Burger Slaw with Dill and Mustard

Burger Slaw

When did coleslaw become just slaw? The abbreviation isn't a fad that I usually go along with, but it sounds better here.  

I love home made coleslaw and this is extra special. The flavours of dill, mustard and pickles work brilliantly with the fresh crunch of cabbage and carrot. I also make a version of this minus the cheese and using low fat mayonnaise to keep things healthy. A little horseradish or wholegrain mustard would also work a treat but might move things away from burger chain territory. Whether or not that is a bad thing is up to you...

I have always thought of the gherkin controversy as weird as they have been my favourite part of a burger ever since I was a kid. If you don't like them by all means leave them out. You freak. 

While this Slaw is great on a burger, it is also brilliant with grilled chicken breast or cold roast beef. It is also great with the Slow Cooked Texas Brisket, either as an accompaniment when it is hot or piled into a fantastically messy sandwich with the leftovers.

Burger Slaw

• Half a white cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• 75g sweet dill pickles or gherkins, roughly chopped
• 50g grated mild cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese (optional)
• 4 tbsp mayonnaise (made with free range eggs)
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp American Mustard
• 1 tbsp vinegar from the pickles
• 1 tbsp finely chopped dill, plus extra for garnish

1.    Combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, pickle vinegar and dill to make a dressing. If you make this in the bowl where you mix the slaw you can save yourself some washing up.

2.    Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.

Slow Cooked Texas Brisket

Slow Cooked Texas Brisket

Brisket is one of those wonderful cheap cuts that just melts after a long slow cook. I have often made the British version, slow braised in rich stock with onions, carrots, celery and herbs (brilliant with mustard and horseradish mashed potato) but I have been meaning to try this American version for a while.

This is quite often cooked on a barbecue or smoker, but luckily you can also cook this in the oven. A little water helps keep the meat from catching as the fat marbled through it breaks down in the low heat. You will know when it is cooked when you can easily insert two forks and pull the meat apart. Yum!

This served two of us, with enough leftovers for two generously filled sandwiches the next day. Beautiful!

Slow Cooked Texas Brisket

Serves 4 (or 2 with leftovers)

·         800g piece beef brisket

·         1 tbsp dark soy sauce

·         2 tbsp tomato ketchup

·         1 tbsp American mustard

·         1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

·         Dash of Tabasco or other hot sauce

·         1tbsp sugar

·         1 tsp sweet smoked paprika

·         Black pepper

·         100ml water

1.    Preheat the oven to 150°C.

2.    Combine the soy, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, sugar and paprika, then smear the mixture over the meat. If you can leave this to marinate for a couple of hours, so much the better.

3.    Pour the water into the bottom of a casserole dish large enough to accommodate your beef. Alternatively use a baking tray and tightly cover with foil. Sit the beef on top and season liberally with pepper.

4.    Cover with the lid or a sheet of tin foil and roast for 3 – 3½ hours, or until tender. You may need to top the water up a little after an hour or so.

5.    Carve informally on the diagonal, or just chunkily shred it up, and serve.

Chicken Leek and Bacon Pies

Over Christmas I didn't get into the kitchen much, what with office parties, visiting relatives and subsisting on peanuts, chocolate and Christmas cake in between. For New Year we decided to throw a dinner party and I relished the opportunity to actually cook something. As this was a party I wanted something that I could prepare in advance and these pies were perfect.

The pastry was crumbly, the creamy chicken filling tender and moist. The look was perhaps a little rustic, my impatience having got the better of me by the time I came to fashion the second pastry 2012.

My friends can be a fussy bunch, but the flavours here are a real crowd pleaser. Suffice to say that these beatuies were a hit all round.

Photo courtesy of my friend Hannah

Chicken, Leek and Bacon Pies

Makes six individual pies

·         A little olive oil

·         4 rashers smoked back bacon

·         2 large chicken breasts

·         4 skinless chicken thigh fillets

·         1 red onion, finely chopped

·         2 leeks, finely sliced

·         200g garlic and herb cream cheese

·         A splash of milk

·         Black pepper

·         Pinch of nutmeg

·         600g Shortcrust pastry

·         1 egg, beaten

1.      In a large non-stick pan fry the bacon in the oil until crisp. Set aside.

2.      Fry the chicken breasts whole in the oil and bacon juices for 4 minutes per side or until golden brown. Set aside.

3.      Remove any excess fat from the chicken thighs and chop into one inch pieces. Fry for 10 minutes on a fairly low heat.

4.      Add the onion and allow to soften for a couple of minutes, then add the leeks. Cover and sweat down for 8-10 minutes.

5.      Crumble the bacon and slice the chicken into chunks, then add to the pan along with the cream cheese, black pepper and nutmeg. Let this down with a little milk, but it should be a fairly stiff mixture.

6.      Warm through for a few minutes so that the chicken breasts are fully cooked, then remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

7.      Cut the pastry into 6 even portions and, on a floured surface, roll the first out into a rough rectangle around 30 cm by 15cm.

