Cooking for Kicks

We had these little lovelies with a kind of 'help yourself' buffet of a few different kinds of mash, some home-made relishes and some salad, very nice it was too, even if I say so myself!

Makes approx 5-6 burgers

Ingredients:

500g minced lamb
2 tablespoon fresh mint, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3-4 tablespoon sour cream
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
Juice of 1 lemon

Instructions:

1. Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add a little salt and pepper to season to taste. Wet your hands and use your fingers to make sure all the ingredients are well combined and mixed.
2. Use your hands to shape the mixture into 6 individual burgers, grill over a high heat for about 3-4 minutes on either side until cooked all the way through. Serve immediately.

It's that time of year again, we've got about 10 jars of mincemeat in the cupboards and I have finally found a few spare moments to make one of my favourite Christmas treats. These pies can be cooked and frozen to be enjoyed at a later date, just defrost and warm through in the microwave, lovely!

Makes approx 16 mince pies

Ingredients:

175g plain flour
75g butter
3-4 tablespoon cold water
1 jar of mincemeat (see previous recipe)
A little icing sugar, to dust

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (fan) and line two 12-hole bun tins with foil cases (these aren't strictly necessary but I like the way the pies look in the cases).
2. Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the butter in pieces and gently rub into the flour using your fingertips until it starts to look a bit like fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add the cold water a spoonful at a time, mix into the flour mixture with a palate knife until it starts to come together to form a dough.
4. Form the dough into a bowl and wrap in clingfilm, place in the fridge for a minimum of 10 minutes to chill (I usually keep mine in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes as this will help to prevent the butter from melting and ruining your pastry when you start to roll it).
5. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface and cut out fluted rounds using an approx 8 or 9cm round cutter. Place the rounds in the foil cases and add a generous teaspoon of the mincemeat mixture.
6. Re-roll the pastry and using a star-shape cookie cutter (again, this isn't mandatory, you can cut out any shape you like), cut out enough shapes to cover the pies.
7. Place the shapes onto the pies and press down lightly into the pastry bases as the pastry will lift a little when baking.
8. Brush the pastry tops with a little milk (this will give them a nice golden finish), place the baking trays in the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes until the tops have turned a lightly golden brown.
9. Place on a wire rack to cool and dust with a little icing sugar.

As you can probably tell by some of the dishes I have already posted that I have quite a liking for Morrocan food, here's a nice spicy mushroom and chickpea dish with some lemon-infused cous cous.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 red onion, sliced
2 lemons, juice of 2 and zest of 1
1x 400g can chickpeas, drained
1x 400g can chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoon harissa paste
500g mushrooms (I used button mushrooms but you can use whichever type you prefer)
60g raisins
120g cous cous
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 tablespoon mixed chopped nuts

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions for 2-3 minutes over a medium-high heat until softened, add the mushrooms and cook for another 3-5 minutes until the mushrooms start to brown.
2. Add the chopped tomatoes, harissa paste, chickpeas, half of the raisins and the juice of 1 lemon. Bring the pan to the boil and then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 8-10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place the cous cous in a bowl and add the zest and juice of 1 lemon, pour in enough boiling water to just cover the cous cous grains and cover with cling film.
4. Place the nuts in a small pan and toast over a low heat for about 3-4 minutes until lightly browned and the aroma of the nuts has been released.
5. Uncover the cous cous and fluff up with a fork, add the toasted nuts and the remaining half of the raisins, stir to ensure everything is well mixed and place in the oven on a low heat to keep warm until needed.
6. Add the parsley to the pan and stir to ensure everything is well combined, serve immediately with the cous cous.

We had half a bag of maris piper potatoes hanging around in the kitchen that needed something doing to them before their use-by date, we made up this batch of roasties to put in the freezer for use on a later date, maris pipers make nice crispy roasties as they tend to break down and go a little mushy after boiling which makes for crispy outsides and fluffy insides of the potatoes.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1kg maris piper potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3-4 large sprigs of rosemary
1-2 teaspoons mixed peppercorns
6-8 whole cloves of garlic, peeled

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (fan).
2. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of the olive oil to a large roasting dish and place in the preheated oven (it's a good idea to let the oil heat for about 20-30 minutes).
3. Boil the potatoes in water for approx 5-8 minutes, remove from the heat and drain.
4. In a pestle and mortar, grind the peppercorns into a rough powder and set aside for a moment.
5. Remove the roasting tin from the oven and carefully add the potatoes (be very careful as the oil will spit when you add the potatoes).
6. Add the cloves of garlic to the roasting tin, sprinkle over the pepper (decrease/increase the amount to taste)
7. Drizzle the rest of the olive oil over the potatoes, then lay the rosemary sprigs on top.
8. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes (depending on how crispy and well done you like your spuds), making sure that you shake and turn the roasting tin at 10 minute intervals. Serve immediately.

These are going in the Christmas boxes too, there is quite a bit of work involved in making these but the wonderful taste of them makes it worth it in the end.

Makes approx 100 toffees

Ingredients:

400g caster sugar
200g dark brown sugar
350g golden syrup
250ml evaporated milk
475ml whipping cream
250g butter
1-2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Instructions:

1. Using a little butter, grease and line a baking tin and put to one side.
2. Place the caster sugar, brown sugar, golden syrup, evaporated milk, whipping cream and butter, stir constantly over a low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar and butter have disolved.
3. Increase the heat and boil until the mixture, stirring constantly reaches a temperature of 120C on a Sugar / Jam Thermometer
4. Remove the pan from the heat and plunge the pan into a sink of cold water to stop the temeperature of the mixture increasing any further. Add the vanilla essence and stir to combine.
5. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and leave to set overnight, the mixture will still be a little sticky and slightly soft once set, this is how it should be.
6. The next morning, cut the toffee into pieces, it's a good idea to wrap the toffees indvidually in greaseproof paper to stop them sticking together.

