Pumpkin and Red Leicester Risotto

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 garlic gloves, finely chopped

10 oz fresh pumpkin flesh, chopped or shredded

12oz arborio rice

4 fl oz white wine

2 pints vegetable stock (two stock cubes in boiling water is fine)

8 oz Red Leicester cheese, grated

Heat the oil and half the butter in a large saute pan. Add the onion and cook until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and pumpkin and cook to soften them too.

Add the rice and stir well to coat the rice in the oil. Pour in the white wine and allow to reduce before starting to add the stock. It is best added half a pint at a time and allow the liquid to reduce before adding another. It takes about 40 minutes before the rice will turn translucent and all the stock will be used up. Keep stirring regularly as you do not want it to stick to the pan.

When the risotto is creamy (not too liquid, but not a stodgy lump!) take it off the heat. If it is too dry add some boiling water and stir until it has started to be absorbed, taking it off the heat before it dries out again)

Add 2/3 of the grated cheese to the risotto and stir in so it just begins to melt and stir in remaining butter.

Add a little of the remaining cheese to the bottom of each serving dish. Spoon the risotto into each and use the remaining cheese on top just before serving. 

Serve as soon as possible so that the cheese is still melting when it is brought to table.

Spiced Pecan Cake

I thought as the nights draw in and the temperatures drop I would share a bit of a treat - best served slightly warm with custard! It can be made in a traditional cake tin or loaf tin.

14 fl oz water

3 fl oz orange juice (fresh squeezed if poss)

7 oz sultanas

4 oz butter

14 oz plain flour

1/2 tsp fine ground rock salt

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

10 oz golden caster sugar

1/2 tsp nutmug

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

4 oz chopped pecans

Butter and line your cake/loaf tin with baking parchment.

Pre-heat oven to 190C

Put the water, orange juice, butter and sultanas into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Keep on a slow boil for bout 25 minutes to allow the sultanas to swell and the liquid to slightly reduce. When its ready take off the heat and allow to cool for ten minutes before using.

While the sultanas are bubbling away get a large mixing bowl for the dry ingredients. Sift the flour into the bowl, along with the bicarb, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices. Make sure everything is well mixed.

Once the sultana mix is cooled a little pour into the dry mix and mix well. Then add the eggs and pecans. Mix thoroughly before pouring into the cake tins.

Place in the pre-heated oven and cook for up to 55 minutes. Times will vary according to the efficiency of your oven, so check regularly and move around the oven if necessary to cook evenly.

Best served while still a little warm and with custard or double cream :-)

Mushroom Pie

This is a very simple mushroom dish which can be served with salad, steamed vegetable or with soup.

A quantity of puff pastry

5oz butter

2 red onions, finely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1lb mixed fresh mushrooms (I use shitake, portobello, oyster and chestnut) chopped

Melt half the butter in a large saute pan and begin to cook the onions and garlic. Do not allow to brown, just soften.

Add the rest of the butter and the mushrooms. 

Cook over a low to medium heat to allow the mushrooms to cook thoroughly without cooking to quickly. About 25 minutes works for me. Once cooked set side to cool.

Roll out the pastry and use a small dinner plate s a template to make two circles.

Place on circle on a baking tray. Take your mushrooms and using a sieve gently squeeze out any excess liquid. Place mushrooms in the centre of the pastry circle. Brush around the edge with beaten egg and place the second pastry circle on top. Press the edges together and fold the bottom edge around the top one to form a decorating crust.

Pre-heat to 220C.

Using any spare pastry to make leaves and maybe a mushroom to stick on the top using beaten egg as glue. Brush the whole top with beaten egg and place in the oven for 45 minutes.

Fen Celery with Walnuts and Avocado

1 bunch of fresh Fen celery, thinly sliced
3 spring onions, very thinly sliced
2oz chopped walnuts
2 large ripe avocado, peeled and sliced length ways
Lemon juice
Soured Cream or Cottage Cheese to serve
Fresh herbs to garnish

Mix the celery, spring onions and walnuts on a serving plate. Place the avocado slices in a decorative pattern on top. Sprinkle with a little lemon juice. 

Place a good dollop of the soured cream of cottage cheese in the centre.

Garnish with your favourite fresh herbs and serve.

Hot Baked Brie with Autumn Relish and Bread

This is a great snack for two people to share.

1 whole 4 inch Brie or Camembert

1 Fresh, crusty French Loaf

A quantity of Autumn Relish to serve

Pre-heat your oven to 200C

Take any packaging from the brie and place in a ceramic oven to table dish. 

Slice a cross in the top of the brie and place into the oven. It should take between 10 and 20 minutes, depending on the efficiency of your oven. Keep checking the Brie and when its melted in the centre it is done. 

You need to serve this immediately as it will start to harden as soon as it cools.

Take the cheese from the oven. Place a good scoop of relish in the centre of the round and serve with torn up bread for dipping.

