These are a sample of recipes from our cookery demo’s: Enjoy and let us know what you think.
Pear and Goat’s Cheese Crostini
30g pine nuts 3 semi-ripe pears
caster sugar olive oil
lemon juice clove of garlic
120g soft goat’s cheese loaf sourdough bread
Place the pine nuts, 4 tbs oil, garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper in a pestle and grind to a paste. Slice the loaf and spread the paste on one side of the bread. Place the bread on a hot, oiled griddle and toast until brown. While the bread is cooking, prepare the pears by cutting them into thick slices, removing the core. Gently toss the slices in a bowl with a little oil, the caster sugar and lemon juice. Then griddle the pear slices, about a minute each side. To serve, place slices of pear alternately with slices of goat’s cheese, overlapping. Garnish with chervil leaves, a drizzle of oil and a grind of black pepper. Serve immediately.
Hot Fruit Kebabs
Assorted seasonal fruits fresh lemon juice
Orange or rosehip liqueur caster sugar
Cut the larger fruits into chunks, keeping the smaller fruits whole and put in a bowl. Sprinkle the fruit with lemon juice and then mix with the liqueur and macerate for 15 minutes. Thread the fruit onto bamboo skewers, roll in caster sugar and place on a char-grill, griddle or barbeque for 5 minutes, turning regularly until the fruit starts to caramelise. Serve immediately with some whipped cream and offer the marinade as a drink.
Gravadlax
1 side of salmon fillet
Rock or coarse sea salt
Bunch of fresh dill
Granulated sugar
Method: Cut the salmon fillet in half and lay one half, skin side down, on a large piece of cling film. Cover the whole surface with a deep layer of salt and chopped dill. Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of sugar over this layer, and then place the second piece of salmon on top, this time skin side up. Press together firmly and then wrap the whole thing in cling film until well sealed. Put the salmon in a deep dish and put a board on top of the salmon with some heavy weights on top to press the salmon. Keep in the fridge for three days, turning the salmon daily. Serve thinly sliced with brown bread and a mustard dill sauce. The gravadlax will keep for weeks, and freezes well.
Delicious Brussel Sprouts
Brussel Sprouts
Dried chilli flakes
Fresh garlic
Salt and Pepper
White wine vinegar
oil
Method: Finely dice a couple of cloves of garlic, and toss into a frying pan with a glug of oil. Finely chop half the sprouts, and just quarter the rest of them (this produces two different textures to the dish). Add all the sprouts to the pan,along with a teaspoon of chilli flakes – or more if you like your food spicy! Toss in the oil and cook over a medium heat, adding a splash of white wine vinegar, until the chopped sprouts are tender, and the quartered one still have a bit of bite. Season and serve immediately
Bramble&BlueberryScone
Potato Rösti
Large potatoes (1 per person) King Edward or Maris Piper
1 egg
Salt and pepper
Method: Peel the potatoes and then grate them into a bowl. Put the grated potato into the centre of a clean tea towel and holding the cloth closed, squeeze the potato to release water from the flesh of the potato. Try to get as much water out of the potato as possible. Return the potato to the bowl, season and mix in the egg to bind the potato. Mould the potato into flat cakes about the size of the palm of your hand, and fry them gently in hot oil in a frying pan until golden brown. They can be made earlier and then reheated in an oven if necessary.
Lemon Toddy Syrup
5 lemons
sugar 1b sugar
water 2 pints
honey 1 jar
vinegar 4tbl spoons
whisky 1 cup (or to taste)
Method: Cut up lemons and layer fruit in a jug with the sugar until all the fruit is used. Cover with a plate and leave for 24 hours. Add the whole to a pan and gentle simmer until all the sugar is dissolved. Add honey cider or white wine vinegar and whisky. Continue to simmer gently for about 5 minutes until the whole is disolved and a thick syrup consistency. Do not let the mixture boil. When hapyy with consistency remove from the heat and strain the whole setting the fruit aside. Allow syrup to cool and
Carrot Fudge
Ingredients:
¼ pint / 150ml condensed milk
4 oz / 100g sugar
1 oz / 25g golden syrup
3 oz / 75g butter
8 oz / 225g grated carrot
flavouring if liked
Method:
Stir all the time that the mixture is being heated. Use a large heavy pan.
Dissolve the sugar and syrup in the milk and add the grated carrots and any flavouring. Boil vigorously, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the sugar thermometer shows the temperature to be 240°F or 115°C. Or if like me you don’t have such a thing……once it starts to “bond” together, change colour and start to smell toffee-ish! Take care not to splash the mixture which is very hot. But a sticky cooker is inevitable.
Take off the heat.
Stir in the butter a little at a time.
Then pour the mixture into a greased 8″ / 20cm square tin to cool.
Cut into small squares when cold and store in an airtight tin. Or roll into balls and diop in icing sugar (my preference).
I tend to make twice the recipe amount as keep well and ……surprisingly stocks seem to disappear quite rapidly!
Flavourings:
2 oz / 50g melted plain chocolate (not cooking chocolate)
OR
1 tsp cocoa powder
OR
1 tsp instant coffee powder
OR
1 tbsp orange juice
OR
2 drops vanilla essence
Lamb/ Mutton Broth
Ingredients:
8oz of lamb shank or shoulder on the bone.
1 carrot
1 leek
1 largish potato
2 medium onions
3 oz pearl barley
Seasononing.
Method:
Roast lamb at 20 mins per pound. Broth would have been made from the leftovers from a roast, or simply from the bones. Once cooled remove meat from bones, and put bones in pan, bring to the boil and simmer for at least an hour. This is your tasty stock.
