Final Recipe of this Year

Gluten Free Goat’s Cheese and Red Onion Tarts

My recent attempts at sweet pastry being such a success I felt emboldened to try a savoury version (some said it couldn’t be done, I beg to differ). There is nothing nutritionally good for you in this recipe, however the health kick doesn’t start until the 1st of January so I make no apologies as I use up my final goodies of this year. 

The recipe makes one large tart, or if you’re having friends over for New Years Eve, try making bite size tarts in muffin tins, they are lovely with drinks and may assist in absorbing some of the alcohol.

Ingredients for the pastry

100g brown rice flour
100g cornmeal
75g gluten free plain flour
100g butter
1 egg, beaten
100g grated mature cheddar
pinch of salt and pepper
leaves from 2 stalks of thyme

Ingredients for the filling

4 large red onions, finely sliced into half moons
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
leaves from 2 stalks thyme
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
knob of butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 log of goats cheese, cut into thin slices

Method

• Mix all the dried ingredients for the pastry either in a food processor or a large bowl. When it resembles breadcrumbs, add the egg and a small amount of water until the dough comes together, it should be firm. Place in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least one hour before using.
• Meanwhile, heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan and add the finely sliced onions. On a very low heat fry the onions for 10 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme leaves and balsamic vinegar and let them cook down for 1 hour, stirring occasionally until the liquid has reduced. Leave to cool.
• Heat oven to 180 degrees and roll pastry thinly between 2 sheets of clingfilm. If using a large tart tin roll out slightly larger than you need before placing gently in the tin. Trim off excess and bake in oven for 10 minutes to firm up. If making mini tarts place pastry into each tin and bake for 5 minutes.
• Add onion filling (in mini tins use a teaspoon of mix in each tin) Top each tart with a thin slice of goats cheese. Cover the large tin with sliced goats cheese and bake.
• The mini tarts will take a further 5 minutes, the large tin, about 20 minutes or until the goats cheese is bubbling and slightly melting.
• Delicious served hot or room temperature.

Happy New Year... and bring on January, I’m ready!

Having survived the Christmas feasting that included cooking my first goose, a bird so rich and delicious I feel it may feature for years to come at our house over the more usual turkey, I am left with a fridge full of cheese and a wide array of goodies approaching their use-by date and a stomach groaning for healthy interesting dishes.

My friends and family gifted me some amazing foodie presents, including a hamper of Mexican ingredients that are sure to feature in future recipes, including an unusual ingredient which if used too generously is poisonous but can apparently counteract the effects of eating too many beans. If all goes quiet on the blog front in the next few weeks you’ll know I’ve overdone it.

I also got a funky new camera so bear with me, when I learn how to use it, I hope the photography will improve somewhat.

So what’s to come in the next few weeks. In January the emphasis will be on frugal feasts as
with the festivities dwindling, hangover mostly fading and the inevitable empty-wallet feeling that the long month routinely brings, we hope to offer a little help, good food with main ingredients costed to feed four for under a fiver but lacking none of the taste and warmth that is so needed as the cold seeps through the layers of clothes and deep into the bones.

From warming filling soups, rich casseroles and vegetable based dishes to nod our heads towards a healthier 2013 I hope you find something to tempt you into the kitchen, after all beside the cooker is often the warmest place to be.

The exceptions to our costings are largely seasonings and spices but we will use products reduced or on special in supermarkets hence if replicated they may come a little over our £5 budget.

See you all soon

Blue Moon

1 Talbot Road, Northampton, NN1 4HZ, 01604 627861

Our intention was to visit another indian restaurant but as with most good intentions, these often require a level of organisation that fails us, it was fully booked. Standing in the cold debating our options we decided to try the Blue Moon, a small restaurant located on the corner of Talbot Road and Kettering Road. We had been several years before and were impressed with some less common dishes on their menu and although our memories are now somewhat dulled with time, we remembered the food being tasty and good value.

The lack of other diners at 7pm on a Saturday night not long before Christmas could have dampened our spirits, indeed the atmosphere suffered in more ways than staff outnumbering customers three to one.
In terms of decor the restaurant seems very dated and whilst most of the dining room was clean and well maintained, the table across from us was laid out with the Argos catalogue and various newspapers giving an impression that dining in customers were few and far between. The music, (forgive us here as our tastes may be less than mainstream) was an unusual hybrid of Bollywood musical and DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince circa late 1980’s. Not really conducive to a relaxed meal for two.