Mini Mince Pies with Frangipane Tops

I tend to make mini mince pies as feel a pile of minis looks somehow more attractive than half a dozen regular ones. It also allows you to have several different variations in the toppings and the possibilities of including ones with apple pie fillings for those that don't like mincemeat.

For this recipe you will need a quantity of Christmas Pastry or plain shortcrust if you prefer.

You will also need a jar of Mincemeat. 

For the Frangipane you will need:

2oz butter, softened

2oz golden caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

4 oz ground almonds

3 - 4 drops of almond extract (or to taste - I like a lot!)

1 pear

Begin with making your frangipane. Place your butter and sugar into a bowl and beat together. Slowly add the beaten eggs and continue to mix. 

A little at a time mix in the ground almonds and then flavour with the almond extract; make sure it is all thoroughly combined. Set this aside while you line the tins. 

Roll out your pastry on a floured board and cut circles to fit a mini cake tray. Make the pastry as thin as you can without it breaking as it will cook easier. Also with mini pies you will need more room for filling and don't want your pie too full of pastry!

In the bottom of each pie case place a small teaspoon of mincemeat. Now take your frangipane and place a small teaspoon on top. It doesn't have to be too neat as it will puff up under cooking and should sort itself out. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200C.While the oven is pre-heating you can finish off the pies. Take your pear and slice it up into slivers about 1 cm across and maybe 2 mm thick. If possible leave a bit of skin on the outside edge. Push two pieces of pear into the frangipane on each pie. 

Pop into the oven for about half an hour. Timings vary considerably depending on how efficient your oven is, so check the pies often and if necessary turn the trays around half way through. 

Sweet Pickled Onions

Although this recipe is for a quantity of pickled onions, but is equally good for pickled eggs and gherkins! Due to soaking time this needs to be made over two days.

2lb small pickling onions

3 dessert spoons of rock salt (I use Himalayan Pink Salt for everything)

Large bottle of Malt Vinegar (doesn't need to be an expensive or 'pickling' vinegar)

1 tsp dried chilli

1 tsp whole cloves

1 large or 2 small cinnamon sticks

1 inch chunk fresh ginger

2 tsp whole black peppercorns

3 heaped dessertspoons of dark brown sugar

Day One

Place unpeeled onions into a large saucepan or cauldron. Bring a kettle of water to the boil and pour over the onions. Allow to stand in the boiling water for two or three minutes, but no longer. (You don't want the onions to actually start cooking.)

Fill another large bowl with cold water and after the onions have soaked in the hot water for their three minutes use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the cold water. This is to allow them to cool a bit before you peel them.  You will notice that the boiled water has turned yellow and this used to be used as a natural dye! 

In another clean bowl place the salt and fill with fresh water. The water will dissolve as much of the salt as it needs, so don't worry if you still have salt crystals at the bottom of the bowl. Take the onions one at a time to peel, top and tail them. They can be put into the salt water and left at least 12 hours if not overnight.

Day Two

Put the vinegar into a saucepan with the sugar and spices. Bring to the boil, take of the heat and leave to cool some. 

Take your jars (sterilized with hot water or a sterilizing solution accordingly) and place near the sink. Place your salted onions into a sieve and rinse thoroughly under the tap. Drop straight into the jars, leaving a gap of about an inch from the top.

By now your vinegar should have cooled sufficiently not to crack the glass, but still take care with the hot liquid. I also advise you not to be tempted to sniff it as it an be quite potent! Using a ladle, scoop up the spiced vinegar and some of the pickling spices, then poor over the onions in their jars. I don't usually add all the spices as things like the cinnamon sticks can take up quite a lot of room, but certainly a few spoonfuls of the smaller ones and the odd slice of ginger make the finished piece look very appetizing and will continue to add flavour for a little while after. Once the last onion is covered you can seal the lid and leave on a shelf to mature. They are edible immediately, but left for a week they will be richer in taste.

Christmas Pastry

This is a slightly special pastry for the Christmas season, especially good for home-made mince pies!

The amount of mince-pies you will get from these quantities will vary depending on whether you favour lidded pies, open pies or mini mince pies!

8oz  plain flour

1 1/2 oz icing sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

5oz butter, straight from the fridge and cut into small cubes

Grated rind of one orange

4 tbsp cold water

(If you have no fresh oranges to hand you can make this recipe by substituting the rind and the water for and equal amount of orange juice)

Sift together the flour, icing sugar and cinnamon. Rub in the chilled butter until the whole mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Cold hands and chilled butter are essential to making good pastry. If you suffer from hot hands it is worth running them under cold water and drying thoroughly before rubbing in the butter. It is also why butter is best used straight from the fridge and not left at room temperature before rubbing.

Once you have that mixture looking like breadcrumbs you an stir in the grated orange rind. 

Add small amounts of the water until you have to knead the dough instead of stirring it. If you add too much water by mistake just add a little more sifted flour until the balance is restored. Once its properly kneaded it should be smooth and pliable.

Wrap the pastry in cling film and pop in the fridge until it is needed.

