Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 02 January 2022

• Experiments
• Home Brew

Yes it sounds like an unpleasant illness which requires medical attention. But actually it’s the correct name for a Spiced Mead! We’re not brewing this for it’s supposed medical or mystical  (Bunkum) attributes. We’re brewing it mainly for the fun of it, oh and we’ll clearly enjoy drinking it in a few months!

Ingredients:-

4 x 400ml Jars of runny Honey
1 Stick of Cinnamon
8 Cloves
1 Thumb sized bit of fresh Ginger roughly sliced
Yeast
Water

Method:-

(1) Heat about a litre of water in a large pan and dissolve the Honey.
(2) Allow to cool so you don’t crack your demijohn and kill your Yeast.
(3) Pop the Cinnamon, Ginger and Cloves in the demijohn.
(4) Add a sachet of Yeast to the cooled Honey mixture and allow it to activate.
(5) Once it starts to foam pour the mixture into the demijohn and top up with Water. Allowing a little space at the shoulder.
(6) Insert the bung and air trap.
(7) Pop it away for a few months until it brews out. Or in our case leave it on the dining table and listen to it bubble all night!

According to the various recipes I hacked together to create this one, the Honey should be hand harvesting on Anglesey. The water should be taken from a sacred well on the first full Moon of an even numbers year. The Yeast….. Yadda yadda yadda. The cheapest unbranded Honey and Bread Yeast will do just fine!

Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 01 January 2022

• Sides
• Decent Beef
• Gluten Free
• Sauces

We probably blew our budget well and truly yesterday. But it was New Years Eve and we don’t go out so we treated ourselves.

The DIY Beef Wellington was actually based around a piece of Rump Steak I found in the yellow sticker fridge which we trimmed. The remainder is destined for a stir-fry this evening.

The star of the show was Sue’s Red Wine Sauce.

Ingredients:-

3 Shallots, finely diced
3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
175ml of Red Wine (B&Ms - £1)
300ml of Beef Stock
1 Tbsp of Hendersons Relish
2 Tbsp of Margarine
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:-

(1) Add the Margarine to a pan over a low heat and add the Shallots.
(2) Season with Salt & Pepper and fry until softened
(3) Add the Garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.
(4) Add the Red Wine, turn up the heat and bring to the boil.
(5) Turn the heat down and allow to simmer until it has reduced by a third.
(6) Add the Beef Stock and Hendersons.
(7) Continue to simmer until the sauce thickens.
(8) Strain the sauce.
(9) Return to the heat and stir in a little more Margarine to give the sauce a glaze.
(10) You can use the Shallots & Garlic as a side.
(11) Cut the Beef Wellington in have and serve with the sauce drizzled over.

Looks a bit ‘Chefy’ we know, but it tasted really good!

Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 30 December 2021

• Turkey
• Gluten Free
• Asian Recipes
• Christmas Fodder
• Slow Cooker Recipes

Well it’s traditional making a Curry out of your Turkey leftovers, after all. That’s the last of our Turkey crown. There’s a Turkey thigh in the freezer but I suspect I might suffer a beating with it if I get it out any time soon!

Ingredients:-

450g of Cooked Turkey, roughly shredded
2 Onions, chopped
3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
A Thumb of Ginger, grated
1 Bay Leaf
¼ Tsp of Salt
½ Tsp of Turmeric
2 Green Chilles, chopped
1 Tsp of Cumin Powder
1 Tsp of Cayenne Pepper
1 Tin of Tomatoes
1 Tbsp of Tomato Puree
½ Tsp of Spirit Vinegar
2 Tsp of Brown Sugar
The juice of a Lime
2 Tbsp of Cashew Nuts, ground
125Ml of Water
Oil to fry
Fresh Coriander, sliced Lime and Cashew Nuts to garnish

Method:-

(1) Heat the Oil in a large pan and add the Onions, Ginger, Bay Leaf, Salt and Turmeric.
(2) Fry until the Onion is golden brown.
(3) Add the Turkey and cover the meat in the Onion mixture.
(4) Add the Chillies, Cumin, Cayenne and stir well.
(5) Add the Tomatoes and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.
(6) Stir in the Tomato Puree, Vinegar, Sugar and Lime juice.
(7) Add the Water and simmer for 10 minutes.
(8) Stir in the Cashew nut powder.
(9) Serve over Rice garnished with chopped Coriander, Lime slices and Cashew Nuts

So 6 serving for us humans, 3 dinners for Smooh the Cat and various sizeable scraps for the Foxes. Not bad going from our £5.01 yellow sticker Turkey. But we’re ready for something different now…..
 

Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 27 December 2021

• Cured Meat
• beef

This is an unusual ‘cure’ for me. Most of the cured meat items we’ve played with so far require some level of dehydration. Pastrami however needs the cured meat to be moist and succulent. I picked a bit of Rump Steak for this experiment as it wasn’t hideously expensive and after I’d trimmed the fat the meat had the sort of texture I’m looking for when I eventually cut it alone, rather that across the grain.

Ingredients:-

Good low fat Beef
Fresh ground Black Pepper
Salt
Saltpetre

The tricky thing is measuring the Saltpetre for a small piece of meat. You need 2g per 1kg in weight to preserve the colour. I had 200g of meat when it was trimming and our scales only work from 1g upwards. So I divided and divided until I had an approximate amount. If it’s under the Salt will cure the meat but it will be green in the middle. If it’s over the meat will be livid red and there will be a nasty ‘Nitric’ after taste.  We shall see…..

Method:-

(1) Mix the curing ingredients.
(2) Coat  The meat on all sides.
(3) Place in an air tight box in the fridge.
(4) Turn after 7 days.
(5) Slice along the grain and serve in a Sandwich or as part of a cold salad.

See you in three weeks!