As
promised here are the recipes and the bits and pieces mentioned
during my chat with Bernie Keith, on his Radio Show, The Bernie
Keith Show, BBC Radio Northampton on Monday 23rd
July, 2018 at 10.10am
Pomegranate
Dressing
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
juice of two limes
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
pinch of nigella seeds
1-2 tsps sumac
Mix all the ingredients together, preferably in a jug then
pour into a clean jar (with a lid!) and shake well
Coronation
Slaw
110g white cabbage, finely sliced – approximately
one third of a medium size cabbage
1 carrot – peeled and sliced with a
julienne peeler
1 spring onion – 15g finely sliced
Mix together in a large bowl and then season
with salt and black pepper
Add 30g ready to eat apricots, finely diced and
30g sultanas soaked in mango and apple juice and then drained
add the juice of half a lime or a squirt of lime juice
and 1 tbsp mango chutney and mix well
50g mayo
50g sour cream
1 tsp mild curry powder
combined and then fold in to complete
The recipe given will give you a box of coleslaw – measuring
approximately 11cms x 6.5cms x 5cms. One box lasted me a week, a
spoonful here and a spoonful there – you'd be surprised how well it
fits as a side to lots of main dishes and particularly as part of a
sandwich.
If
you're a real fan and like to make your own slaw, you might fancy
doing what I do, which is to do all the boring basic prep ahead of
time.
There's an added advantage too – if you like to eat sensibly
say, during your working week, then making up a batch of “raw slaw”
will be your best friend – so often we set out with the best of
intentions but after a long hard day at work your resistance is
really low. All your ingredients are ready when you are.
With that in mind :
Slice a cheek of white (or red) cabbage (110g approx) – bag,
clip and fridge.
Julienne your carrots – as many as you like – bag, clip and
fridge.
Spring onions are mild, you could use a Spanish onion if you
prefer or a red version. You can get a sweet, mild variety in the
Tesco Finest range. Slice, bag, clip and fridge.
Without being ridiculous your slaw should be of a similar size.
Add any or all of the variations mentioned in the Coronation Slaw
recipe – add chopped nuts – walnuts or pecans would work well
and/or a sharp flavoured apple, peeled quartered and diced.
If you'd like a photo guide for the slaw and other “salad”
ideas check out the Salad link on the blog.
To smoke chicken
breasts, and no you don't have to have your own smokery. You'll get
a great result by poaching the chicken in stock - 500ml. Bring the
stock to the boil and submerge 4 medium chicken breasts and simmer
for 10minutes, covered. Turn off the pan and leave the breasts to
continue cooking in the stock. Fridge when cooled.
I know I'm always
banging on about slow cooking a whole chicken but one of the upsides
is that I freeze the stock when I don't use it. If you don't have
your own stock then use a stock pot – 1 = 500ml.
The sweet stuff :
Gooseberry
Curd
If
you were thinking of making a Victoria Sandwich anytime soon, here's
another idea – instead of using jam for the centre, try gooseberry
curd.
900g
gooseberries
50ml
water
50g
butter
3
fresh eggs
450g
sugar
Top and tail the
berries and place in a large saucepan with the water. Bring to the
boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about
20 minutes until the berries are soft and mushy.
Remove from the
heat and push them through a sieve into a medium sized mixing bowl,
pressing the fruit through with a wooden spoon. Discard the stuff
left in the sieve.
Use a bain marie
– melt the butter. Beat the eggs lightly and stir into the bowl
with the sugar and gooseberry purée.
Cook the mixture,
stirring frequently for 25-30 minutes or until it thickens.
Remove the bowl
from the heat and pour into clean, dry, warm, sterilized jars. Seal
and cover.
Label with date
and contents when cooled.
Makes about 2lb –
900g of curd.
Be
careful – some fruits contain more juice than others – if you
want to be sure weigh the purée and use an equal amount of sugar.
Personally I'd find adding an equal amount of sugar too sweet. If
your curd is too thin then add a teaspoon of slaked arrowroot to
achieve the thickness required.
The
curd is best kept in the fridge and has a limited life – two to
three weeks at best. Bear in mind too that the curd contains lightly
cooked eggs and so there is a risk to the usual groups – i.e.
expectant mothers, babies, younger children and the elderly.
Raspberry
Wednesday
Serves
2
4x23g Amaretti biscuits, crushed
raspberry coulis
200g raspberries
a sprinkle of freeze dried raspberries (optional)
two scoops of vanilla ice cream
sticky toffee sauce
Raspberry
Coulis
200g strawberries, hulled and halved
200g raspberries
75g icing sugar, sifted
Heat the fruit in a large pan for 4-5 minutes or until the
fruit starts to break down. Add the icing sugar and continue to cook
the fruit for a further 2-3 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved.