Previously the restaurant had no alcohol licence so encouraged people to bring their own drinks however they now have a licence and offer a range of reasonably priced wines and beers. When asked for our drinks order, I requested a bottle of Merlot priced at £13.95 and very courteously the waiter asked what my partner would like. Although not beyond the realms of possibility I can down a bottle of red solo, generally I would do so over the course of an evening, rather than the time taken to eat a curry.
Situation calmly dealt with and two glasses provided, we settled down with our popadoms and chutneys that I have to say were much better than those provided at many restaurants. The onion salad was fresh, while the yoghurt dip was thick and creamy, not the watery yellow fare often served. The usual red sauce (a mystery number served everywhere it seems) was surprisingly tangy with sweet and sour flavours.
Our starters arrived, I had ordered the special kebab, a mix of lamb and chicken tikka with a seekh kebab. All were moist and well spiced served with the usual shredded iceberg salad it was pleasant. My partner tried the Bombay Buffalo Wings, once again, nicely spicy with generously sized chicken wings.

The mains arrived accompanied by a seemingly never-ending dance track that I could only guess was called ‘Boom’ as the singer repeatedly broke into a rousing single worded chorus only interrupted by the frequent ring of a telephone for home delivery orders. I had the Lamb Xucati, a medium hot Goan curry, rich with cinnamon, cumin and coconut. The sauce was delicious, spicy and warming with a good kick. I was slightly disappointed by the thin slivers of lamb, tasty as they were I had to search them out from the depths of the sauce and the sauce to meat ratio swamped the tiny meaty morsels. I have tried and failed to describe the presentation of the dish, instead I believe the image speaks for itself.


My partner chose a chicken dish that forgive us, is not on their online menu and neither of us can recall the name. Alas the dish lacked memorable taste also, whilst generous again in quantities of sauce and large chunks of chicken it failed to wow on this occasion.

In conclusion Blue Moon is good value, the meal with starters and drinks came to about £40 and while the food was fresh and well cooked, the restaurant’s ambience and lack of friendly professional service leaves us unlikely to revisit. They do appear to do somewhat better with takeaway orders, the phone rang constantly but with so many Indian restaurants in the area giving great food and service it may be a long while before we try again.

Another festive GF Treat

Gluten Free Mini Mince Pies

I have a craving for pastry right now and as the sweet pastry for the tarts on the previous post worked well, I have played with it a little more to provide another lovely festive treat, it’s so buttery and light, you don’t even need to butter the tin and the addition of a small amount of gluten free plain flour makes the pastry crisp, you won’t be able to tell it’s gluten free, I promise.

If you are making these for people with gluten intolerances make sure you get gluten free mincemeat, or if you make your own, gluten free vegetable suet. My need for mince pies is great so I cheated a little and bought a good quality mincemeat to which I added a few extra goodies.
You will also need a cutter or an upturned glass and a mini muffin or bun tin and some clingfilm.

Ingredients

For the filling

400g or jar of good quality mincemeat
Zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange
4 tbsp brandy
Handful of dried cranberries, roughly chopped
Small stick of cinnamon
1 star anise
Few grates of nutmeg

For the pastry

100g brown rice flour
100g cornmeal
75g plain gluten free flour
150g cold butter, cut into cubes
75g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
A little water to bring mix to a dough
Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
Golden caster sugar to sprinkle
2 tbsp milk

Method

• Put all the ingredients for the filling into a saucepan and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes. Leave to cool. This allows the fruit and juices to mingle and absorb the spices. Remove the whole spices when completely cool.
• Make the pastry. I use a food processor for speed but it can be mixed in a bowl. Add all the dry ingredients and add the cubed butter and mix to resemble breadcrumbs.
• Add the zest and mix in the beaten egg. Add water to bring the mix to a stiff dough. I found it easier to transfer the breadcrumb mix to a large mixing bowl before adding the water. The dough should be quite stiff. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
• In between two sheets of clingfilm, roll out the pastry until it is roughly 3mm thick and cut circles to fit base of the tin. It is quite delicate so lift carefully using a palette knife. Add to the tin, it may break a little but can be patched very easily due to the butter content.
• Place in an oven heated to 180 degrees for 5 minutes to start to firm up the pastry.
• Remove from the oven and fill each case with a teaspoon of filling. Using a pastry brush, wet the edges of each pie with milk and add a pastry top. (You will need a slightly smaller cutter for this, I use a shot glass)
• Gently press the tops onto each pie, brush with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar. I added a little edible silver glitter as it’s Christmas.
• Place back in the oven for 8 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
• This recipe made 28 mince pies but this will vary depending on your tin size, you may also need to adjust the cooking time to about 15 minutes for the final cook if you make regular sized pies.
• Serve with lashings of cream, delicious hot or cold.

