Blackberry and plum sauce recipe
I decided to cook us a treat of pot roast pork. All was well when I checked the joint after an hour and a half. It was simmering gently. I secured the foil under the lid again and popped the pot into the oven for the final ninety minutes. When the timer pinged I was horrified to find that the gorgeous juices had reduced to nothing. “Never mind. I’ll make an apricot sauce,” I thought as I poked about in the larder for a tin. All I could find was a tin of pineapple chunks donated by a generous client who had got fed up with...
read moreAnna’s famous onion gravy recipe
I’ve been working at Anna’s house for the past five weeks. The spot is so secluded that I could not find it on my first foray and had to return home. At the second attempt, Jalopy and I were resting at the side of the road, scratching our heads and on the point of giving up when, miraculously, Anna drove past. We followed her lead and learned the route to her house. Down a quiet track, in the middle of fields. I would never have found it by myself and might have missed out on this onion gravy gem. Anna cooks delicious meals for her...
read moreSunday Roast: Tangy apple sauce with lemon and thyme recipe
Tonight Danny cooked his roast pork with perfect crackling. Although he makes a great apple gravy to accompany this, I had a longing for the fluffiness and sparkle of some homemade apple sauce. A decent apple sauce is a joy with roast pork and it’s so easy to make. Our apple sauce is nothing like the apple purée that we feed to visiting babies. This sauce is on its toes. We stored boxes of Bramley cooking apples in our barn through the winter. These are perfect for our sauce. For me, the hard bit is to remember to fetch the apples in...
read moreSunday Roast: Emma’s easy roast chicken recipe with automatic garlic sauce (also works well with roast pheasant)
My friend Emma gave me this special roast chicken recipe. Everyone loves it, including her young children and it’s quick and easy to prepare. The chicken sits in the stock as it roasts so it is succulent and full of flavour. The garlic sauce is delicious and doesn’t blow your head off. If you are looking for an easy way to cook pheasant this recipe works very well with game. Ingredients: 1 chicken (approx 1.5 kilos) 1 head of garlic 300-600 ml of hot chicken stock (depending on the size of your casserole. There needs to be enough...
read moreCarol’s redcurrant and horseradish relish recipe
If we are busy during the week we often have baked potatoes with salad and wafer thin slices of rare beef left over from the Sunday joint. We always buy a decent sized joint of beef as it is easier to cook and the leftovers are delicious. It also freezes well. Cold meat and salad demand a tasty chutney or a really good relish to raise them from the average traffic warden fodder to the sort of dish that would tempt a petulant Roy Keane back onto the field. My friend Carol is an energy machine and brilliant cook. She adapts and experiments with...
read moreSunday Roast: Best roast chicken (or turkey) with piquant automatic gravy recipe
One happy day, Danny opened the small box that holds the Tobasco bottle and pulled out a slip of paper. It was a recipe suggestion for roast chicken baste or a marinade for barbecued chicken. There was just a list of ingredients (no amounts or method). The list intrigued him, it lay beside his place for a couple of days and was studied as he sipped his coffee and tucked into supper. Finally he announced: “I’m going to try this. Can you get a free range chicken from Fred’s for next Sunday, please.” Fred Fitzpatrick,...
read moreQuick cranberry sauce recipe
Two years ago I made cranberry sauce to die for. It kept for months in the fridge and was wolfed down with everything from goat’s cheese toasties to roast chicken. I particularly loved it with brie in sandwiches. In fact we both agreed that it really comes into its own after Christmas, when it is not jockeying for position with so many other treats. Although I would feel bereft if it didn’t make an appearance on Christmas Day. Cranberry sauce is dead easy to make and it’s quick too. Once you’ve tasted homemade...
read moreSunday Roast: Best roast pork with perfect crackling and apple gravy recipe
There’s a great section in Waitrose branded “Cooks Ingredients”. A range of rather special things, attractively packaged. Thinking about it, the majority of products that any supermarket sells are cooks ingredients. It’s just that we don’t think about that as we plod round doing the weekly shop in Tesco. We buy our anchovies from the “Cooks Ingredients” section (Update March 4th 2007: Tesco now has a similar section and sells a similar jar for a similar price). A decent amount packed into a Le Parfait...
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