Recipes – Page 4 – Bangers & Mash

Review and giveaway: Copas Traditional Turkeys

November 26, 2015November 27, 2015Posted in Competitions and challenges, Meat, Recipes, ReviewsTagged Aga, bread sauce, Christmas, gravy, slow-roast, stock, turkey113 Comments

Normally I try not to start thinking about Christmas until at least the first of December. Yes, I know the decorations are already up in our shopping centres and our social media timelines are chock full of festive cheer, but it just seems wrong to be talking about Christmas until the first door of the Advent calendar has been peeled open.

Which is why it felt very strange to be roasting a turkey in November for this review. But at the end of the day, it’s really only a rather large relative of the chicken, so why consign it to just a couple of days in December? Our friends in the States will be consuming vast amounts of turkey this week after all to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Copas Traditional Turkeys is a small family business that has been producing free range, hand-plucked and game-hung turkeys just for Christmas for the last half a century. Based in the beautiful Berkshire countryside, Copas has a reputation for combining centuries old production methods with state-of-the-art facilities, as well as taking their time for a superior taste. Continue reading “Review and giveaway: Copas Traditional Turkeys” →

Jessie’s chocolate orange chess cake

November 12, 2015November 11, 2015Posted in Cakes and biscuits, RecipesTagged baking with children, cake, chess, chocolate, frosting, ganache, orange, showstopper6 Comments

My oldest daughter has a thing for making the teeny-tiniest models out of Plasticine. She loves to create tiny food items, like burgers and cakes, and she recently made miniatures of the Blue Peter characters in order to try and win herself another BP badge.

For her current homework assignment, Jessie decided to bring two of her favourite activities, model-making and baking, together in the form of this ambitious chocolate chess cake, inspired by the Great British Bake Off and now Junior Bake Off.

New Horizons is the theme of her homework project and over the course of a month, she has to try her hand at a number of new things and write them up as a special report. As well as this monumental show-stopper of a bake, she’s also tried her hand at SLR photography, stop motion videos and is having a squash lesson from her dad at the weekend.

To be totally honest, I wasn’t entirely sure she’d make this baking experiment work. Why not start with flapjacks or a fridge cake? But work it most certainly did. Not only did it look suitably impressive, it was also extremely delicious too. Continue reading “Jessie’s chocolate orange chess cake” →

Chocolate, apple and blackberry chutney

November 5, 2015November 5, 2015Posted in Recipes, VegetarianTagged apple, blackberry, chocolate, chutney, preserve6 Comments

Now, chocolate is not of course a complete stranger to savoury dishes so I can’t say I’ve invented something radically new here. In fancy restaurants I’ve been served sumptuous chocolate sauces with roast venison and partridge, while at home I’ve added chocolate to a chilli con carne. But I’ve never come across chocolate in a chutney before.

I have though tried, and very much enjoyed, a chutney featuring chocolate stout. Last Christmas, my not-so-secret Santa gift from my mate Sam in the office was a jar of chocolate stout, plum and chipotle jam from Ginger Beard’s Preserves. It was very, very good and got me wondering: if chocolate stout works in a chutney, then couldn’t chocolate itself work rather well too? It took me a few months to finally get around to it, but I eventually put my hypothesis to the test. Continue reading “Chocolate, apple and blackberry chutney” →

Green chiller

October 29, 2015Posted in Drinks, Recipes, VegetarianTagged cantaloupe, children, coconut, coconut water, fruit, halloween, juice, kiwi, melonLeave a comment

The Halloween-fuelled experiments have been continuing in full force in our kitchen. As well as our macabre muffins, the kids and I have also come up with this delicious green juice chiller.

Featuring kiwi fruit, canataloupe melon and coconut water, it’s super quick to make and delighfully zingy on the tastebuds. It’s a suitable shade of ghoulish green as befits this time of year, but you’ll be happy in the knowledge that no matter how nasty your little monsters are endeavouring to be, there are no nasties at all in here. Continue reading “Green chiller” →

Healthy Halloween muffins

October 25, 2015October 26, 2015Posted in Recipes, VegetarianTagged beetroot, carrot, Cheddar, cheese, children, halloween, healthy eating, muffin, parmesan, spinach3 Comments

The Halloween frivolities have started a little early here. Last weekend we had an absolute ball at the Halloween-themed Reach for the Bubbles afternoon disco in Frome. We painted each others’ faces, scoffed West Indian style hot dogs, drank mulled cider (and hot apple juice), played drum and bass musical statues and took part in a Thriller line dance, all to an awesome soundtrack provided by the phenomenal Lionel Richtea on the decks.

We’ve also been experimenting with some gruesome bakes in the Bangers & Mash kitchen. The kids wanted to see if we could come up with some terrifying but tasty snacks ready for the Halloween party season. And I wanted to see if we could make them vaguely healthy rather than the sugar-fuelled treats we generally seem swamped by this time of year.

