Chocolate Orange and Stem Ginger Truffles

Last year chocolate truffles went down very well , and though Nick the lovely boyfriend has assumed responsibility for the majority of the Christmas gift making I found a lovely jar blue and white jars filled with stem ginger that seemed to pretty to pass up so I decided to make Stem Ginger and Chocolate Truffles as a gift for my grandmother sneakily this will also leave me with plenty of stem ginger for Christmas cooking .

If you have never made truffles before they are ridiculously easy Nigel Slater has a very easy recipe which makes 500g of chocolate truffles

I added cointreau ( orange liquer) and stem ginger but many additional ingredients work well and you  can also roll them in other dry ingredients , coconut is  particularly good if you add rum to the mixture, or if you add amaretto coat in crushed almonds . You could even top with a coffee bean and use a coffee liquer like kahlua the options are endless .

These are also fantastic things to take to dinner parties beats a box of After Eights but do check out this insanely cute recipe for After Eight cupcakes

Stem Ginger , Orange and Chocolate Truffles
Makes about 500g

450g fine chocolate
75g of stem ginger
3 tbsp of Cointreau  ( orange liqueur)
275ml whipping cream
cocoa powder for dusting

1. Chop the chocolate and ginger  finely; to the size of  gravel in the food processor or a heavy knife .
2. Put the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl.
3. Bring the cream to the boil in a small pan, just as it reaches boiling point, remove from the heat and pour slowly into the chocolate, beating gently with a wooden spoon, the chocolate should all melt into a thick, glossy, dark-brown cream.
4. Place the basin of chocolate in the fridge to stiffen should take an hour but if you leave it longers it doesn’t matter too much.
5. Shake the cocoa powder onto a large plate
6. Using two teaspoons, scoop out a ball of truffle , I make them two bite size and roll them in you hands to form a ball the warmth of your hands will melt the chocolate
7. Drop the ball into the cocoa powder
8. Roll the truffles in the cocoa, then leave them in a cool place for an hour to set.

One Steak – Two ways

Things have been very manic lately I have been  working long hours , commuting and with more than  the odd work Christmas I have been  left  with little time to do any real food shopping which has meant raiding the freezer for old stews and ultimate prize a lurking steak  .

I am a big believer that your body begins to crave something it needs with that in mind I think my body is craving , red meat vinegar and salt. I was clearing out the freezer and found a large rump steak which has made two meals with suitably strong  accompaniments.

Steak Sauce – Roasted Peppers , Chilli , Anchovies,  Olives,  Garlic and Cornichons

I keep a kilner jar of olives  roasted peppers , chillis , garlic and olives. I keep this topped up by always roasting peppers , garlic or chillis in a roasting dish at the bottom of the oven when I am cooking other things , just with a dash of olive oil , salt and pepper.

These come in very handy roughly chopped with some , anchovies, capers or gerkins seasoned with a little pepper and a dash of balsamic vinegar or lemon juice to accompany a steak or some fish. Better than ketchup I don’t know overuse of ketchup is my guilty pleasure but definitely a chunky alternative

I also add these ingredients to  sandwiches or simply thrown into tinned tomatoes to make pasta sauce. Its a taste of summer in the depths of winter , though better than ketchup

Celeriac Remoulade

Celeriac remoulade is one of my favourite salads, plenty of celeriac around in season  and while I a happy eating it straight from the bowl , it makes a crunchy zingy accompaniment to steak

300g celeriac bulb
10ml of olive oil
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper
4 tbsp of white wine vinegar

1. Finely grate the celeriac ( easy if you have a food processor)
2. Whisk together the egg yolks with the olive oil and salt til glossy
3. Mix in the mustard , white wine vinegar and pepper and the mixture over the grated celeriac
4. Mix well and leave to cure for at least an hour

Bunny and Barley Stew

When the whole is greater than the sum of the two parts. This was totally based on needing to put something together in rush tonight.  I had some rabbit joints in the freezer cooked ages ago ,but not a lot.   I had  some of the barley vegetable soup made yesterday but again not a lot.  Bash the two together with plenty of red wine gave me what I am going to call Bunny and Barley stew .