I have been trying to make a good cocnut ice mixture with little success over the last few weeks, this recipe has given me the best results so far, I'm still not entirely happy with it though.

Makes about 15-20 squares

Ingredients:

450g granulated sugar
150ml whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
A few drops of pink food colouring
150g desicated coconut

Instructions:

1. Using a little butter, grease and line a small, square baking tin.
2. In a medium pan over a low heat place the sugar and milk in the pan and stir constantly until the sugar has desolved.
3. Increase the heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly until the mxiture reaches 'soft ball' stage on a sugar thermometer (about 110C).
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut, the mix will stiffen rapidly so work fast to pour about half of it into the baking tin.
5. Add a few drops of pink food colouring to the remaining half of the mixture and stir until combined then add on top of the first layer in the baking tray, pressing down firmly.
6. Leave to cool and set completely before cutting into squares.

These are going in the Christmas boxes, I used a gingerbread family cookie cutter set which I got from Lakeland.

Makes 6 families (2 large and 2 small per family)

Ingredients:

140g butter, softened
100g dark muscavado sugar
3 tablespoon golden syrup
350g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Small pinch of cayenne pepper
2 balls of crystalised stem ginger, finely chopped

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan oven - conventional oven is approx 200C). Line 2 or 3 baking sheets with greaseproof paper and set aside.
2. Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the spices into a mixing bowl, stir a couple of times to ensure all the ingredients are well combined.
3. In a medium pan over a low heat, melt the butter, golden syrup and the sugar until disolved.
4. Pour the mixture from the pan into the flour and add the chopped ginger. Stir until all the ingredients come together to form a stiff biscuit dough.
5. Allow the dough to cool for at least 10 minutes and then roll out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 5mm.
6. Using cookie cutters, cut out the gingerbread families, re-rolling as required until all the dough has been used.
7. Bake the gingerbreads in the oven for about 12-14 minutes until they have turned lightly golden.
8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for at least 10 minutes before trasnferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Decorate the gingerbread families as desired.

This was made using the last of the roast lamb that we cooked earlier in the week.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 shallots, sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 red chilli, choped (discard most of the seeds if you don't like a hot curry)
2 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoon tomato puree
1x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1x 400g can chickpeas
150-200g cooked lamb pieces
2 handfulls sultanas

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and shallots and cook for 2-3 minutes over a medium-high heat until softened.
2. Add the spices, chilli and garlic and cook for another minute.
3. Add the tomato puree and the chopped tomatoes and stir to ensure all the ingredients are well combined, if the sauce seems a little thick then add a touch of water to the pan.
4. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, then add the lamb pieces, chickpeas and sultanas, cover again and leave to simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
5. Give the curry one final stir and serve immediately with brown rice and naan breads.

We made our Christmas cake today, if you wrap this in cling film and tin foil then it should last for quite a few months without needing to be put in the freezer to keep. You can by all means add layers of marzipan and icing if you wish (I'll be icing ours in a few days time).

Makes approx 16-18 slices

Ingredients:

200g butter, softened
200g dark muscavado sugar
200g plain flour
4 medium eggs, beaten
50g ground almonds
100ml brandy
85g chopped peel
85g glace cherries, chopped into small-ish pieces
250g raisins
250g sultanas
100g pecan nuts, broken in halves or quarters
Zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoon mixed spice
2 teaspoon rosewater
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 140C (this is for a fan oven, convential oven should be preheated to about 160C). Line a 20cm round or square cake tin.
2. Place the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat until well combined using an electric whisk.
3. Sieve about a quarter of the plain flour into the bowl and stir a couple of times to comibne, then add about a quarter of the egg and stir again. Repeat this process until all of the flour and egg have been mixed into the bowl.
4. Add the ground almonds and give the mixture one more stir to combine.
5. Stir in the brandy - or whatever spirits you have handy (this may split the mixture a little but don't worry, it will be fine) and then add all the dried fruits, the pecan nuts, rosewater and the spices. Give the mixture a good stir after each ingredient as it will make it easier to combine everything rather than giving it one massive stir at the end.
6. Add the baking powder and stir one last time.
7. Pour the mixture carefully into the baking tin and bake for 30 minutes, after the 30 minutes lower the temperature of the oven by a further 10C and bake for at least another 2 hours.
8. After the 2 hours insert a skewer or a knife into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean then the cake is ready to be removed from the oven, if it is not ready then leave in the oven and keep checking at 5 minute intervals until done.
9. Remove the tin from the oven and leave the cake to cool in the tin on a wire rack for about 1-2 hours.
10. When the cake has cooled sufficiently, remove from the tin and carefully peel off the baking paper. Leave on the wire rack for another couple of hours to cool completely.
11. Wrap the cake in cling film and then tin foil and place in a cool, dark cupboard until ready to be eaten.

This is the third dinner that we have made using our leg of lamb this week, again this can be made using fresh raw lamb, just cook it at the same time as the onion.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

200g cooked roast lamb, cut into small chunks
1 white onion, sliced finely
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 leek, sliced
2 red peppers, deseeded and diced
150g dried apricots
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
450ml hot lamb stock
150g cous cous
Handful chopped frsh parsley

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive in a large saucepan and cook the onion for 2-3 minutes over a medium-high heat until softened. Add the spices and cook for a further minute, making sure that you are stirring all the time.
2. Add the leek, peppers, apricots, stock and the lemon juice and zest.
3. Reduce the heat to low, cover and leave to simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occassionally.
4. Add the lamb and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
5. Add the cous cous and leave over the low heat for 5 minutes to allow the cous cous to soak up the liquid (make sure that you keep the lid on the pan).
6. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the parsley, serve immediately.