Christmas pudding

Credit and permission to share: Kevin.

I have been making this for years, tried and tested, you will never beat your own homemade pudding and it's simple to make. It is also a great pudding for Easter if you can keep one or just make more :-):

Happy Christmas!

Now stir it up:

375g Vostizza currants

500g Dark muscovado sugar

330ml Gold Label barley wine

330ml Mackeson stout

250g White breadcrumbs

250g Morello glace cherries (quartered)

250g Turkish sultanas

250g Thomson raisins

200g Candied peel (chopped)

180g Vegetable suet

115g Self-raising flour

150g Whole blanched almonds (quartered)

150g Hazelnuts (quartered)

4 Eggs (beaten)

1 Whole nutmeg (grated)

1 Orange (zested and juiced)

1 Lemon (zested and juiced)

1 Lime (zested and juiced)

1 Apple (peeled and chopped)

1 Pear (peeled and chopped)

50cl De Lachernaie calvados

1 tspn Mixed spice (heaped)

.25 tspn Cinnamon (heaped)

Butter (knobs)

4 2 pint pudding bowls

Aluminium foil

Baking parchment

Fine cotton string

1. Mix the dried fruit in a bowl.

2. Add the calvados, barley wine, stout, zested/ chopped fruit, juice, nuts and spices. Stir and leave in a cool place overnight, covered.

3. Add the remaining items and stir it up.

4. Thoroughly grease bowls with butter.

5. Divide mix equally into four bowls.

6. Cover each bowl with parchment paper and string.

7. Cover each bowl with aluminium foil and string.

8. Steam gently for 6 hours.

9. Cool overnight.

10. Remove parchment and foil.

11. Add tablespoon of calvados to the top of each pudding.

12. Cover with fresh parchment paper and foil.

13. Store in a cool area until ready to use at Christmas.

14. Can be kept in a cool place for months – you can also add a tablespoon of Calvados every month or two.

15. To serve, steam for 1-2 hours and serve with your choice of sauce. Ours is fresh custard.

Cottage pie

Credit and permission to share: Lifestyle with Sharon

It is with enormous pleasure to share this recipe from the lovely Sharon, the below intro made me laugh as growing up we interchanged cottage pie and shepherd’s pie regardless of the meat and I’m sure the meat was always beef mince and we always added cheese.

You will need:

Cottage pie is one the favourites in my house. The family loved the smell as it was cooking in the kitchen, making their appetite come alive. This cottage pie recipe is really simple to make and yet so full of delicious flavour. This recipe is ideal for a large family or a dinner party. It is also perfect if you live alone or two of you in your household, because this dinner can be dished out into individual portion and frozen. This recipe I have shared with you is made with beef to represent a traditional cottage pie, however if you wanted to change up the recipe by using lamb, this changes it to shepherd’s pie.

Portions: 6

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 25 – 30 minutes

Ingredients

800g minced beef

12 medium sized potatoes

2 medium sized onions

1 large carrot

1 to 1 & half litres water

1 tsp salt

Pinch of pepper

1 beef stock cube

2 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp gravy granules

20g butter

100 ml milk

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Method

Pre heat the oven at Gas 6 / 200°C.

Dice onions and carrots.

Place minced beef into a large pot along with the diced onion and carrots.

Add boiling water with salt & pepper, along with mixed herbs and turmeric.

To the mince add tomato puree and beef stock cube.

Cover the ingredients with boiling water.

Mix well then bring the water to the boil on a high heat, with a lid on the pot.

Once water is boiling, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove a cup of juice from the pot and add some gravy granules until thick.

Place the thick gravy back into the pot of mince and vegetables.

While the mince and vegetables are cooking, cook the potatoes.

Once the potatoes are cooked, give them a mash while adding butter and milk to the potatoes and season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

You can add grated cheese to your mashed potato if you wished.

When the mince is cooked, transfer into a deep dish, with mince being about 2 – 3 inches deep.

Let the mince cool.

Once the mince has cooled then place the mashed potato on top, roughly 3 inched deep of mash.

Spread the mashed potato with a knife.

You can them make a pattern with a fork, starting on the outside going all the way around and the working your way into the centre.

Place in the oven at Gas 6 / 200°C for 25 – 30 minutes.

Easy vegan rice salad

Credit and permission to share: Mars Food UK

As a young chef, most menus of the late 90s for vegetarians (particularly in the North East of England) were vegetable lasagne or vegetable chilli. 

Once, I was asked to prepare a meal for a vegan in the pub I was working at.  I would say I spent more time on that meal than any other meal as I wanted it to be perfect.  The customer simply wanted as much fresh vegetables as possible on her plate.  I spent ages scouring our larders to make it special.  It was plain and simple as per the customer request and to this day is the only compliment I remember from that pub because it was so special to that customer. 

Well, in homage to that, I would like to thank the people at Uncle Ben’s for reminding me of that experience and it is with the upmost please to share what I think might be our simplest recipe. 

You will need:

A rice salad recipe with colourful veggies, a tangy vinaigrette, and delicious rice.

TIME 5 minutes

4 servings

Quick, easy and packed with flavour, this vegan salad comes together in a flash. Loads of colourful veggies and a tangy vinaigrette make this a perfect option for a balanced lunch or side dish!

INGREDIENTS

 2 pouches (each 8.8 oz) Ben’s Original™ Ready Rice™ Whole Grain Brown Rice

 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

 2 tablespoons sesame oil

 2 tablespoons low sodium vegan soy sauce

 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

 1/2 cup chopped carrot

 1/2 cup sliced celery

 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

 1/2 cup chopped snow peas

 1/4 cup sliced green onions

 1/4 cup torn cilantro leaves

1 Prepare rice according to package instructions; let cool.

2 Whisk together lime juice, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and pepper in small bowl.

3 Combine cooled rice with carrot, celery, red pepper, snow peas and green onions in medium bowl. Toss with sesame oil mixture until well coated.

4 Divide mixture evenly among 4 bowls. Garnish with cilantro.

*Tip: For an added kick, stir sriracha hot sauce into vinaigrette as desired.