If you were going to make it from scratch enough for four

Bunny (Rabbit) and Barley Stew

2 rabbits
200g of pot or pearly barley
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 onion roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
Half and bottle of red wine
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 pint of stock
Salt and Pepper

1. Turn the oven to 200degC
2. Joint the rabbits and soak overnight in water
3. Drain and pat dry the joints , season well in salt and pepper ,brown in the oil with onions and garlic
4. Add the barley stock wine and carrots
5. Place in the oven for at 1.5 hours serve

Pot Barley Soup

Got home after a horrible day how much did I need a hug but soup had to do ,  hearty and delicious simple vegetable soup with pot barley , this should be a very chunky soup the pot barley gives a chewy texture.

Pot Barley Soup
100g of dried pot or pearl barley
2 medium carrots  roughly chopped
2 leeks roughly chopped
1 medium onion roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 pints of vegetable stock
2 rashers of bacon roughly chopped
Fresh soft herbs thyme or parsley
Seasoning to taste

Gently fry the onion , bacon garlic and leeks til soft
Add the carrots and barley with the stock
Bring to the boil and leave to simmer for 30 minutes
Season with salt , pepper and fresh herbs

Cranberry and Pumpkin Seed Cookies

Spurred on by the now annual Eat Christmas Cookies at Food Blogga I am busy making Christmas cookies, these might not be an obvious Christmas recipe but the red cranberries and green pumpkin seeds seem pretty festive . You could substitute dried apricots , sultanas or raisins . They are crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.

Last year for the same blogging event  I made Gingerbread Stars early in the year and took pictures which were lovely because I gave people Christmas cards with recipes on them. But time is a bit pressured this year so how is this for sneaky,  these cookies are  great as gifts but the dry ingredients layered in jars  be given as cookie mixes accompanied by recipe gift tags

These dry ingredients  enough to pack into a 0.5litre kilner jar ( requiring the addition of one egg and 100ml of sunflower oil ) and makes approx 12 large cookies

Cranberry and Pumpkin Seed Cookies

Makes 12

Dry Ingredients
150g of brown sugar
100g of caster sugar
125g of plain flour
6 heaped tbsp of pumpkin seeds
6 heaped tbsp of cranberries
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt

Wet ingredients
1 egg
100ml of sunflower oil

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 180degC
2. Cover a baking sheet with baking paper
3. Mix together the dry ingredients  sugar flour, pumpkin seeds , cranberries baking powder and salt.
4. Beat in the egg and sunflower oil .
5. To form the cookies Place heaped 2 heaped tablespoons of mixture ( one ice cream scoop) on the baking sheet leaving at least 2 inches between heaps to allow the cookies to spread.
6. Press each heap down slightly .
7. Bake for 15 minutes until golden , remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool

If these don’t inspire potentially hundreds of other recipes over at Food Blogga Christmas Cookie roundup

Pork Chops with Vanilla and Pink Peppercorns

Bought these pink peppercorns and just wanted to use them straightaway, luckily there was some pork reduced .

Pink peppercorns are not true peppercorns but similar tasting berries which have a delicate and fragrant, combining them with fresh vanilla pods gives and sweet spicy flavour.

Served with mashed turnips , I have decided I like turnips now which is lucky cos the vegebox is entering the root vegetable quarter, definitely need peeling though since the skin is like elephant hide.

Pork Chops with Vanilla and Pink Peppercorns

2 pork steaks
2 tbsp of pink peppercorns
1 vanilla pod cut lengthways
Few sprigs of lemon thyme
200ml of boiling water

1. Crush together the peppercorns sliced vanilla pod and thyme
2. Rub over the pork chops
3. Fry in a little oil until browned , 2 minutes eachside
4. Add a splash cider vinegar and the water
5. Simmer for a few more minutes it will reduce.

Served with mashed turnips

1. Peel and finely chop the turnips
2. Boil for 20 minutes until soft
3. Mash with salt , pepper , butter and a dash of milk.

Spiced Baked Apricots

Desserts do not have to be complicated to taste stunning. This is a simple and lovely dessert which takes seconds to prepare and minutes to cook but the results is rich and homely. 

Delicious with yogurt or ice cream  Worth playing around the the spices too since I cinnamon or ginger would also work well

Spiced Baked Apricots

200g of dried apricots
1 tsp of cardamon pods
1 star anise
1 vanilla pod
2 tbsp of brown sugar
200ml of water

1. Remove the cardamon sees from the pods, discard the pods .  Split the vanilla pod lenghtways to ensure all the flavour can come out
2. Place all the ingredients into a pan
3. Bring to a low simmer for 5 minutes stirring ocassionally
4. To serve remove the vanilla pod and star anise.
5. Serve with plain yogurt or creme fraiche