Category: Apples

Sausage, vegetable and apple traybake

October 6, 2015
This oven-roasted meal really is incredibly easy to make. Not to mention how inexpensive it is also.
 After a long day the last thing you need is to be slaving over the oven or even waiting a long time for something to cook. Plus, now that Autumn is making more of an appearance and becoming darker in the evenings this is the perfect comfort, pick me up food and with a little cheekiness from the cider I’ve popped in there.
 Ive used apples in this recipe as it just adds an extra burst of sweetness against the sausages and sage in there. Plus lots of people are giving them away due to bumper crops this year. 
  If you have a family get-together coming up or you just want to do a Sunday lunch thats a little easier, this is a perfect choice for that. Leftovers can be chopped up and put into a spicy tomato pasta bake.
 With the lovely colours it gives off, it truly is Autumn in one dish really.




Sausage, vegetable and apple traybake:






Ingredients:
(Serves 2)
–    1-2 tbsp Rapeseed oil
  • 6 British sausages ( I used a Pork and chive variety)
  • 2 red onions sliced into wedges
  • 2 garlic cloves crushed and roughly chopped
  • 1 chicken stock cube crumbled over or half a gel pot
  • 1-2 parsnips roughly diced
  • 1 red pepper roughly diced
  • 1 orange pepper or yellow diced roughly
  • 2 apples, something like a British cox 
  • 2-3 potatoes peeled and chopped into inch size chunks
  • a good sprig of thyme
  • a few fresh sage leaves
  • 200ml Apple cider
  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp honey 
  • salt and cracked black pepper to season
  •  
Method:
  • Preheat oven to 190c. In a frying pan, brown off the sausages.
  • Coat all vegetables in oil, ( not the peppers or apples yet )and pop into the oven for 15 minutes.
  •   After 15 minutes coat the vegetables with the honey and mustard, add the peppers, thyme, garlic, stock and seasoning.
  • Place the sausages in between the veg and pour into your frying pan the cider to get all the sticky juice from the sausages.then pour that into your traybake.

*  Pop back into the oven for a further 15 minutes. After that put your apples and sage in-between the sausages and veg and pop back into the oven for approximately another 15 minutes or when all golden and cooked.



I couldn’t help diving in with a knife and fork before even serving it up, it was THAT nice!

Pork and Apple Burgers with Oozing Mozzarella for Food Friday on BBC Radio Leicester

October 29, 2014

For “Food Friday” On BBC Radio Leicester Last Friday, I decided that I would do a recipe that people could get their children involved with.  As you are all aware of by now I do this with Ben Jackson on his show and Seeing as it was Half term and also with Halloween just around the corner,  I began to think about what children would like to make and eat around this time of the year.  Ben has Children also, so I was hoping that they could have a go at this with Ben over the weekend.

Click on this Link to Hear me on the show with Ben making them! 

  I realise it doesn’t look spooky or comical for Halloween (the oozing-ness maybe?) But this recipe will go down a storm if you have children and Adults coming round. I am definitely making more of these possibly again this weekend. I loved the alternative of using Pork and Apple. I might even try different cheeses inside, but it can’t be too strong as it will just overpower the meat. 
   This recipe has been a winner with my Fiancé too and he normally loves a big fat juicy Beef burger, so If he likes it, that’s good enough for me! 



Pork and Apple Burgers with Oozing Mozzarella:


Ingredients:

(Makes Approximately 5-6 burgers)


–  Approximately 500g of Pork Mince
–  2 Tbsp of Rapeseed Oil
–  1 large onion diced finely 
–  1 Clove of Garlic finely chopped 
– Half of one side of an Apple Grated ( I used English Gala )
–  1 Level Tbsp of Sage 
– 1 Level Tbsp of Fresh Parsley
–  Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to season
–  1 Tsp of Dijon Mustard
–  1 Tbsp of Tomato Puree
–  1 1/2 slice of White bread into Breadcrumbs
–  1 Ball of Mozzarella
– BreadBuns
– Salad= I used Iceberg lettuce, Round lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber


Method:

–  Preheat Oven at 190c,

–  Fry off your chopped Onion and Garlic in a splash of Rapeseed oil in a Frying Pan until Golden brown,

–  Mix all ingredients together (minus oil) into a mixing bowl with your Hands,

–  Roll a small handful of the mixture into a ball, Press an inch sized ball of the Mozzarella into the middle, roll back into a ball and flatten into a burger.

– Repeat process for how many burgers you need.

–  Fry off Burgers into a separate frying pan 3-4 minutes each side and then place onto a baking tray for about 12 minutes.

–  In the meantime Prepare your Salad and Buns and a minute or two before the burgers are done, Place Buns open on a tray to toast slightly.

–  Assemble and tuck in! 





Apple crumble slice with brandy and salted caramel

September 25, 2014

I used to make lots of tray bakes back in my Pastry Chef days as they are so simple to make, but also great to use up fruit or bits and bobs you have lying around. 
  I had some Cooking apples to use up and had a couple of recipes in mind for them. I love Autumn.  It’s my favourite Season and I always think of apples at this time of year especially in a pigs mouth! 

  So this recipe was based on a basic Apple crumble tray bake but I have decided to turn it into more of a dessert if you are having a dinner party. I have added a little more finesse to it.  It is definitely one for the Adults this one as I have added a bit of Booze! Of course, if you don’t want to add it, don’t! 