With a little oil heat all vegetables until starting to soften. Add stock, turn up the heat till nearly at the boil! Add pearl barley and simmer for 30 mins. Add chopped lamb and season at this point. Depending on when you want to serve it…….I think soup is better made day before for flavours to absorb and to get all the goodness of the tastes out of those wonderful ingredients……..Yum!
Also this recipe can be adapted pretty much to most any vegetable around, or what was season. A great winter favourite, for example was kale. Full of vitamins and rich in iron iot is a forgotten but returning vegetable. Try it…..I love it and great as a veg with fish in particular. Likewise, any meat bones or leftovers can be turned into a great stock, and soo much tastier than cubes.
WWII Sausage Pancakes
Ingredients:
1lb small sausages
4oz flour
1/2 pint milk
1/2 oz custard powder
Salt and pepper
Method:
Mix together the custard powder and the flour
then mix with some of the milk to a smooth batter.
Beat well for five minutes, stir in the rest of the milk.
Season with salt and pepper and leave to one side.
Fry the sausages, remove from pan and keep hot.
Pour off some of the fat and save, leaving enough in the pan to fry the first pancake.
Brown the pancake lightly on both sides and roll up with the sausage inside.
Keep warm.
Add some of the saved fat to the frying pan and add more batter for a second pancake.
Continue until all the batter is gone.
Serve very hot with fried tomatoes. A fantastic brunch dish….or as I have found a great one for the outdoors with a difference. The pancakes can be made in advance and layered between sheets of greaseproof paper then wrapped around the sauages Your guests will be so impressed.
Health Bread
Ingredients:
11/2lb self-raising flour
1 teacup sugar
1 breakfast cup syrup
1 egg
1 breakfast cup of raisins with stones removed.
1 breakfast cup of milk.
Pinch of salt.
Method:
Mix together the sugar, flour, salt and raisins.
Beat the egg and add it to the milk and syrup.
Mix all the ingredients together. Bake in two well greased loaf tins in a moderate oven for approx. 11/2 hours.
Slice thinly after a couple of days and serve with butter or margarine.
Will keep for a month in a tin.
WWII
Beetroot and Wild Garlic Soup
Makes enough for 6
Ingredients:
1kg fresh beetroot
1.5 litres vegetable stock or water
Large handful of fresh wild garlic leaves, picked that day
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Sour cream
Method: Cut off the stalks and wrap the beetroot in silver foil, dousing with oil and salt and pepper. Roast in a hot oven (200°c) for 1 hour, until the beets are tender. This converts the starches in the beets into sugars, making them sweeter and more flavoursome. Allow them to cool and peel them, and cut them into chunks. Place in a saucepan and add the stock or water and half of the garlic leaves, finely shredded. Bring to the oil and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and liquidise in a blender. Add seasoning and pour into bowls, adding a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of the finely shredded wild garlic leaves. This can also be served chilled on a hot day
Dried Egg Omelette
Makes one large omelette
Ingredients:
6 level tablespoons of dried whole egg
8 level tablespoons of water
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley
Flavourings – cheese, chopped fried bacon, cooked vegetables etc
Method: Make as you would do for an ordinary omelette, but note that dried egg needs to be reconstituted carefully, and using the exact ratio of 2:1 in terms of water to egg. After that, it can be treated exactly as raw egg, except with the additional advantage that it has been pasteurised, and can safely be used to make mayonnaise etc for women during pregnancy.
Beat the reconstituted eggs, add the chopped parsley and season to taste. Pour into a hot oiled frying pan and cook until the egg starts to set. Add your preferred flavourings and fold over once they are hot. Serve immediately.
Salt Cod Fishcakes
Makes 4 fishcakes.
Ingredients:
250g Salted Cod Fillet (available from a good fishmonger)
250g unseasoned mashed potato
Black pepper
Flat leaf parsley
Plain flour
Cooking oil
Method: The cod fillet must be soaked in fresh water for 24 hours before use, with the water being changed every 8 hours, and then gently poached in either fresh water or milk (for preference) until tender and flakey. Allow to cool, then skin the fish and mix the flesh with the mashed potato and a handful of chopped parsley. Season with pepper (you won’t need salt!) and make into 4 thick cakes. Roll the cakes in flour and fry gently in oil until browned and heated through. Serve with green salad and tartare sauce, or chips and baked beans.
Custard Powder Pancakes
Makes about 12
Ingredients:
110g plain flour
Pinch of salt
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
2500ml /½ pint milk
1 tbls Birds custard powder
Oil for frying
Method: Sift the flour and custard powder with the salt into a bowl, and make a well in the middle. Add the egg, egg yolk and a little of the milk and mix, gradually drawing the flour from the sides into the middle. When the flour is all mixed, add the rest of the milk and beat well until the mixture is the consistency of single cream. Refrigerate for 30 minutes – this will produce lighter pancakes. Wipe your frying pan with oil to prevent the pancakes sticking and heat till very hot. Pour in just enough mixture to cover the bottom of the pan and as soon as it has set, turn or flip the pancake. When brown on both sides, turn the pancake out onto a warm plate and keep in a warm oven. Serve with sugar and lemon juice, or a spoonful of jam.
WWII Carrot Jam
Ingredients
• grated carrots to fill a 1 litre bowl (Four cups) of chopped carrots.
Three cups sugar
I jar of honey
Three sliced lemons
Makes 4 half-pint jars
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Directions:
1. Add all the ingredients into a saucepan, and simmer slowly at a gentle heat. It is recommended that you stir the ingredients constantly, especially at the earlier stages of the cooking.
2. After about 20 minutes, the carrots should eventually begin to soften, and the jam will become thick.
3. To test jam is ready, place a spoonful on a chilled saucer, if it wrinkles when you push it, it is ready.
3 Store in jars
