Ingredients
- 200g sugar
- 250ml water
- 300g pack of fresh cranberries
Method
- Bring water and sugar to a gentle boil.
- Add cranberries and simmer for 10mins.
- Add a dash of orange zest or orange juice/cinnamon.
- Remove from heat and cool.
Category Archives: Christmas
Yorkshire Puddings
Makes: 8-10 yorkshires
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- Milk (see below for amount)
- 100g/4oz plain flour OR wholemeal flour
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- Enough oil for 3mm in each tin hole (just over half a tbsp usually works for me)
- Cupcake baking trays
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan
- Pour 3mm of oil into each cupcake hole. Heat the oil in the oven.
- Crack eggs into jug and make the mixture up to 300ml with milk
- Add the salt and flour and whisk until there are no lumps
- Fill cupcake holes 2/3 of the way and cook for 20-25mins
- DO NOT OPEN OVEN IN FIRST 10 MINS!
Shortbread
Makes: 20-24 biscuits
Ingredients
- 125g (4oz) butter
- 55g (2oz) caster sugar
- 180g (6oz) plain flour
Method
- Heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5
- Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth
- Stir in the flour to get a smooth paste
- If it doesn’t come together smoothly, add a little water or milk to help bind it
- Roll out the pastry to 1cm thick and cut into the shapes you want
- Place on baking paper on a baking tray, make holes with a fork if you want and sprinkle with caster sugar
- Bake for 15-20mins or until the biscuits are pale golden-brown
Vanilla Fudge
This recipe is huge and makes about 77 squares, so I usually just do a half batch.
Intro
You need to use your own instinct as to how long to cook the fudge. It can range from 10-20 minutes. Just make sure you have a bowl of cold water nearby. Drop small amounts of the molten fudge into the water and if it sets (known as soft ball stage) it’s ready. Or you can use a sugar thermometer, which will indicate ‘soft-ball stage’.
Ingredients
- 250g soft butter
- 1x 397g tin of condensed milk
- 175ml milk
- 2tbsp golden syrup
- 800g golden caster sugar
- 2tsp vanilla extract
Method
- Fill a small bowl or jug with ice cold water and put near the stove. Grease a tin of approx. 30 x 20cm / 12 x 8 inch or 25cm / 10 inch square, or use a throwaway foil tin.
- Put all the ingredients, apart from the vanilla, into a large, heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly.
- Boil for 12-20 minutes, still stirring all the time, until the mixture is golden and, when a bit is dropped into the water, it turns solid but still squidgy, i.e., till soft-ball stage (see intro). How long this takes depends on how ferociously it bubbles as well as on the properties and dimensions of the pan. This is hot work!
- When the fudge is at soft-ball stage, very carefully remove the pan from the stove and stir in the vanilla.
- Preferably using an electric whisk beat for about five minutes, by which time the fudge will have thickened to the texture of stiff peanut butter – this is quite steamy and strenuous.
- Pour and push into the prepared tin. Smooth the top as well as you can.
- Put in the fridge to cool, but don’t keep it there for more than 2 hours, or it will set too hard, then remove and using a sharp knife, cut into squares.
Sweet Glazed Gammon
Serves: 4 people
Prep time: 15mins
Cooking time: 2hrs 30mins
Chef’s Tip: Delicious when served with log stem broccoli and my Perfect Roast Potatoes
Ingredients for the Meat
- 1.3-5kg Gammon joint (unsmoked or smoked, it’s your preference)
- 1 large or two small carrots
- 1 onion or 1 leek
- 2 sticks of celery
- Handful of peppercorns
- 4 bay leaves
- Choose your Glaze (simply multiply the measurements up or down if you need more/less)
Honey Glaze
- 65ml water
- 65ml orange juice (smooth)
- 65ml honey
- 65g muscovado sugar (soft brown sugar)
Treacle Glaze
- 65g light muscovado sugar
- 65ml treacle
- 65ml golden syrup
- 65ml water
Method
- Place the gammon in a large pan of cold water that just covers the joint. Roughly chop the veg, and add along with peppercorns and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat to a low simmer and cover for the cooking time for your joint. (25min per 500g, plus 20min).
- Periodically skim the froth off the top if necessary.
- Remove the meat pan from the heat and let it stand for 20-30mins to absorb the flavours
- Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas Mark 4
- At this point, you can make your glaze. Simply add all of the ingredients to a pan and bring to a fast simmer/almost boil. Simmer it until the glaze resting time is up.
- Take the meat out of the pan and place it in a roasting dish with a little bit of the liquid to stop it from sticking.
- If your gammon join has skin and a fat layer on it, use a knife to remove it.
- Brush glaze all over the joint and then pour two thirds of the rest all over it (save some for serving).
- Cook in the oven for 30mins, re-brushing with the glaze every 10mins.
- You might want to cook it for a bit longer if the glaze isn’t quite sticky enough 🙂
Perfect Roast Potatoes
Ingredients
- Maris piper potatoes
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Olive oil
- Garlic cloves (1 clover per potato), flattened with a spoon to crack open each clove
- Fresh rosemary
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan
- Peel the potatoes and put them in a large saucepan
- Cover with cold water and sprinkle in some salt, then bring to the boil and cook for about 10-15mins until they are soft and a bit fluffy looking
- Drain and leave them to dry for 2-3mins, then shake them to loosen the fluffy bits
- Put the potatoes in a baking tray and cover with olive oil, salt and pepper
- Cook for 20mins, until lightly golden. Meanwhile…
- In a separate bowl mix up a generous pouring of olive oil, the chopped up rosemary and the garlic cloves
- After the 20mins, add the mixture to the potatoes and mix them around
- Pop them back in the oven for 20-30mins or until you’re happy with how they look. Keep cooking them if you want them crispier or more well done, whatever suits you.