Hopton House Granola

This is a lovely healthy homemade cereal - perfect with natural yoghurt and fresh fruit. It tastes far better than any packet cereals and you know exactly what is in it. You can make a batch then keep it for a while in an airtight container.
Customise it for your own B&B by adding different mixtures of nuts, seeds and dry fruits ( add the dry fruits after it has cooked and cooled ).
I recommend that you time making it for the same time your guests are due to arrive as it fills the kitchen and house with a lovely warm, welcoming caramel scent!

Hopton House Granola

Dry Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup flaked almonds
• 1/2 cup wheatgerm
• 1/2 cup seed mix ( sunflower, sesame, pumpkin )
• 1/2 plain wholemeal flour
• 4 tablespoons soft brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Wet Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice
• 4 tablespoons of warmed honey
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
  

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C or Fan oven 140 degrees C.
Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk together the wet ingredients until thoroughly mixed together.
Pour the wet onto the dry and mix really well till all of the dry ingredients are coated.
Spread onto a baking sheet and cook for about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to break up any very big lumps. You're looking for a golden brown colour.
Leave till completely cool and then put in an airtight container.
When it is cool you can add your favourite combination of raisins, sultanas or other chopped dried fruit such as read to eat apricots, prunes and figs.

Leeks in a Welsh Cheese Sauce

For the Leek Gratin

2 large leeks
100g strong grated Welsh Snowdonia Cheddar
25g Welsh butter
25g Plain Flour
250ml milk

Trim the leeks, discarding the tough green ends and outer leaves. Cut the leek in half lengthwise, then slice into 1cm thick semi ring. Put in a colander and wash thoroughly. Put the leeks into a gratin dish.

Make the cheese sauce by melting the butter over a medium heat, then adding the flour. Cook for about a minute; gradually add the milk, stirring all the time till all the milk in incorporated and the sauce is thick and glossy. Cook for a couple of minutes, and then stir in all but 2 tablespoons of the grated cheese. Check and adjust the seasoning. Pour the sauce of the leeks and then sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Put some foil on the top and put in the oven with the lamb and potatoes for 60 minutes. When the lamb comes out take the foil off and brown at the same time as the potatoes until the cheese is browned and bubbling.

Boulangere Potatoes

For the Boulangere Potatoes

800g of potatoes ( peeled or leave unpeeled – your choice )
1 large onion cut in half then thinly sliced
150ml milk
150ml hot water
Halen Mon Sea Salt
Black Pepper
25g butter

Butter a 20cm square gratin dish. Slice the potatoes very thinly. Put a layer of potatoes in the dish. Season well ( I add about ½ teaspoon of sea salt per layer – if you’re using normal table salt – use half of this amount ) with salt and pepper. Add a sprinkling of onion. Continue this layering until all the potatoes and onion have been used. Pour over the water and milk. Season the top layer and dot with the butter. Put some aluminimum foil over the top and put in the oven with meat for about 3 hours. Once you have taken the meat out and are doing the gravy, turn the temperature of the oven up to 220C / 200 fan, take the foil off the potatoes and cook till nicely browned.

Slow Cooked Shoulder of Welsh Lamb

Slow Cooked Shoulder of Welsh Lamb, served with Boulangere Potatoes and a gratin of leeks in a Welsh Cheddar Sauce

Whenever I think about my Welsh grandparents I am immediately transported back to their kitchen table in Aberystwyth where we would enjoy enormous family feasts of roast lamb. I can’t smell freshly cut mint without looking round for my grandmother.

What better way to celebrate St David’s Day than with a traditional Welsh Lamb Shoulder served with the Welsh national vegetable – the leek. I’ve made this dish even more patriotic by cooking it with Snowdonia Cheddar, that cooks beautifully and smells almost gruyere like.

I incorporate that all important mint by using a hedgerow jelly that I make in the autumn using crab apples, sloes from the hedgerows and mint from my garden. If you don’t have any to hand then use normal mint jelly or redcurrant jelly with some fresh mint thrown is at the end.

All of these dishes can be prepared in advance. This is the perfect menu for anyone who wants to spend time with family and friends rather than last minute cooking in the kitchen.


Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb

One Whole Shoulder of Welsh Lamb – about 2 kg
Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
Olive oil
Half a Bottle of White Wine or a pint of lamb stock
I head of Garlic, with the cloves separated but not peeled
2 tablespoons of Mint Hedgerow Jelly
1 pint of lamb stock of water
I glass of Maderia or Marsala
1 tablespoon of flour
Welsh Halen Mon Sea salt and Black Pepper

Preheat the oven to 240C/fan 220C

Put the garlic cloves and sprigs of thyme into a large roasting pan. Put the shoulder of lamb on top of the garlic and thyme. Rub with olive oil and season with the salt and pepper. Pour the white wine or stock around the lamb.

Put the roasting pan into the oven and cook for about half an hour until then lamb is browned on top. Then cover tightly with tin foil, reduce the temperature of the oven to 120C/Fan100C.

The lamb will then need about 7 hours to cook, by which time it will be falling off the bone. Check it every couple of hours to make sure there is still enough liquid in the bottom, adding more if necessary.

When the lamb is ready, place it on a warmed plate and make the gravy. Tip off all but one tablespoon of the fat. Put the roasting pan on a medium high heat and add the flour, stirring it round to absorb all the fat and allow it to cook for about a minute. Pour the glass of Maderia or Marsala into the pan to deglaze it, stirring round with a spoon to get all the lovely meaty bits off the pan. Then gradually add the lamb stock or water, stirring all of the time. Once you have a nice thick gravy, stir in the mint hedgerow jelly (or redcurrant jelly if that’s all you have). Strain it through a sieve into a warm serving jug (if you use redcurrant jelly this is the time to stir in some freshly chopped mint).