Feeling Christmassy yet?

Mulled Plum Frangipane Tarts

This is another gluten free recipe but feel free to make with sweet shortcrust pastry, the filling is delicious and despite there being three stages to do, each takes minutes to prepare and none are too complicated. 
While these are baking the house is filled with the smells of mulled wine and almonds and for those not able to eat regular pastry, I think this is a very good sweet pastry substitute and has gone down very well with those who can tolerate gluten..

Ingredients

For the Mulled Plums

2 glasses red wine, I used Cabernet Sauvignon
75g brown sugar
1 stick cinnamon
2 cloves
2 star anise
pinch grated nutmeg
1 orange
1 lemon
Punnet of plums, about 12

For the pastry

175g fine ground brown rice flour
100g cornmeal
75g ground almonds
150g butter
75g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
cold water to bind

For the frangipane

100g softened butter
100g icing sugar
100g ground almonds
2 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp reserved mulling syrup

Method

• Add all the ingredients to a saucepan except the plums and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Halve and de-stone the plums, add these to the mulled wine mixture and continue to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the plums to cool in the syrupy wine mix.
• Make the pastry. Combine the flour, ground almonds, cornmeal, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor to resemble breadcrumbs. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the eggs. Bring the dough together and add a small amount of cold water if needed to make a firm dough.
• Wrap in clingfilm and leave in fridge for up to an hour to chill.
• Remove plums from wine mix and reduce on a low heat for 10 minutes or until reduced to a thick syrup. Slice plums thinly and put to one side.
• Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of clingfilm until a few millimetres thick. Lift gently with a palette knife and transfer into a bun tin. Cook in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.
• Make the frangipane. In a bowl mix together the butter and sugar until fluffy, add ground almonds and 3 tbsp of the reduced wine syrup and mix until thoroughly combined.
• Add frangipane to each pastry case and add slices of the plums gently on top. Place in the oven for a further 12-15 minutes.
• Finally brush the tops of each tart with some of the remaining syrup and leave to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold with lashings of whipped cream.

Cheese + Bacon = Delicious

Goats Cheese and Bacon Croquettes

These cheesy morsels are delicious at any time but go especially well with drinks particularly if you make them canape sized. It’s also a way of turning leftover mashed potato into something wonderful. 

I have used gluten free breadcrumbs and flour but just replace as you wish.

Make a large batch of these in advance of a party and warm them in the oven just before serving.

Ingredients

Makes about 30 croquettes
3 large baking potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed.
2 rashers of smoked bacon, finely chopped
6 fresh sage leaves
Salt and pepper
4 slices gluten free bread
Oil for frying, about 2cm in depth
1 goats cheese log, about 125g
2 eggs
Knob of butter

Method

• Peel and chop potatoes and boil in salted water until cooked through. Drain and mash with a little butter and leave to cool.
• In a separate pan, fry off the finely chopped bacon with 2 chopped fresh sage leaves. The bacon pieces should be golden and slightly crispy.
• Add bacon to the mashed potato, season with salt and pepper to taste and leave to cool completely before adding crumbled goat’s cheese. Mix lightly
• Blitz the bread with the remaining sage leaves until breadcrumbs, dry out in a hot oven until lightly browned, in a hot oven this will only take 2 or 3 minutes. Leave to cool.
• Assemble all the ingredients, you will need a plate for the breadcrumbs, a bowl with a beaten egg and a plate with some plain seasoned flour.
• Check seasoning and shape mash mixture into small cylindrical shapes about 2cm long. Roll each in flour, then egg and finally breadcrumbs until all are coated.
• When all the croquettes are ready heat the oil (if you are using a deep fryer to 160 degrees) in a deep frying pan use a medium heat. Fry in batches of no more than 5 until golden brown. These will take about 5 minutes to cook.
• Drain on kitchen paper and serve warm, I like to dip in a little chilli jam to spice things up.

