Recipes from a Shropshire B&B

Slow Cooked Shoulder of Pork with an Apple Gravy

2008-03-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

In nearly 20 years of married life with Sunday Lunch/Dinner every week without fail. I've never been very successful at cooking roast pork. It always too dry and the crackling becomes leathery with no crackle.

I've tried every recipe and obeyed all of the rules - "unwrap the pork and leave in the fridge to dry for 24 hours", "don't put any fat near the crackling" etc. but I have finally found the perfect way of cooking, that for me, produces consistently good results with crisp crackling and succulent meat.

Let's not kid ourselves this is not a meal for people on a medically restricted low fat diet or for the keen dieter. However for everyone else, even those on a diet are suggested to take the odd day off, it's a once a month treat!

I cook mine in the AGA and haven't tested it in a conventional oven. However I have measured the temperatures. The top oven of my AGA is about 230-240 degrees C and the bottom oven 130 degrees C. If you are cooking in a conventional oven then it's probably a good idea to make a foil tent over the meat and pan for the slow cooking bit. That's not necessary in the AGA.

Ingredients

A rolled shoulder of pork
2-3 apples - any variety sliced - no need to peel or core
2 large onions sliced thinly
several sprigs of thyme ( you could use sage leave as the traditional pork accompaniment but I don't like it! )
Olive oil
Sea Salt
A glass of apple juice or white wine or cider
plain flour
maderia, cider, white wine, sherry,calvados - whatever you have to hand

Put the apples, herbs and onions into the bottom of a roasting pan. I use the small AGA roasting dish if the pork isn't too big.

Dry the pork with some kitchen towel - be don't be too obssessive. Make sure the skin is well scored - the thiner the strips the better. Your butcher will do this for you or use a sharp knife and be careful!

Put the pork on top of the apples, onions and herbs, the pour a generous amount of oil onto the skin ( sorry Delia - but this works for me! ) and rub in well. The sprinkle generously with the salt and rub that in as well.

Pour the apple juice, wine or cider around the base of the meat. You then want to give the meat a good blast of heat until the skin has crackled. I normally put it at the top of the top oven of the AGA for 45 minutes to an hour. This will depend on the heat of your oven so keep an eye on it.

Once the crackling is done to your liking move the tin to the bottom oven of the AGA ( or reduce the heat and cover with foil for conventional oven ) and leave for at least 5 hours. At the end of the cooking time you will need to put the pork back in the top oven to crisp it up a bit.

The pork will be falling apart by now so it's not necessary to rest it but I put to one side and keep warm whilst I make the gravy.

For the gravy take a large jug and sieve and put the contents of the pan into the sieve. You then want to push as much of the caramalised onion and apple through the sieve as possible. I then take the liquid in the jug and put it into one of those fat skimming jugs - you could just leave it for a few minutes and skim the fat off.

Put the roasting pan on a high heat and add one tablespoon of the fat and a tablespoon of flour. Stir round and cook for about a minute. Then take a wineglass full of cider ( or whatever booze you have chosen - maderia and sherry will give you quite a sweet sauce so be warned ) and pur it unto the roux stirring all the time. Then gradually add the juices in the jug, again stirring all the time. I then add boiling water until I have the consistency of gravy that we like. Cook this over a medium heat for a few minutes.

Slice the pork and serve with the gravy. This is perfect served with mashed potato mixed with shredded savoy cabbage.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake with a Raspberry Coulis

2008-03-09T05:53:00.000-07:00

Unlike my husband and daughter I've never been a huge cheesecake fan. However last year my daughter had the most wonderful cheesecake in one of our local pubs. A 6 months cheesecake recipe trial ensued and we have finally found one that the whole family ( including me ) love.

It was originally an Anthony Worral Thompson Recipe from Good Food Magazine. I have tinkered with it a bit and added a raspberry coulis until it meets the family taste perfectly.

Ingredients

For the Base

170g crushed hobnob biscuits

85g melted butter

For the Filling

500g white chocolate pieces - I've tried both expensive chocolate and very cheap supermarket own and to be honest the latter works just as well if not better!

50g butter

1/2 vanilla pod split lenghtways

500g philadelphia cheese

50g caster sugar

175 ml double cream

400g of frozen raspberries

icing sugar

I make this is 2 16cm deep loose bottomed flan tins. You can then eat one and freeze the other. One cheesecake will feed 6.

Method

Combine the butter and biscuits and divide mix between the tins, pressing into the base.