Our experiments resulted in these cheesy vegetable muffins, which the girls have delightfully called Fungus the Bogeyman Muffins (spinach and black olives) and Blood and Gore Muffins (beetroot and carrot). If you’re looking for a healthier alternative to tempt the little monsters at your Halloween party or to fend off the trick-or-treaters, then I definitely recommend you give these a go. I promise they’re much more delicious than they might look or their names might suggest. Continue reading “Healthy Halloween muffins” →

Baking with kids: iced butter biscuits

October 21, 2015October 24, 2015Posted in Cakes and biscuits, RecipesTagged baking, Baking with Kids, biscuits, cookies, icing, Nigella Lawson2 Comments

As my children grow older, so we grow more adventurous in the kitchen. From pizzas and pasta to carrot cake and chilli con carne, my kids are taking on more and more ambitious projects in the kitchen. But one thing we come back to time and time again, is this easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy recipe for good old iced butter biscuits.
Continue reading “Baking with kids: iced butter biscuits” →

Malaysian curry with Welsh lamb for National Curry Week

October 12, 2015October 16, 2015Posted in Meat, RecipesTagged curry, lamb, malaysia, national curry week, spice, welsh lamb8 Comments

I’m a bit of magpie when it comes to recipes and gather my inspiration from all over the place. That’s why social media was made for people like me with tasty ideas being shared every second of every minute of every day on the likes of Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

One thing I enjoy most about social media is the way it’s allowed me to reconnect with family members strewn across the world and discover a shared obsession with food. Take my cousin Sisi for example in Australia. The last time I met her in person was at our family house in Malaysia and I was just eight-years-old. But since we connected on Facebook, I’ve got to know her and her lovely family and be wowed by photos of her culinary creations. Likewise with my Aunty Lorene. She lives in the States and I think the last time I saw her was in Singapore when I was in my early 20s. And I so enjoy reading her posts on Facebook where she recreates her favourite foods from her childhood in Malaysia.

So when I was invited to come up with a lamb curry recipe using fantastic Welsh lamb to celebrate National Curry Week (12-18 October 2015), I turned to Lorene and Sisi for some Malaysian inspiration. And they didn’t disappoint. Continue reading “Malaysian curry with Welsh lamb for National Curry Week” →

Homemade soda bread and butter inspired by a trip to River Cottage

October 4, 2015October 7, 2015Posted in Bread, Out and about, Recipes, VegetarianTagged bread, butter, buttermilk, organic, river cottage, soda bread3 Comments

River Cottage. What a wonderful place. I could make myself at home there quite happily. I’d wash the dishes and clean the loos in return for bed and board and perhaps the odd cookery lesson. Although I’m not sure my family would be too happy about me deserting them. Unless there was room for them too of course. And the two cats. Yes, dream on Vanesther…

I was recently the guest of River Cottage, along with a host (a herd, a pride, a smorgasbord… collective noun anyone?) of other food bloggers for a very special day of cooking, feasting, photography and foodie conversation. For once I wasn’t the only one rearranging the table and photographing my meal before the first bite. Continue reading “Homemade soda bread and butter inspired by a trip to River Cottage” →

#ThriftyOrganic three-course family meal

September 22, 2015September 22, 2015Posted in Bread, Campaigns, Meat, Puddings and desserts, RecipesTagged #organicseptember, #thriftyorganic, baguette, butternut squash, chicken, garlic bread, organic, panna cotta, raspberry, redbush, rice, risotto, rooibosh2 Comments

If you are a bit of a foodie and/or follow any social media here in the UK, you’re probably more than aware that this month has been dubbed #OrganicSeptember. Everyone’s being encouraged to celebrate all things organic. The message is that by making a small change to your everyday shopping, we can make a big difference: swapping to organic food has huge benefits for people, animal welfare and the environment.

While most of us will agree that organic produce is better for our environment, better for animal welfare and, well, just a more natural approach, isn’t it hideously expensive to shop organic? I try to buy organic wherever I can, particularly fruit and vegetables. For instance I have a weekly organic veg box delivered by Riverford – although I tend to do this less during late summer and early autumn when we tend to have a glut of veggies in our own garden. But I doubt I could afford to go totally organic.

Or could I? Continue reading “#ThriftyOrganic three-course family meal” →

Blondies with pistachio and cardamom

September 17, 2015September 17, 2015Posted in Cakes and biscuits, RecipesTagged blondies, brownies, cardamom, chocolate, lavender & lovage, pistachio, white chocolate2 Comments

Shhh! The lovely Karen Burns Booth from Lavender and Lovage is off galavanting around Canada at the moment, so I’ve snuck a recipe on her blog. Take a look here! Continue reading “Blondies with pistachio and cardamom” →