8.      Place a couple of spoonfuls of the chicken mixture in the centre of one half of the pastry. Brush around the chicken with some of the beaten egg then fold the pastry over, squeezing out any air from around the filling and pressing the two layers together.

9.      Trim into a neatish square and, with a fork, press down on the folded edges to firmly seal the pastry. Transfer to a baking tray.

10.  Make a little hole in the centre of the pie to allow steam to escape and brush with egg wash.

11.  With the pastry trimmings you can fashion any decoration that you want. Stick to the top of the pie and brush with egg wash. Repeat 5 times.

12.  Keep in a fairly cool place until ready to bake. At the last minute brush with any remaining egg wash to get a really glossy finish.

13.  Bake at 180°C for around 40 minutes, or until golden and crisp.

14.  Serve with potatoes and steamed mixed vegetables.

Cranberry, Orange and White Chocolate Cookies

 

Ovens are funny things. I adapted this recipe from one that I wrote years ago, where I stipulated the time at 8-9 minutes. I have since moved and, in my new oven, these took closer to 11 minutes. You need to watch them. When they have spread out and are just starting to turn golden yet remain lovely and soft, they are done. I tried a batch of these on greaseproof paper and a batch straight on the baking tray. The batch on the baking tray actually came out the best and were easy to remove with a spatula.

 

A bit of a stateside influence here, using many of the flavours that are popular during the American Holiday Season - Orange, Cranberry and Cinnamon.

 

I took most of these to work, where everyone raved about them and afreed that they were so much better than shop bought cookies. They were gone in no time, which I took as a good sign.

 

Cranberry, Orange and White Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 16 cookies

• 150g soft butter (I used salted - if using unsalted add a pinch of salt)
• 75g granulated sugar
• 75g soft light brown sugar
• A few drops of vanila extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon, plus extra for dusting
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 200g self raising flour
• 30g dried cranberries
• 50g white chocolate, chopped

 

1. Beat the sugars and butter until soft and pale. It's monents like this that make me wish I had a mixer! This is easier if the butter is really soft.

 

2. Beat in the vanilla, cinnamon and orange zest then add the flour.

 

3. Mix until almost combined, then add the cranberries and white chocolate, mixing to a dough with the berries and chunks evenly dispersed. It is important that you don't handle the dough too much as the cookies will become heavy.

 

4. Break off chunks of dough and roll into balls. You should get 16-18. Space them evenly on a baking tray and flatten slightly with your hand before baking at 180°. Check after 8 minutes, then keep an eye on them until they are done.

5. Remove from the oven and dust with cinnamon whilst still warm.

 

No-Churn Brandy Butter Ice Cream

Making ice cream is a right palava, right? Making a custard, ensuring that it doesn't split or overcook, then, if you don't have an ice cream maker, all that tedious stirring at regular intervals, and even then it often ends up with ice crystals. Yawn...

This brandy butter-inspired ice cream is ridiculously easy to make. There is indeed no churning, just five minutes of gentle stirring and whisking and you're done. The alcohol is the magic ingredient here, preventing the ice cream from freezing solid. This is lovely and soft set and scoopable.

There isn't any actual butter in this ice cream. I was just going to call it something incredibly lame like Christmas Ice Cream, but when I tasted it, I was instantly reminded of brandy butter. It's kind of brandy butter plus, with the clementine, spices and vanilla. It's absolutely delicious, and would make a splendid alternative accompaniment to your Christmas pud. Or served melting over a warm mince pie. Or eaten straight from the container in front of a film where a young widower learns to love again, reconnects with his wayward children and rediscovers the true meaning of Christmas. Sniff...

In case you were wondering, the true meaning of Christmas is love. Apparently.



No-Churn Brandy Butter Ice Cream

• 50g icing sugar
• 50g soft light brown sugar
• Pinch of salt, to give the suggestion of butter
• Juice of 1 clementine
• 60ml brandy
• A few drops of vanilla extract
• Dash of Angostura Bitters (optional)
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 300ml double cream

1. Mix together all of the ingredients except for the cream, until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Add the cream and whisk until floppy and just forming soft peaks. Incidentally, this is also delicious at this stage and, if so inclined, you could dispense with the freezing altogether.

3. Transfer to a container and freeze overnight.

Jerk Ribs

Hey, looks aren't everything...

On Saturday I was wondering what delights to cook up for dinner when I hit upon the idea of combining two of my favourite meals - ribs and jerk chicken - to make these amazing jerk ribs.

Possibly not a dinner for polite company, there is something so satisfyingly carnivorous about eating meat straight off the bone, and the tangy marinade here, with its lime and vinegar, makes the meat so tender and delicious that all you will be left with is a plate of clean ribs. I'm not sure that lime is a traditional ingredient in a jerk marinade, but it combines so wonderfully with the ginger to give real zing and freshness to counter the richness of the meat, sugar and soy. When I was unable to find the traditional scotch bonnet chillis, I used a Jamaican hot sauce made with scotch bonnets and habaneros instead, which works really well. I never really measure it; I just add enough to make my lips tingle. The sauce gives you the flexibility to have this as hot or mild as you like, but traditionally it should be fairly hot.