Serve with wine and friends. Let the festivities begin, more party recipes to follow soon

Sweet Treats for a Winter's Night

Lemon, stem ginger and cardamom sponge puddings

These are lovely at any time of year, however they make a delicious alternative to those who don’t like Christmas pudding as these are light enough to not need to lie down for an hour to digest. 

I do suggest upping the calorie content further with a generous amount of cream or custard so this is no diet friendly recipe.

I have made these with gluten free self raising flour but the recipe is equally good with normal self raising flour and the quantities are the same.  

Ingredients

100g golden caster sugar
100g softened butter
180 ml milk
2 eggs
200g gluten free self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
5 green cardamom, crushed seeds
5 stem ginger pieces, 3 sliced, 2 roughly chopped and a little of the syrup
Pinch of sea salt
Butter for greasing pudding bowls
Pudding bowls with lids, I made 4 individual 1/4 pint puds and a 1/2 pint pud from this mix, you could do a larger pudding and adjust cooking time. Always test with a skewer in the centre of the pudding, it should come out nearly clean.

Method

• In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar together, add milk and eggs and whisk to a smooth batter.
• Sift in flour and bicarbonate of soda and add zest and juice of one lemon.. Whisk in thoroughly ensuring a lump free mixture.
• Add roughly chopped stem ginger, the crushed cardamom seeds and a pinch of salt and stir in gently.
• At the base of each pudding bowl place slices of stem ginger to cover and add mixture 3/4 of the way up each container.
• Put lid on securely and steam. The 1/4 pint puds took 70 minutes, the 1/2 pint just 85 minutes in an electric steamer.
• Serve with cream or custard. Delicious

Butternut Squash Risotto with Bacon Crumbles

I have the house to myself tonight and in cooking terms that can mean anything from a cheese and salt and vinegar crisp sarnie to something more adventurous. Tonight I’m going for the latter, not complex but a dish that requires attention. I love making risotto, it’s calming, therapeutic even, the constant stirring lets me mull over what I’ve got done, what’s still to do, at this moment my mind is taken up with the Christmas shopping list and whether it’s wrong to start on the wine this early, after all I need a glass for the risotto.

I’m also using the chicken stock made from poaching the chicken in the previously posted recipe but you can use any good stock for this, watch the cubes though, I find most of them too salty and they overpower the other ingredients. The measure for the stock is vague as it varies, however the dish should be slightly runny rather than dry.
I’m sure with more care this dish could look prettier but it tastes amazing, warming and a perfect dish to ward off winter chills.

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 2 cm ish chunks
3 handfuls arborio rice
3 cloves garlic, crushed in their skins
1 dried mild chilli chopped (I used a dried cayenne)
Olive oil
5 sage leaves, fresh if you can get them
Salt and pepper

1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 glass dry white wine
1 1/2 pints hot chicken stock,
Parmesan cheese
Small knob butter

Method

• Heat oven to 180 degrees and add cubes of peeled butternut squash, 3 fresh sage leaves, garlic and chopped dried chilli to baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and leave to roast in oven for 30 mins.
• On a shallow tray, bake 6 rashers of dry cure bacon until brown and dry, about 6 minutes in a hot oven. Remove both squash and bacon and leave to cool.
• In a large shallow frying pan, heat oil and add chopped onion, fry until softened. Add rice and stir with onions for 2 minutes.
• Add wine and stir until the pan is almost dry.
• Add a ladle of chicken stock at a time, stirring until almost reduced before adding the next. After 15 minutes or so, test the grains of rice, they should be soft but with texture and the liquid should be thick and oozing. Once the rice is cooked, add the butternut squash, season to taste and add parmesan cheese to taste.
• Crumble bacon with fingers over the top of the dish and serve.

Poached Whole Chicken

The Perfect Chicken

I am not the first to claim the ‘perfect chicken’ and I won’t say this is the simplest or prettiest of recipes, however it does stay remarkably moist due to the poaching. The stock left over is also devine used as a base for gravy or as a stock for risotto and can be frozen for use later on.

You can use the poached chicken in a variety of ways, perfect for healthy low fat dishes just how it is, or for a Sunday treat, roast the chicken in a hot oven for 30 mins after the poaching time, it crisps up the skin while the meat remains exceptionally moist.