Transfer the mixture to a food processor and blend until
smooth, add a splash of water if necessary to loosen the coulis.
Strain through a sieve pushing the fruit through with the back of a
spoon and set aside to cool. Fridge until needed.
Actually you could call the coulis either raspberry or
strawberry since it contains equal amounts of both.
This is a sharing sundae and you can use whatever you fancy.
The
joy of it is that you can make the additional components as and when
you have time. For example ice cream can be made whenever you have a
few minutes and it's ready and waiting in the freezer. The same
applies to the sticky toffee sauce.
Sprinkle
half your crushed Amaretti biscuits
into
the bottom of the glass
Drizzle
the strawberry compote over the biscuits
Cover
the compote with raspberries
Add
one scoop of ice cream
sprinkle
with the freeze dried raspberries
repeat
as above
Decorate
with a drizzle of hot sticky toffee sauce
as a
guide microwave for 15 seconds per 40g
of
sauce
one
raspberry to decorate the top
The secret in the sundae is the combination of the crushed
Amaretti biscuits with the coulis – take it from a non dessert
eater – WOW!
The coulis is the best recipe I've ever used and I've made a few.
It's even better at the moment because both strawberries and
raspberries are coming into their own – Nectar of the Gods. I'd
even suggest making as a staple for your fridge it's so versatile –
over ice cream with fresh fruit, over granola and fresh fruit for
breakfast – I could go on.
This is just one idea for a sundae – it's a “fly by the seat
of your pants” thing – make it your own.
Cherry
Jam
250g
black cherries, stoned*
2
tbsps of arrowroot
2
tbsps Kirsch or Cherry Brandy - optional
4
tbsps maple syrup
See*
below about choice of cherries. Using a blender, blend the
cherries with 120ml (4¼ fl oz) of cherry syrup, arrowroot, 2 tbsps
of Kirsch or Cherry Brandy and the maple syrup. Blend until smooth
then pour into a saucepan, bring to the boil and let it reduce for 10
minutes until it becomes jam like. Pour into a bowl and leave to
cool and thicken.
*You
can use fresh cherries if you wish but their season is short and they
are expensive. I used frozen Dark Sweet Cherries which I get from
Sainsbury's and come in 500g bags.
If you
use fresh cherries then you'll need more juice than they will give.
You can get cartons of cherry juice from either Waitrose or M&S.
Using
arrowroot as a thickening agent gives you a glossy jam. It has no
flavour so it's perfect it doesn't interfere with the ingredients.
Cherry
Thursday
4x23g
Amaretti biscuits
2
dollops of cherry jam – reserve a small spoonful
to
decorate
drizzle
of cherry compote
2
scoops of vanilla ice cream
or
try out the maple and pecan version
Chocolate
Sauce for drizzling
Sprinkle
half your Amaretti biscuits into the bottom of the glass. Drizzle
with cherry compote, add a dollop of cherry jam. Add one scoop of
ice cream. Repeat. Top with the warm chocolate sauce and top with a
small spoonful of jam.
50g
dark chocolate 70% cocoa solids
25g
unsalted butter
125ml
double cream
1
tbsp caster sugar
Melt
the chocolate in a bain marie (in a bowl over a pan of simmering
water, not touching the bowl). Heat the rest of the ingredients in a
small saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir through the melted
chocolate. Drizzle, warm, over your Cherry Thursday.
Finally, another ice cream!
Another
no-churn ice-cream
Maple
and Pecan Ice-cream
600ml double cream (heavy USA)
397g tin of condensed milk
80g of maple syrup
100g pecans, chopped
extra drizzle of maple syrup
and chopped pecans for decoration
Use a hand mixer and whisk the cream and condensed milk
together in a large mixing bowl until stiff with ribbons on the top.
Drizzle in the maple syrup, add the pecans and fold altogether.
Spoon into containers and freeze for at least six hours or
ideally overnight. Size of container depends on how frequently you
use ice cream. I'd opt for a smaller container 17x11x5 cms. This
will give you four generous portions. You'll get three of these with
the recipe so twelve generous portions, more if you're using a scoop.
Remove from the freezer for 15 minutes to allow it to soften
before serving. Decorate with a drizzle of maple syrup and a
sprinkle of chopped pecans.
If you'd like more ideas, check out the Desserts link.
Enjoy!
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