Pumpkin , Sausage and Sage Casserole

My halloween always involves carving a pumpkin. Cutting a lid &  scooping out some of the flesh and seeds , and carving a rough approxiamation of a scary face   and setting it in the window lit by a single tealight.

However being a food-obsessive my favorite thing finding new things to do with the leftover pumpkin in fact one of my first ever blog posts is about the Death of a Pumpkin
which features Pumpkin Risotto, Roast and a Laksa.

On Halloween  I made some Roasted Pumpkin Seeds . This is very simple just ensure you remove any strands of pumpkin from the seeds, spread them out on baking sheet sprinkle with just a little sea salt and smoked paprika . After just 15 minutes in  hot oven ( 190degC) they are delicious.

The next days the pumpkin lid was a little scorched so I discarded it but the rest of the pumpkin  was perfect for trying a  Saturday Kitchen there was a nice recipe for Sausage, Pumpkin and Sage Casserole . This is think would work with any squash , most of the ingredients we keep in the storecupboard and my sage plant is still clinging to life.

The only change I made to the recipe  adding  a dash of sherry which works well with pumpkin. I am cooking a lot with sherry sweeter than wine is seems to give a instant slow cooking taste to quicker dishes

After cooking the pumpkin and beans produce a thick stew they will definitely be a regular ,  think it would work well with chicken thighs too.

Beef and Pumpkin Chilli

I adore squash not only do they taste amazing they are beautiful to look at  grow brilliantly even in the British climate but .Watching our little pumpkin grow has been heaven as it stretched it’s little tendrils across the vegepatch.

The plant came from LBF’s parents who always grow a lot of squash . That being said this was the only little Pumpkin that grew well this year,  lots of squashes rotted on the vine.

Pumpkin loves spice so looking around the internet quite a few chillis came up with mostly pork and beef .  Fortunately we had a rolled Brisket of Lincolnshire Red Beef from the East Midlands Food Festival.  One of the oldest of the UK’s native beef breeds with a deep cherry-red coat, it is  fine marbled meat renowned for its texture and quality.

I kept the meat and the pumpkin large for a slow cook,  it smelt exquisite sweet and spicy definitely one of those dishes you could cook the night before and re-heat. The meat was falling  apart tasty and the pumpkin had just held its shape but still  melt in the mouth.  I might have to go beg a few squash from those with a glut to make this again

This recipe is an adaptation of a few I found around the internet

Beef and Pumpkin Chilli

300g of beef brisket cut into 1inch chunks
4 dried red chillis
300g of tinned tomatoes
500g of pumpkin/butternut squash , remove the skin and cut into 1inch chunks
1 bottle of lager ( 500ml )
100ml of beef stock
1 medium onion finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of ground coriander
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp of hot chilli powder
2 tbsp of sunflower oil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175 deg C.
2. Rub the beef in the spices .
3. Heat the oil in a large cast iron dish , fry the onions  garlic and chilli.
4. Add the beef and fry until brown.
5. Add the tomatoes, pumpkin , stock and  lager.
6. Cover and place in the oven for at least two hours.

Serve with rice or bread

Slow Cooked Spiced Lamb Shanks with Dates

I had to work all day today stuck staring at my computer. Thankfully on Friday night I had made the dinner ,  throwing ingredients in with the lamb shanks into the oven for an uniterrupted cook . I am suddenly very happy it’s autumn my wooly tights can come out my lovely boots and all those delicious slow cooked stews and roasts.

This was a definite result a sticky brown sauce  from dates and caramalised onions  and the meat from the shanks falls off the bone . Lovely with mashed pototoes or some fluffy cous cous.

Slow Cooked Spiced Lamb Shanks with Dates

2 Lamb Shanks
2 handfuls of dates cut into quarters
1 pint of water
2 medium onions finely sliced
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tbsp of ras al hanout
1 star anise
2 tbsp of olive oil

1. Rub the ras al hanout over the lamb shanks
2. Heat the olive oil in a cast iron dish
3. Brown the lamb on all sides,  add the onions and garlic
4. Pour over the water and bring to a gentle simmer
5. Cover and place in a medium oven 180degC for two hours.
6. If possible leave overnight in the oven and reheat for at least 20 minutes at 180degC
7. If it is not possible to leave overnight allow to rest for at least 30 minutes before serving

Jerk Mutton Stew

Last time I cooked mutton is was with a morrocan spice blend this time heading for the West Indies  with a hot & spicy jerk seasoning.