The perfect side dish to this is Pommes Boulangere made with the stock from the chicken, a dish that can go into the oven while the chicken roasts, this fabulous pairing wastes nothing and will be ready to dish up by the time the chicken is carved. I’ve added the recipe for the potatoes at the end of the post.

 

Ingredients

For the poaching liquid

1 chicken (weight about 1.2kg for my biggest saucepan with lid)
1 onion, chopped into quarters, not peeled
1 carrot, chopped into chunks
2 bay leaves
15 black peppercorns, 10 pink peppercorns
1 tsp sea salt
1 lemon
1 blade of mace
3 cloves garlic, just crushed in their skins
1/4 pint white wine, I used a Chenin Blanc

Method

• Add all the above into a large saucepan big enough to easily fit the chicken and poaching ingredients, top up with water to cover the chicken and bring to the boil.
• Once boiling reduce heat, place on lid and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave chicken to stand in stock for 30 minutes or 1 hour if not roasting.
• Remove from poaching liquid and drain well. If not roasting the chicken is ready to use. Discard the skin and enjoy the chicken hot or cold.
• If roasting drain as above, heat oven to 200 degrees and place on roasting rack. Stuff onions, lemon slices and garlic cloves into chicken cavity. Dot chicken with butter, season skin with salt and pepper and roast, breast side down on the roasting rack for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn chicken and roast for 15 further minutes breast side up.
• Cover with foil and rest for about 10 minutes and carve. Delicious, I hope you’ll agree.

Pommes Boulangere

3 large Maris Piper or Baking Potatoes, thinly sliced
150ml chicken stock
10 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Butter
Salt and pepper

• Thinly slice the potatoes, I use a mandolin for this as it makes uniformly thin slices ensuring the potatoes cook through evenly. If you get one, beware... tops of fingers have been lost by the best of cooks on these things, use the safety guard if it has one.
• Drain chicken stock through a sieve.
• Butter a baking dish and place a thin layer of potatoes, a few slices of garlic and a sprinkle of thyme leaves and season, repeat until all potatoes are used. Ladle on stock and add a few dots of butter to the top.
• Bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes. Potatoes should be cooked through and tender, with a crusty top.
• Serve.

A Foodies Day Out BBC Good Food Show

On Friday we spent a gluttonous day out at the BBC Good Food Show, now a regular event in our Foodie calendar and I had been counting down the ‘sleeps’ like a child waiting for Christmas. I went with my usual intentions of getting a few gourmet treats for friends and family and had last year been overwhelmed by the array of small artisan producers who were enthusiastically selling their wares. The highlight last year however had been the Dining Experience where those coming from outside London could sample delights from upper end restaurants without waiting weeks or months on end for a table. Indeed a pork belly dish last year blew my mind and I had high hopes of being as impressed on this visit.

Lets start at the beginning.
Kensington Olympia is massive and we 
arrived just after lunch armed with rucksacks 
for goodies, empty bellies and elasticated trousers 
wholly prepared for a day of eating, 
drinking and shopping.

It didn’t seem as busy as last year and queues were small so we had a quick wander before deciding on our first Dining Experience choice.
I have to say this was the only disappointing part of the day, the choices seemed more
limited than last year.


We started with ‘The Bowler Gourmet Balls’, a street food van making hand rolled meatballs
and tried both options, a Thai flavoured pork and beef meatball with a delicious coconut curry
sauce, not too spicy but in my opinion spoilt by the addition of sweet chilli sauce drizzled over
the dish. 



The other was a beef and bacon meatball, tasty with a tomato sauce, nice but not a patch on the Albondigas I posted last week. As street food, a tasty option I would go for if I was out and about, but not something most people could not achieve at home.

With sated bellies we wandered around the food-stalls for a while, doing a preliminary scout for our likely purchases tasting delicious cheeses, meats and getting slightly tipsy from gin flavoured with orange, chocolate wine and toffee vodka.

Many purchases were made over the next couple of hours, I won't bore you with every one, here's the picture of just some of them.