I used 600g of ribs and there was probably too much marinade for this quantity. It could easily have stretched to a kilo of ribs and fed three (or four less greedy people). You could also combine it with some boneless, skinless chicken thighs, which is what I usually use this marinade for. Instead of the usual rice and peas or coconut rice, I served this with some home-made potato wedges and a simple salad. Delicious.


Jerk Ribs

Serves 2 -3

600g-1kg pork ribs
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 5cm piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic
Jamaican hot sauce, to taste (start with 1 tbsp)
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2tbsp malt vinegar
1 tbsp black treacle
1tbsp soft brown sugar
Plenty of ground black pepper
1 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp allspice
generous grating of fresh nutmeg
generous grinding of black pepper
salt, to taste

1. Put all of the ingredients minus the ribs in a food processor and blend to a smooth, runny sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more hot sauce if required.

2. Line a deep sided baking tray with foil and lay the ribs out, giving each one space. Pour the marinade over the top, making sure that all of the ribs are covered. Leave to marinate for at least 2 hours.

3. Preheat the oven to 170C. Bake the ribs, uncovered, for an hour, basting with the marinade every so often as it reduces and gets sticky.

4. Serve the ribs with the remaining sauce drizzled over the top. Eschew table manners and dig in!

Christmas Cake - It's not too late!

I love me all kinds of cake, but if some crazy EU  law decreed that  a person could only consume  one type of cake (hey it could happen; they banned bendy cucumbers) I would have to choose fruit cake.  More specifically, the dark, moist kind of fruit cake, rich with spices, booze and, of course, dried fruit.

Common wisdom would have you believe that it is too late to make a Christmas cake. I suppose the normal kind that needs baking for four hours does need a while to mature. Traditional types are a terrible faff.  But I offer an alternative - a richer version of the boiled fruitcake.

This cake is so popular that I get asked to make several each year. And it is so easy to make that I don't mind making half a dozen during the run up to Christmas. The ritual of it and the wonderful Christmassy smells really put me in the festive spirit. This cake is so forgiving. The extra moisture means you can overcook it and it won't dry out, and boiling most of the ingredients together means that by the time you come to bake, they are already well aquainted, so it doesn't need as long to mature.

Of course maturing will improve any fruit cake, so if you can make this in advance then do. But it's not essential.

For added ease, this recipe uses American cup measurements. Don't panic if you don't have a cup measurement; you just need something that holds around 240ml of water.


Christmas Cake

600g dried fruit (such as raisins, sultanas, currants, cranberries, pitted prunes and dates, candied peel and dried or glace cherries)
Zest and juice of 1 orange, juice made up to 1 cup with water, cider or sherry
1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup melted butter (if using unsalted butter add a pinch of salt to the saucepan)
2 heaped tbsp orange marmalade
1 grated apple (I don't bother to peel)
2 tbsp black treacle
2 tsp mixed spice
50g pecan nuts, or whatever nut you fancy
2 free range eggs
2 tbsp brandy
2 cups self raising flour

1. Chop the fruit a little, particularly if using larger fruit like prunes, dates and glace cherries. No one wants a great big prune in their cake, and roughly chopping even smaller fruit helps it to absorb the liquid and spicy flavours.

2. Put the dried fruit, along with all of the other ingredients except for the nuts, eggs, brandy and flour into a saucepan. Over a gentle heat bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. This smells just like Christmas!

3. Let the mixture cool, so that the eggs don't scramble when you add them!

4. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 150°C and line the bottom of a loose bottomed tin with greaseproof paper. Grease the sides of the tin with butter. You can line the sides with more greaseproof paper if you like, but I never bother.

5. Roughly chop or crumble the nuts into the boiled mixture. Mix in the eggs and brandy, and then the flour, stirring until just combined.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 90 minutes. If the top is getting a little dark, cover with a baking tray. 

7. After 90 minutes, test your cake to see if it is cooked by inserting a cocktail stick. It should be fairly clean. A bit of cake is ok, as it will be fairly moist, but if it looks raw continue to cook for 10-15 minutes.

8. Allow to cool before turning out.

This cake will need a feed or three, which I usually do a day or so after baking. Prick it quite deeply all over with a cocktail stick, then spoon over the alcohol of your choice, ensuring that some goes into the holes that you have made. Brandy, rum, whisky, ginger wine and sherry are all good choices. It's also nice to mix it up with subsequent feeds, which you can repeat every few days.

A word of warning - it is possible to overfeed a fruitcake. I ate one once at a relative's house that was positively sodden. Not only was it soggy and unpleasant, but I didn't feel safe to drive afterwards! To avoid this, it's best to feed little and often. If you poke the cake with your finger and it makes a squishing sound, you have gone too far!