of course cider gravy and apple sauce as well.