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Simple Tomato Chutney...

I always knew my summer holidays were coming to a sad end when my grandparents began their laborious preparations for making chutneys, relishes, jams and pickles. The process always seemed so complicated with sterilizing jars, tongs, gloves, large pots of boiling water, copious amounts of paper towel, cling film, gauze and of course the occasional swear word.

The end results were always fantastic but for many years I suffered from ‘preserve angst‘.

This year we had a huge glut of tomatoes from the garden. Bored of using them in salads and pasta sauces I decided it was time to face my fears. Fortunately I found a simple tomato chutney recipe by Christina McCloskey courtesy of Jamie Magazine. It was so easy I didn’t even have to use tongs or swear words. Now that’s my kind of chutney!

Easy Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

250g red onions, finely sliced

500g mixed tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 red chili, deseeded and sliced (I used a green chili)

75ml red wine vinegar

140g brown sugar

Directions

Put everything in a pan and season to taste (I used lots of freshly ground black pepper and about 1 teaspoon of specially seasoned salt)

Stir well to combine

Simmer for 30-40 minutes or until ‘jammy’ (I needed approximately 25 minutes more)

Pour into a sterilized jar and leave to cool before transferring to the fridge

The chutney will keep in the fridge for up to 4 weeks

Enjoy!

It is especially delicious with vintage cheddar and oat cakes.

The Sunday Roast: Not Just for Sundays...

There is nothing quite like a home made roast dinner, especially when the nights are drawing in and the weather has turned damp and cold. They remind me of cosy Sundays spent with my family watching All Creatures Great And Small while delicious smells wafted from the kitchen into the front room. Of course traditionally the Sunday roast is served on Sunday but this week we threw caution to the wind and decided to have a midweek roast.

It did take a little bit more preparation then usual as this time I was determined to make Yorkshire Puddings from scratch. I do feel guilty that I never attempted this before – relying instead on a ready mix where all you need to add is some water and an egg.

Thinking about it, it all seemed a bit ambitious for a midweek meal but I was willing to give it a try. When I started researching recipes I went immediately to one of my favourite chefs; James Martin. If anyone was going to have a delicious and easy to follow Yorkshire Pudding recipe it would be him, and I was right! The recipe I found is for Yorkshire Pudding With Onion Gravy (hurrah an additional treat!). However I was wondering what I was getting myself into! I tried making onion gravy once before which ended badly. Not only was it time consuming but after all that effort it ended up being horribly bitter (I am still not sure what I did wrong).

The main issue with the Yorkshire batter is that it needs to rest – preferably overnight. We had only decided on this meal the night before so after my husband went to work the next day I set about making the batter so it would have at least 10 hours to rest. As I went to get the ingredients I realized that I didn’t have the plain flour, whole milk or beef dripping that the recipe called for. It was a really wet blustery day and the thought of a one hour round trip walk to the shops did not appeal to me. So I did what any kitchen witch would do – I went with what I had, which was self raising flour, olive oil and semi skimmed milk.

Once the batter was in the fridge, I really didn’t have that much to prepare until later on. I took the organic beef joint out the fridge about an hour before we were going to start cooking it so that it could come up to room temperature. I peeled some potatoes and got them ready for parboiling and sliced 2 red onions in preparation for the gravy. I opened a bottle of red wine and had a glass – just to make sure it was ok to use in the gravy (it was).

When we were ready to start cooking my husband rubbed a mixture of olive oil, sea salt and English mustard over the joint. He then seared it on all sides in a hot pan. We added it to our roasting dish with a few cloves of garlic and some fresh lemon thyme. While that was cooking we poured some olive oil in some muffin tins and when it began to smoke we added the Yorkshire batter. After the beef had cooked for 15 minutes we added the parboiled potatoes and a knob of butter to coat them (this is NOT fat free cooking!).

We like our beef medium rare and as the joint was small it didn’t take too long to cook. We took it out to let it rest, placed the roast potatoes in a warmed dish in the oven and used the roasting pan to prepare the onion gravy. I added butter (told you this isn’t fat free!) and then red onions and some minced garlic. While allowing them to soften I had another glass of wine just to make sure it was still ok (it was) and then added a good glug of it to the pan. It helped me scrape up all the lovely browned bits from the beef and potatoes that were still on the pan. Once I added the beef stock to the gravy, my husband began to serve up.

The Yorkshires were golden, fluffy and thanks to the self raising flour, some of the biggest I have ever seen. The beef was done perfectly and the roast potatoes were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I spooned the onion gravy liberally over the plate; after tasting it first of course! It wasn’t bitter at all. It was rich, tangy and complimented everything beautifully. As for the Yorkshires – WOW – from this day forward I will always make them from scratch. They were exactly like the ones I remember my Mum making. Light, fluffy and unmistakeably made with love and care! You really can taste the difference between home made and pre-prepared.

The midweek roast dinner was a huge success and something we will do again. If you have never tried making your own Yorkshire puddings then do give it a try – it is absolutely worth it. As for the onion gravy, this is a great recipe for lovely deep rich gravy that will have you mopping up your plate!

Enjoy!

To see this wonderful James Martin’s recipe on the BBC Food website please click here.

Roast Beef, Home made Yorkshire Puddings and Onion Gravy

Roast Beef, Homemade Yorkshire Puddings and Onion Gravy

Maple Syrup Glazed New Potato Salad With Crispy Pa...

I love watching cooking shows and one of my favourites here in the UK, is Saturday Morning Kitchen hosted by James Martin. They always have a wonderful selection of chefs that demonstrate a broad range of delicious recipes you can easily try at home.

Just the other week I watched as chef Shaun Rankin prepared the most amazing salad of maple syrup glazed new potatoes with crispy pancetta and squid. This was a recipe I knew I had to try. On the show he actually used Jersey Royal New Potatoes. This lovely little potato has a firm texture and slightly nutty- sweet taste. What makes these potatoes so special is that to be a true Jersey Royal New Potato it has to come from the island of Jersey itself.

What really excited me about this recipe (aside from the fact that it involves one of my all time favourite food items: Maple Syrup!) is that it also uses squid; something I love to eat but have never tried to cook at home. I guess the idea of preparing and cooking squid always concerned me. Luckily our local fish monger did the deed as I didn’t think I was up to that particular task– I felt cooking it was enough of a challenge for one day! To my amazement I discovered squid is actually very easy to cook – the only real danger is in over cooking it. It really doesn’t take very long at all.

While the addition of maple syrup may seem odd, trust me when I say it really is the magic ingredient that brings all the beautiful flavours of this dish together. If you want a recipe that is perfect for an elegant Sunday brunch then this salad is for you! My husband and I were really impressed with the results and will absolutely be making this again. I’m glad I watched Saturday Morning Kitchen as it really inspired me to try something new!

Maple Syrup Glazed New Potato Salad with Crispy Pancetta and Squid