  Now, I think You will ultimately agree with me the fact that of course you MUST serve this dessert with some Vanilla Ice cream.  Unfortunately for me, I had ran out of my home made one and didn’t have room in the freezer to make more! Still, with that salted caramel on top, I was in Dessert Heaven.


Apple crumble slice with brandy and salted Caramel:


Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

Slice bottom:

–  112 g of Plain flour, sifted
–  38 g of Caster Sugar
–  1/4-1/2 of Baking powder
–  1/2 Egg Lightly Beaten
–  50 g Unsalted butter melted

Apple Filling:

–  150 g Cooking Apples diced chunky.
–  A good Splash of good quality Brandy about 100-150ml or Apple Brandy if you have it.
–  5o g of Vanilla sugar, mine was already infused. If you don’t have it add some of a vanilla pod to the Sugar.

Crumble Mix:
(This will give you extra, but it can be frozen for another time!)

–  150 g Plain Flour, sifted
–  50 g Jumbo Rolled Oats
–  75 g Cold Unsalted Butter
–  20 g Ground Almonds
–  50 g Caster Sugar

Salted Caramel:
(If you want a lot of caramel you will need to double the recipe)

–  37 g unsalted Butter
–  25 g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
–  25 g Caster Sugar
–  25 g Golden Syrup
–  50 ml Double cream ( may need a little more if you want a lighter caramel )
–  1/2 tsp of good quality Sea Salt Flakes depending on how salty you want it.


Method:

*  Preheat oven to 180 c.  Place all ingredients for the Slice bottom into a food processor, blitz until forming a ball. It should be quite wet but not sticky. Press into a lightly greased tray or dish with Baking paper and Bake for about 15 mins or until lightly golden.

*  While it is cooking, Pop the Apple filling mix into a saucepan and cook down for about 5 mins just to reduce down the liquid and sugar. Set aside.

*  To make the Crumble, place flour and sugar into a bowl and rub in with your fingertips the butter. Once it starts to crumble add the oats and ground almonds and continue to make a Crumble mix, not too fine though.

*  Place the apple filling onto the cooked Slice bottom, top with the crumble and bake for about 30 minutes or until nice and Golden.

*  When this is almost done, you can make the Salted Caramel by melting in a heavy bottomed saucepan the Butter, Both Sugars, and golden syrup. Once all melted add the cream and salt.

*  Serve with Vanilla Ice cream and drizzle on the hot Salted Caramel.









The Roast Pork challenge begins!

January 29, 2014

One thing I am very passionate about is not wasting food.  A Love/hate relationship I have.  
  Being creative and seeing what you can come up with from your leftovers is just fab!  I have written about this sort of thing before and will continue throughout my Blog. It excites me seeing the outcome of meals that you can produce.  Some of my best dishes/recipes have been created when doing this and Im sure some of you will agree too. 
  At the moment Sainsbury’s are currrently doing a campaign to Make your Roast go further, So I popped in, bought a generous sized British pork shoulder joint and this is the first dish. Obviously… The Sunday Roast… Bring on the “Porkathon”!




Roast British Pork Shoulder with spiced Cider Gravy:

Ingredients (Pork Joint):

-Pork Shoulder 
-1 onion
-1/2 a leek
-1 Carrot
-3 Bay leaves
-3-4 Garlic cloves crushed
– a scattering of Fennel seeds
-Small sprig of Rosemary
-Tspn of Dijon mustard
-Tspn of honey
-Approximately 2-300ml of dry Apple cider( drank the rest of the bottle )
-Water
-Rapeseed Oil or whatever oil/fat you prefer to roast your meats in.
– You could even put some apples at the bottom of the tray with the veg if they need using up.

Take your Pork shoulder joint out of the fridge to bring up to room temperature for no more than 30 minutes.

Preheat your Oven on 220c as you want your oven to be nice and hot to crispen the skin. This will make awesome crackling. 


Place all of the vegetables and herbs as above into a deep roasting tray. You will notice there is a little bit of red onion on the picture as it just needed using up, just like the rest of the tray veg.
 Score the pork skin with a Stanley knife and rub in sea salt keeping it dry. Before your Pork goes on, add a drizzle of rapeseed oil over the veg. Place the Pork joint on top as so…


Then pop the Pork into the oven for about 20-25 mins depending on the size of your joint. 
After that time, take out the pork and it should start to look something like this?…

Turn your oven down to 160c, add a few splashes of your Cider into the roasting tray, plus a little water. Now, also at this point I then brush around the meat only, some honey and dijon mustard. It only coats the outer meat, but makes those nice end bits tasty!  It also makes a our great gravy at the end! 
Cover with foil and roast for anything between 2-3 hours depending on the size of your meat. 
Always note: keep checking your joint adding more water to the roasting tin and the cider to keep it moist and for your Gravy at the end. This will give lots of gooey black bits (hey aren’t burnt) that add loads and loads of flavour.
Once you have checked your joint is done, take out to rest for 20-30 mins.
Whilst it is resting, you can get on with the Cider Gravy…
Take the vegetables out from the roasting tray, place over a low heat to allow a sticky, bubbling goodness to erupt. Add plain flour to thicken,whisking in and add water to a gravy thickness. You could always add more pork or chicken stock if needed.

Ya can’t beat a good ‘ol Sunday Roast!