Month: October 2009

Categories
food jam

very berry jam

very berry jam with bread

I was sent a parcel of loveliness from the wonderful chaps over at Vineyard Fine Foods. They’re specialists in jams, pickles and chutneys operating out of Clacton, so how can I not support a local business? That said, this blog is written with full impartiality – if the product wasn’t any good, I would say so.

I decide to slap some “very berry” jam – a blend of strawberry, blueberry and raspberry – on some bread, about as honest a test as I can concoct for jam. The first thing I really like is looking through the list of ingredients and being able to read every ingredient there. Silly but true. Beyond the fruit, there’s sugar, pectin, and that’s it. The texture is quite jelly-like, it’s been set quite firm with a dense grain. There’s also little seedy bits, I love seeing those in a jam. The taste itself is very pleasant, a perfumed berry hit but importantly not oversweet. As I chomped I could imagine it going very well on a scone, so I’ll be whipping up a batch of these soon.

It’s a very tasty product, and compares very well to Bonne Maman or Hartley’s – with the added feelgood factor of supporting a local business. I’d recommend it highly.

You can follow Vineyard Fine Foods on Twitter at @chutneymaker.

Categories
food mushroom pork tomato

savoury pork casserole

Another one from the slow cooker, this time the dull-named ‘savoury pork casserole’ which takes it’s inspiring title from the 1986 Russell Hobbs manual from which it came. I can’t even bring myself to write out a full recipe as it was so achingly boring, but it was pork, onions, peppers, button mushrooms, thyme and tinned tomatoes slow cooked together for about 7 hours. I managed to revive some last minute interest by adding a dash of creme fraiche and some worcestershire sauce, but it was too late. Yawn.

Categories
food mustard pasta sausages

sausage and mustard rigatoni

Nigel Slater. What a deity of food writing. No-one can conjure more poignant or vivid portraits of cooking that can transport you to the moment of being mid-mouthful. He has pretty much sewn up the childhood nostalgia food writing market, and we love him for it. I have a couple of his books and they are invaluable. I don’t often cook directly from them, but I use them sometimes just for the joy of reading about food, or to jumpstart my cooking brain when I have reached a culinary dead-end.

When I heard Nigel had a new TV show, Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers, I was overjoyed. Essentially it’s a combination of home-grown veg with his usual disdain for actual recipes and finding harmony between the two. The show itself was a touch disappointing, not quite sparking that Nigel fire. It’s not up to the glorious gratuitous gluttony of Real Food, which is an absolute treat.

There’s still some goodness to be had though, such as the following recipe for sausages and mustard. I substituted double cream for creme fraiche as I had some knocking about, and partnered it with some broccoli to round it out. An absurdly simple dish but I love that sort of thing, so that each is singing in harmony. It’s meaty, potent and creamy, and oh-so-perfect for evenings with a nip in the air. Next time I fancy this might contain mushrooms to lend and earthiness to the dish. Cheers Nigel!

Sausage and mustard rigatoni:

2 onions, sliced

6 sausages, meat squeezed from the skins into little balls

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

3 tablespoons creme fraiche

Couple of handfuls pasta (I used rigatoni)

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

  1. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
  2. Fry the onions in a large pan. Cover them and cook for ten minutes until softened.
  3. Add the sausage and fry until slightly brown.
  4. Add the mustards, cook for a minute then add the creme fraiche. You may need some water from the pasta to slacken it down a touch.
  5. Add the pasta and parsley, then stir together.

The original recipe can be found here.

Categories
chicken cream food mushroom thyme wine

creamy chicken pot-roast

Another weekend, another slow-cooker recipe. Another from delicious magazine, this rich, soupy casserole certainly packs flavour. But is it too intense? A little oily, but certainly filling.

Creamy pot-roast chicken:

6 rashers streaky bacon, cut into lardons

8 chicken pieces (I used a mixture of thighs and drumsticks)

2 tablespoons flour

1 onion, sliced

200g baby onions, peeled

3 garlic cloves, sliced

200g button mushrooms

300ml white wine

Handful thyme leaves

Handful parsley

100ml double cream

  1. Fry the bacon and chicken in a frying pan to brown everything. Put these into the slow cooker.
  2. Fry the leeks, onions, garlic, mushrooms and flour in the same pan for 5 mins to allow some colour to develop. Add these to the slow cooker too.
  3. Add the remaining ingredients and slow cook for 6 hours. Serve with potatoes (I boiled thick potato slices in water infused with garlic and thyme).
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