Autumn Pear and Spiced Cranberry Relish

A great Autumn/Winter preserve. Especially good eaten with a cheese platter and oatcakes, maybe with a wee glass of Port ;-) 

Ingredients to make roughly four 250g jars

1 onion, finely chopped

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated

6 fl oz raspberry or cider vinegar

5 oz caster sugar

2 garlic cloves, sliced

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground allspice

1 small tsp dried chilli

11 oz dried cranberries

4 pears, cored and cubed, peel left on

Put all the ingredients except the pear in a non-reactive saucepan with a pinch of salt. Bring slowly to a simmer, stirring to make sure all the sugar has dissolved. Add the pear and continue cooking until the mixture has the consistency of thick jam.

Sterilize your jars.

Spoon the hot relish into still hot jars and seal. Leave to cool.

They will keep in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months. Once opened, relish is best eaten within 2 months.

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Mincemeat

Take 40 minutes out of your day and make enough mincemeat to see yourself and half your family through the mince-pie eating season! I usually keep a few jars for myself and use the rest of the mincemeat to give away as early Christmas treats. Buy some nice new jam jars (loads available online!) fill to the brim with this pretty mincemeat (the cherries and cranberries make it far more attractive than shop brought stuff). Tie a piece of ribbon around the neck and take as a gift to friends when you visit during November and December. Everyone likes unexpected gifts and it gives them a chance to use it when making their own mince-pies before Christmas.

Ingredients to make  roughly 3lb mincemeat

4 bramley apples, peeled, cored and grated

12oz light muscovado sugar

Zest and Juice of 1 orange

Zest and Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp each of ground nutmeg, cloves and allspice

4 oz dried cranberries

4oz golden raisins

4 oz sultanas 

4 oz glace cherries

3 ½ fl oz brandy

3 oz flaked almonds

4 oz vegetable suet

Put the grated apple and any juices, sugar, zests and citrus juices into a large saucepan. Bring gently  to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the spices, dried fruit and brandy. Set aside to cool.

Once cool, stir in the almonds and suet.

Divide between sterilized jars. Press down to push out any air between spoonfuls and seal.

Will keep unopened in the fridge for months, so perfect to get some Christmas cooking out of the way during Autumn!

Tomato and Stilton Soup

As always, remember that the smaller you chop your ingredients the quicker they will cook! Keep chunks to less than 1/2 inch whenever possible. With the exclusion of the cheese garnish you could easily make this a vegan dish.

Ingredients

2oz butter

2 tbsp rape seed oil

2 medium onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 lb tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 400g tin (= 14oz) of plum tomatoes

1 1/2 pints of water

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 pint red wine

4oz Stilton cheese, crumbled

Heat the butter and oil in a good size saucepan and over a gentle heat soften the onion, garlic and celery. Add the carrots and the fresh tomatoes. Cook on for a further 10 minutes and occasionally give it a stir to avoid sticking and cool spots. 

Add the canned tomatoes and boiling water, followed by the tomato puree, sugar oregano and wine. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to allow the soup to simmer for up to an hour while the vegetables cook. Once they are soft and cooked through take the soup off the heat and allow to cool some. 

Transfer soup to a blender and whiz until the texture is smooth and lump free. (If you do not have a blender you can push it through a sieve by hand). 

Pour the soup back into the pan and re-heat before serving. Pour into bowls and garnish with the crumbled Stilton cheese.  

Jewel Salad

This salad is pretty much the only one I ever make. It is colourful, sweet and a great addition to summer meals. The key to presentation is making the ingredients similar in size and varied in colour as possible.

Quantities vary and are largely unimportant so long as there is a good mix.

Two slices of thick cut malted loaf - toasted, cooled and cut into 1 inch squares

A handful of small, sweet cherry tomatoes - cut into halves. 'Piccolo' is my favourite and available from some supermarkets; if you grow or have access to a variety of different cherry toms then use those. (Varieties like black cherry, snow white, yellow pear or similar all add to the look of the salad)

Half an Orange Pepper - cut into pieces less than an inch long

Half a Red Pepper - cut into pieces less than an inch long

1/3 Cucumber - cut into 1 inch slices and each slice cut into six triangles

Half a mozzarella  - cut into small squares or half a tub of mozzarella pearls

Six or Seven whole garlic cloves in brine or marinade (available in jars from most supermarkets or deli shops)

Handful of Green Grapes - cut into halves

Handful of Red or Black Grapes - cut into halves

According to taste, you can also add black olives, pickled silver-skin onions or baby pickled beetroot (cut into small squares). For a sweeter salad, cocktail cherries also work well in small quantities. 

Several Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Several Teaspoons of Balsamic Vinegar

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In a large bowl mix all the salad ingredients except the bread, oil and vinegar.

This can be put back in the fridge until you are ready to serve. Just before serving mix in the bread.

In a small serving jug beat the oil and vinegar together to make a simple dressing and drizzle over the salad.