There were many producers selling wonderful delicious treats, too many to mention. I will just mention a couple that stood out for us in terms of product and enthusiasm for their craft. The Artisan Smokehouse, where we bought smoked duck, beef fillet, smoked Stilton and my favourite, smoked goat's cheese. I could have bought more but stopped myself. Mr Vikki's, seller of hot hot hot sauces, we particularly liked the XXX Hot Chilli Jam and Piri Piri Mustard.
If you like Irish Cream particularly at Christmas, you have to try Coole Swan. An Irish Whiskey blended with white chocolate, cream, cocoa and vanilla, it has a more grown up taste as the whiskey is the star.
Finally another boozy offering, Thunder Toffee Vodka. I must admit, I resisted this last year as sounding too sweet. Served ice cold it is delicious, syrupy, sweet with a kick. Other customers were asking if it could be mixed to make a long drink, I say don't spoil it, it is perfection just as it is

Lastly, all the producers I have mentioned are online so if you feel inspired to try anything you can do so.

Albondigas aka Mexican Meatballs

Albondigas (AKA) Mexican Meatballs in a Chipotle and Tomato Sauce

I tweeted advanced warning that some fiery recipes may be posted soon due to the arrival of two large packages of chipotle chillies from the postman. They are still quite difficult to get hold of in local supermarkets, I have stumbled across them occasionally but as my addiction to these hot smoky delights grow, I need a steady and more reliable supply that the internet provides.

Without meaning to bang on about these particular chillies, they are pretty integral to this dish. I have, when the need has arisen, made the sauce with alternatives but it never quite lives up to the smoky flavour, heat and rich earthiness that the chipotle adds to it. Feel free to reduce the quantity if you like or be brave and go for it. I'd give this a medium heat rating but I have built up a tolerance

This recipe makes enough for 4 hungry people but I’ve made this for parties of 10 or more, it’s quite time-consuming but well worth the effort. Try it and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

For the meatballs

300g lean beef mince
300g pork mince
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
50g breadcrumbs
1 egg
Oil to fry meatballs
Salt and pepper
Mixture made 28 meatballs, they may look like nothing special now, but read on.


For the sauce
1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 soaked chipotle chillies, roughly chopped, seeds removed
¼ pint beef stock
¼ pint red wine
1 tin chopped tomatoes
100ml sieved passata
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley to serve

Method

• Soak chipotle chillies in hand hot water for about 20 minutes until softened. Retain soaking water.
• Fry off finely chopped onion with 1 bay leaf until softened, remove from heat and leave to cool completely.
• Once the onions are cool, mix beef, pork, onion, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs and egg in a large bowl. Cover with clingfilm and leave to firm up in the fridge for an hour.
• Roll small balls of the mixture and fry gently in batches in sunflower oil until browned. See picture above.
• Set aside while making the sauce.
• In a clean large frying pan with a lid, saute the onion and garlic until softened but not brown. Add chopped chilli and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
• Add beef stock, red wine, tinned tomatoes, passata and soaking water from the chillies and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
• Carefully blitz the sauce in a blender until smooth (I say carefully as I have sprayed my kitchen with chipotle sauce on more than one occasion).
• Return to pan and simmer until reduced and thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Gently add the meatballs, without stirring leave on low heat until cooked through, about 40 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley.
• Serve with rice or bread to soak up the delicious sauce.

One for the Kids (Big or Small)

Halloween Gingerbread

Here’s a lovely quick recipe you can make with the children over the holiday, although they disappeared as if by magic from my work when I took a box in the other day...
I’ve made these several times using gluten free plain flour and brown rice flour as the latter gives a nice texture, but all plain flour will work for those with no allergies. The ginger taste is stronger than some bought gingerbread so you may want to adjust a little for a child’s taste.
Makes about 50 small cookies.




Ingredients

175g brown rice flour
450g plain flour (plus extra for rolling out)
175g soft brown sugar
100 butter
1 egg
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp dried ginger
Pinch sea salt
Fun cutters of your choice
Icing and sweets to decorate

Method

• Add all dried ingredients and mix to ensure all lumps are removed.

• Melt butter and golden syrup and add to mixture, add beaten egg and mix thoroughly. The dough should be firm and quite dry.

• Leave to chill in the fridge for about an hour before rolling out to about the depth of a £1 coin. Sprinkle with additional flour if the mix sticks to the rolling pin.

• Cut out shapes and place on greased baking tray. I like the reusable silicone sheets you can buy in most cookshops (nothing ever sticks).

• Place in a preheated oven at 180 for about 8 minutes, remove from sheet when warm and leave to cool.

• Decorate as you like and enjoy.