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  • Beef and Oyster pie

    Beef and Oyster pie

    Category: Beef

    Area: British

    Ingredients:

    • 900g Beef
    • 3 tbs Olive Oil
    • 3 Shallots
    • 2 cloves minced Garlic
    • 125g Bacon
    • 1 tbs chopped Thyme
    • 2 Bay Leaf
    • 330ml Stout
    • 400ml Beef Stock
    • 2 tbs Corn Flour
    • 8 Oysters
    • 400g Plain Flour
    • pinch Salt
    • 250g Butter
    • To Glaze Eggs

    Instructions:

    Season the beef cubes with salt and black pepper. Heat a tablespoon of oil in the frying pan and fry the meat over a high heat. Do this in three batches so that you don’t overcrowd the pan, transferring the meat to a large flameproof casserole dish once it is browned all over. Add extra oil if the pan seems dry.
    In the same pan, add another tablespoon of oil and cook the shallots for 4-5 minutes, then add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Add the bacon and fry until slightly browned. Transfer the onion and bacon mixture to the casserole dish and add the herbs.
    Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
    Pour the stout into the frying pan and bring to the boil, stirring to lift any stuck-on browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour the stout over the beef in the casserole dish and add the stock. Cover the casserole and place it in the oven for 1½-2 hours, or until the beef is tender and the sauce is reduced.
    Skim off any surface fat, taste and add salt and pepper if necessary, then stir in the cornflour paste. Put the casserole dish on the hob – don’t forget that it will be hot – and simmer for 1-2 minutes, stirring, until thickened. Leave to cool.
    Increase the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. To make the pastry, put the flour and salt in a very large bowl. Grate the butter and stir it into the flour in three batches. Gradually add 325ml/11fl oz cold water – you may not need it all – and stir with a round-bladed knife until the mixture just comes together. Knead the pastry lightly into a ball on a lightly floured surface and set aside 250g/9oz for the pie lid.
    Roll the rest of the pastry out until about 2cm/¾in larger than the dish you’re using. Line the dish with the pastry then pile in the filling, tucking the oysters in as well. Brush the edge of the pastry with beaten egg.
    Roll the remaining pastry until slightly larger than your dish and gently lift over the filling, pressing the edges firmly to seal, then trim with a sharp knife. Brush with beaten egg to glaze. Put the dish on a baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown and the filling is bubbling.

  • Carrot Cake

    Carrot Cake

    Category: Dessert

    Area: British

    Ingredients:

    • 450ml Vegetable Oil
    • 400g Plain Flour
    • 2 tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
    • 550ml Sugar
    • 5 Eggs
    • ½ tsp Salt
    • 2 tsp Cinnamon
    • 500g grated Carrots
    • 150g Walnuts
    • 200g Cream Cheese
    • 150g Caster Sugar
    • 100g Butter

    Instructions:

    For the carrot cake, preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Grease and line a 26cm/10in springform cake tin.
    Mix all of the ingredients for the carrot cake, except the carrots and walnuts, together in a bowl until well combined. Stir in the carrots and walnuts.
    Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the tin and set aside to cool completely on a cooling rack.
    Meanwhile, for the icing, beat the cream cheese, caster sugar and butter together in a bowl until fluffy. Spread the icing over the top of the cake with a palette knife.

  • Chinon Apple Tarts

    Chinon Apple Tarts

    Category: Dessert

    Area: French

    Ingredients:

    • 320g Puff Pastry
    • 4 tbs Dark Brown Soft Sugar
    • 3 Braeburn Apples
    • 4 tbs Red Wine Jelly
    • 100ml Creme Fraiche
    • 1 tbs Icing Sugar
    • 3 Cardamom

    Instructions:

    To make the red wine jelly, put the red wine, jam sugar, star anise, clove, cinnamon stick, allspice, split vanilla pod and seeds in a medium saucepan. Stir together, then heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Turn up the heat and boil for 20 mins until reduced and syrupy. Strain into a small, sterilised jam jar and leave to cool completely. Will keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.

    Take the pastry out of the fridge and leave at room temperature for 10 mins, then unroll. Heat the grill to high and heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Cut out 2 x 13cm circles of pastry, using a plate as a guide, and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Sprinkle each circle with 1 tbsp sugar and grill for 5 mins to caramelise, watching carefully so that the sugar doesn’t burn. Remove from the grill. Can be done a few hours ahead, and left, covered, out of the fridge.