I love jerk seasoning its often used when BBQ, I have written before about my old neighbourhood carnival where everyone pulls out the charcoal BBQ with racks of jerk chicken and pork. There is even a jerk BBQ in the park opposite my work , it always sells out  and the smoke drifting across a sea of office workers add a holiday feel to any lunchtime

The weather is still not playing fair though so instead of any BBQ here is a hearty smokin stew with rich gravy , prepared by my lovely boyfriend .

Jerk Mutton Stew

300g of mutton , diced
3 tbsp of Jerk Seasoning (Ours was bought containing  Coriander , Nutmeg ,Star Anise, Pimento, Chilli, Ginger, Cumin & Paprika)
1 pint of chicken stock
1 large onion sliced
200g of carrots roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic
200g  of potato diced
1 Fresh Scotch Bonnet Chilli finely chopped
1 Fresh Red Chilli finely chopped

1. Mix the mutton pieces with the jerk seasoning leave for a few hour
2. Fry onion,  garlic ,  chilli in a few tsp of sunflower oil
3. Add the mutton,  cook until brown and add stock
4. Simmer on a very low heat for 1-1.5 hours
5. Add the potato and carrot for the last half hour.

Serve with boiled rice or rice and peas

Spicy Mutton Tagine

This was a fantastic recipe for mutton , but you could use lamb shoulder . It had real depths of flavour the mutton can definitely hold its own against the strong flavours

The key flavour here is an arabic spice blend , Ras el-hanout , thought a bought this pre-mixed blend I was tempted to make my own a ground mix of roasted spices, cardamom clove, cinnamon,parpika coriander, cumin, tumeric and rose petal .

The other key ingredient is  preserved lemon thse I did preserve myself , one of the last few from a jar made more than year ago .

The lemons and dried apricots for a fruity spiced sauce

Spicy Mutton Tagine

250g mutton, cut into small chunks
4 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 tbsp Ras el-hanout
500-600ml vegetable stock
75g dried apricots, chopped
1/2 preserved lemon, chopped
1 tsp clear honey

Serves 2

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180degC
2. Heat the oil in a large  cast-iron casserole and cook the meat until browned all over.
3. Add the onion , garlic, ginger, spice blend  fry for a few minutes until fragrant and the mutton is coated in the mixture.
4. Pour in enough stock to cover add the apricots and honey , bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.
5. Place in the oven for 1.5 hours
6. Serve with cous cous

Saffrom scented Cauliflower and Cous cous

Few strands of saffrom
200g of cauliflower
100g of dried cous cous
500ml of boiling water
2 tbsps of fresh coriander
Juice of half a lemon

1. Pour the boiling water over the saffron in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil
2. Add the cauliflower and simmer for a few minutes
3. Turn of the heat pour in the cous cous
4. Cover and leave for 5 minutes
5. Stir in the coriander and lemon juice

Roast Pork Belly with Fennel and Apple Sauce

Valentines Day is rampant with commercialism , watching the panicked faces of men buying flowers at St Pancras Station only pushed the point home but this year am tying up our celebration in two great initatives

Firstly Purple Love Week running from Valentines Day for a week it encourages people to spend money in their local shops . It shown that any money spent in the local economy is worth five times as much to the overall community so just a fiver works out at being worth at least £25.00 because the money goes from business to business meaning the whole community benefits.

This week also got an email about a Valentines initiative from The Energy Saving Trust ,   Turn me on, turn it off aims to find environmentally freindly way to celebrate Valentines Day , they have plenty of suggestions online Funnily enough Nick and I owe our relationship to a little enforced turning off of heating , staying at cottage in rural Wales   the heating had broken down, forced to  huddle together for warmth  thankfully the electric  oven was working and Nick cooked me  pork belly . Lack of heating and perfectly cooked meal the rest is history .

So to show our Purple Love I  despatched the lovey boyfreind to our local butchers Dundas  for some pork belly this time I am afraid we didn’t turn the heating off, this time but our new cohabitation has saved  a weekly 150 mile commute doing our bit for the environment.

The pork belly happily roasted with minimal input &  I made a fennel and apple sauce which cut through the richness of the pork belly also some delicous roast beetroot ,plenty of leftovers for the week, just perfect

Roast Pork Belly

1kg of pork belly

Score the top of the pork belly
Rub with sea salt and pepper
Half two garlic bulbs and place under the pork
Roast in hot oven at 250deg C for 40 minutes , turn it down to 200 and roast for a further two hours
Should get a delicious crackling

Fennel and Apple Sauce

1 bulb of fennel
1 cooking apple
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of honey

Place the fennel and apple in casserole dish cover and bake in the oven or simmer on the hob until soft

For more recipes and foodbloggers favourite supplier Pagnum over at the Yorkshire Food Blog have a great summary of recipes see  Pork Belly or is it Belly Pork?

Braised Lamb Shanks with sweet winter vegetables

Sorry there has not been a lot of posting recently . I’m packing up and moving to the East Midlands to live with the long suffering lovely boyfreind this means merging our massive amounts of kitchenware so this weekend was packing and dumping , scores of old clothes , kitchenware and books making there way to charity shops.

I remembered I had some lovely organic lambs shanks in the freezer after  watching  Gordon Ramsay shouting  at the owners of the Martins Bistro in Oakhamptom for serving lamb shanks from Makro , truly bizarre vacuumed packed pre-cooked lamb shanks that could be stored at room temperature for up to 12 months.

My lamb shanks though were delicious organic welsh lamb, part of a lamb box delivered by the lovely people at Welsh Farm Organics , also included in the box were, leg steaks , neck fillet , loin chops , shoulder , leg , mince, & burgers.

Cooking lamb shanks  is ridiculously easy and simple portion control one per person take that cash and carry…

Braised Lamb Shanks with sweet winter vegetables
2 lamb shanks
300g of swede cubes
300g of leeks
2 garlic cloves
50g of dried apricots finely chopped
2 tbsp of dried mint
500ml half a bottle of red wine
1 pint of water

1. Brown the meat on all sides in a lidded casserole dish
2. Add the vegetables , wine and herbs.
3. Bring to a gentle simmer , cover and in the oven at 150degC for 2 hours

Chicken and Lentil Stew

Ok bit of a moan , I have a horrible cold ( its not flu because I am still just about walking ) , yesterday was a long day finished work very late and  missed a train home. Having to wait an extra 45 minutes  I popped into the Sainsburys supermarket at Paddington , for something to eat on the train. However  they had packs of 600g of chicken legs and thighs for £1.50 and a bag of stew vegetables ( carrots , onions, potatoes , parsnips )  for  just £1 . I try not to to much shopping in supermarkets especially for meat and vegetables but it seemed to good a deal  to miss .

Further train delays meant I didn’t get home til 11.30pm but managed to throw in roughly chopped onions , carrots and some green lentils and chicken into my Le Cruset  , pour of half a bottle of leftover red wine , half a pint of water , 1tsp of vegetable bullion  , covered the pot and  simmered it for  45 minutes  , I turned the heat off and went to bed , leaving the stew to do its magic

Home from work today I brought the stew to a simmer for 15 minutes threw in  a sprinkling of  chopped parsley – out the freezer . There was enough for a massive bowl and a couple of portions left for more late nights .

Lamb Vegetable and Lentil Stew

Brr what do you do when its cold and you are home late from work . Smirkt at your domestic goddessty and take some lamb stew you cunningly froze out of the freezer

Lamb and Vegetable Stew

1. This stew was   was made using pre cooked lamb shoulder
2. Mixed with red lentils , celery , thyme , onions,  garlic & carrots
3. Simmered gently for 40 minutes until the lentils dissolve
4. Before serving stir in 1 tbsp of quince or mint jelly per pint of stew
5. Happiness in a bowl

After satiating my hunger I have been making some more dinners for the rest of the week