    Peel, quarter and core the apples, cut into 2mm-thin slices and arrange on top of the pastry. Sprinkle over the remaining sugar and pop in the oven for 20-25 mins until the pastry is cooked through and golden, and the apples are softened. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Warm 3 tbsp of the red wine jelly in a small pan over a low heat with 1 tsp water to make it a little more runny, then brush over the top of the tarts.

    Tip the crème fraîche into a bowl, sift over the icing sugar and cardamom, and mix together. Carefully lift the warm tarts onto serving plates and serve with the cardamom crème fraîche.

  • Sweet and Sour Pork

    Sweet and Sour Pork

    Category: Pork

    Area: Chinese

    Ingredients:

    • 200g Pork
    • 1 Egg
    • Dash Water
    • 1/2 tsp Salt
    • 1 tsp Sugar
    • 10g Soy Sauce
    • 10g Starch
    • 30g Tomato Puree
    • 10g Vinegar
    • Dash Coriander

    Instructions:

    Preparation
    1. Crack the egg into a bowl. Separate the egg white and yolk.

    Sweet and Sour Pork
    2. Slice the pork tenderloin into strips.

    3. Prepare the marinade using a pinch of salt, one teaspoon of starch, two teaspoons of light soy sauce, and an egg white.

    4. Marinade the pork strips for about 20 minutes.

    5. Put the remaining starch in a bowl. Add some water and vinegar to make a starchy sauce.

    Sweet and Sour Pork
    Cooking Instructions
    1. Pour the cooking oil into a wok and heat to 190°C (375°F). Add the marinated pork strips and fry them until they turn brown. Remove the cooked pork from the wok and place on a plate.

    2. Leave some oil in the wok. Put the tomato sauce and white sugar into the wok, and heat until the oil and sauce are fully combined.

    3. Add some water to the wok and thoroughly heat the sweet and sour sauce before adding the pork strips to it.

    4. Pour in the starchy sauce. Stir-fry all the ingredients until the pork and sauce are thoroughly mixed together.

    5. Serve on a plate and add some coriander for decoration.

  • Parkin Cake

    Parkin Cake

    Category: Dessert

    Area: British

    Ingredients:

    • 200g Butter
    • 1 large Egg
    • 4 tbs Milk
    • 200g Golden Syrup
    • 85g Black Treacle
    • 85g Brown Sugar
    • 100g Oatmeal
    • 250g Self-raising Flour
    • 1 tbs Ground Ginger

    Instructions:

    Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease a deep 22cm/9in square cake tin and line with baking parchment. Beat the egg and milk together with a fork.

    Gently melt the syrup, treacle, sugar and butter together in a large pan until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat. Mix together the oatmeal, flour and ginger and stir into the syrup mixture, followed by the egg and milk.

    Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 mins – 1 hr until the cake feels firm and a little crusty on top. Cool in the tin then wrap in more parchment and foil and keep for 3-5 days before eating if you can – it’ll become softer and stickier the longer you leave it, up to 2 weeks.

  • Fruit and Cream Cheese Breakfast Pastries

    Fruit and Cream Cheese Breakfast Pastries

    Category: Breakfast

    Area: American

    Ingredients:

    • 1 1/4 oz Cream Cheese
    • 1 1/4 cup Sugar
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
    • Flour
    • 2 Puff Pastry
    • Strawberries
    • Raspberries
    • Blackberries

    Instructions:

    Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC), and prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until fully combined. Lightly flour the surface and roll out puff pastry on top to flatten. Cut each sheet of puff pastry into 9 equal squares. On the top right and bottom left of the pastry, cut an L shape approximately ½ inch (1 cm) from the edge.
    NOTE: This L shape should reach all the way down and across the square, however both L shapes should not meet at the ends. Your pastry should look like a picture frame with two corners still intact.
    Take the upper right corner and fold down towards the inner bottom corner. You will now have a diamond shape.
    Place 1 to 2 teaspoons of the cream cheese filling in the middle, then place berries on top.
    Repeat with the remaining pastry squares and place them onto the parchment covered baking sheet.
    Bake for 15-20 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and puffed.
    Enjoy!

  • Stamppot

    Stamppot

    Category: Pork

    Area: Dutch

    Ingredients:

    • 1.5kg Potatoes
    • 2 leaves Bay Leaf
    • 2 Shallots
    • 3 tbs Butter
    • 750g Kale
    • 2 Sausages
    • 500ml Milk
    • Grated Nutmeg
    • Pinch Salt
    • Pinch Pepper

    Instructions:

    Wash and peel the potatoes and cut into similarly sized pieces for even cooking.

    In a large soup pot, boil the potatoes and the bay leaves in salted water for 20 minutes. Discard the bay leaves.

    If you're not using a bag of ready-cut curly kale, wash the bunches thoroughly under cool running water to get rid of all soil—you wouldn't want that gritty texture in your finished dish. Trim any coarse stems and discard any brown leaves. With a sharp knife, cut the curly kale into thin strips.

    Peel and chop the shallots.

    In a frying pan or skillet, melt 1 tbsp. of butter and saute the shallots for a few minutes before adding the curly kale and 2 tbsp. of water. Season and cook for about 10 minutes, or until tender.

    Warm the milk on the stove or in the microwave.

    Drain, shake and dry the potatoes with kitchen towels before mashing with a potato masher or ricer. Working quickly, add the warm milk and the remaining butter. Season to taste with nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

    Mix the cooked curly kale through the cooked mashed potato mixture.

    Top with slices of the smoked sausage and serve hot with your favorite mustard or gravy.

    Serve and enjoy!

  • Mustard champ

    Mustard champ

    Category: Side

    Area: Irish

    Ingredients:

    • 1kg Potatoes
    • 200ml Milk
    • 50g Butter
    • 2 tbs Mustard
    • Bunch Spring Onions
    • Bunch Spring Onions

    Instructions:

    STEP 1
    Boil the potatoes for 15 mins or until tender. Drain, then mash.

    STEP 2
    Heat the milk and half the butter in the corner of the pan, then beat into the mash, along with the wholegrain mustard.

    STEP 3
    Gently fry the spring onions in the remaining butter for 2 mins until just soft but still a perky green. Fold into the mash and serve. Great with gammon or to top a fish pie.

  • Vegetarian Casserole

    Vegetarian Casserole

    Category: Vegetarian

    Area: British

    Ingredients:

    • 1 Rapeseed Oil
    • 1 Onion
    • 3 cloves Garlic
    • 1 tsp Paprika
    • ½ tsp Cumin
    • 1 tblsp Thyme
    • 3 Medium Carrots
    • 2 small stalks Celery
    • 1 Red Pepper
    • 1 Yellow Pepper
    • 2 x 400g tins Tomato
    • 250ml Vegetable Stock Cube
    • 2 sliced Courgettes
    • 2 sprigs Thyme
    • 250g Lentils

    Instructions:

    Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan. Add the onions and cook gently for 5 – 10 mins until softened.
    Add the garlic, spices, dried thyme, carrots, celery and peppers and cook for 5 minutes.
    Add the tomatoes, stock, courgettes and fresh thyme and cook for 20 – 25 minutes.
    Take out the thyme sprigs. Stir in the lentils and bring back to a simmer. Serve with wild and white basmati rice, mash or quinoa.

  • Mbuzi Choma (Roasted Goat)

    Mbuzi Choma (Roasted Goat)

    Category: Goat

    Area: Kenyan

    Ingredients:

    • 1 kg Goat Meat
    • 1 kg Corn Flour
    • 2 Tomatoes
    • Pinch Salt
    • 1 Onion
    • 1 Green Chilli
    • 1 bunch Coriander Leaves

    Instructions:

    1. Steps for the Meat:
    Roast meat over medium heat for 50 minutes and salt it as you turn it.

    2. Steps for Ugali:
    Bring the water and salt to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the cornmeal slowly, letting it fall through the fingers of your hand.

    3. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue stirring regularly, smashing any lumps with a spoon, until the mush pulls away from the sides of the pot and becomes very thick, about 10 minutes.

    4.Remove from heat and allow to cool.

    5. Place the ugali into a large serving bowl. Wet your hands with water, form a ball and serve.

    6. Steps for Kachumbari: Mix the tomatoes, onions, chili and coriander leaves in a bowl.

    7. Serve and enjoy!