Melt the chocolate, vanilla and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted. Mix well together and cool slightly.

In another bowl mix together the sugar, cream and cream cheese.

Remove the vanilla pod and then stir the melted chocolate mixture into the cream mix.

Stir in 225g of the frozen raspberries.

Divide between the 2 tins and put in the fridge to set. It will set in 4-8 hours. If I've forgotten to make it soon enough I'll pop it into the freezer for an hour or so.

Put the remaining raspberries into a blender, whizz up to a puree and then add icing sugar to taste. I suggest you do it one tablespoon at a time. You want it quite tart so that it will cut through the sweetness of the cheesecake.

To serve pour some of the coulis over a slice of cheesecake and enjoy!

Hopton House Granola

2008-02-03T04:47:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-02T05:36:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-02T05:31:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-02T05:24:00.000-08:00

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).

10 Storecupboard Must Haves

2008-01-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

With a few essentials kept to hand in your storecupboard you've always got the basics of a good meal. Here are my favourites:

Maldon Sea Salt - I like food to be well seasoned. These lovely sea salt flakes taste saltier so you need less of them to season food well.
Oil - I always have Extra Virgin for salad dressing and drizzling and ordinary olive oil and sunflower oil for cooking
Dried Herbs - most dried herbs taste like sawdust and you're better leaving them out if you don't have fresh. The exceptions are thyme, oregano and bay leaves.
Dried Pasta - My store cupboard always contains spaghetti, tagliatelle, rigatoni and something spirally! I prefer semolina pasta.
Rice - Basmati is my favourite rice and I also have arborio rice for making risotto ( an ultimate storecupboard dish ) and pudding rice.
Tinned Tomato and Sundried Tomato Puree - Much better to use tinned tomatoes than out of season rock hard fresh ones. The tomato puree adds a real depth and smokiness to dishes
Marigold Bouillon Powder - a lot of chefs get sniffy about using stock cubes and powder but this one is generally accepted as the best and acceptable to the food purists.
Plain Flour and Baking Powder - flour is an essential for thickenign sauces and obviously for baking
Good Quality Vanilla Extract - not essence. Makes a real difference to a cakes and other puddings
Spices - I'm never without cinnamon, mixed spice, cumin seeds, cumin sticks, garam marsala, turmeric, ground cumin, cayenne pepper,cloves, mustard seed and ground coriander

Mango and Banana Smoothie

2008-01-18T06:58:00.000-08:00

At heart I'm quite a lazy person. I don't often get the chance to be lazy running a B&B, a training company and a home, but I will take any short cuts I can.

Smoothies are great for lazy people because they help you get a couple of portions of your fruit a day at breakfast without really having to think about it.

The other lazy thing about this recipe is frozen mango. I wanted a fresh mango and the shops were sold out so I resorted to the frozen department and now I'm converted. I've lost count of the number of mangoes I've bought that have then rotted in the fridge because I can't be bothered to go to the hassle of peeling them.

Frozen are cheaper, all the peeling is done for your and, if the hype is to be believed, they may well be more nutritious because vitamins and minerals start to be lost from fruit and veg as soon as they are picked.

Mango and Banana Smoothie

2 large bananas

100g frozen mango chunks

500ml milk

2 tsp honey

Whizz all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth.

My Guacamole

2008-01-14T08:37:00.001-08:00

I'm a great believer in eating locally produced food and eating fruit and vegetables that are in season. However there are a few dishes and foods that I couldn't go months without eating - or never eating at all in some cases, as they're not grown in the UK.

Avocado is one of those foods. I assuage my guilt at eating them by reminding myself how good they are for me with their essential oils.

We always have guacamole with our chilli. This one isn't authentic but it's one that we like!

Karen's Guacamole

1 Ripe Hass Avocado
2 Ripe Tomatoes
2 Spring Onions
Lemon Juice to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Put all of the ingredients except the lemon juice and seasoning into a food processor and whizz until you get a consistency you like. I prefer ours with a bit of crunch still in it. Taste and add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. It will take quite a bit of salt - I always use maldon sea salt.

Perfect Basmati Rice

2008-01-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

Rice is one of the most simple things to cook, but when it is done badly it can go very wrong. This recipe is virtually foolproof!

First of all I suggest you avoid easy cook rice. I find it tasteless and too hard.

Use plain white basmati rice. I don't bother with washing it as a lot of recipes recommend.

You also need a saucepan that has a tight fitting lid.

You need twice the volume of water to rice. So 8 fl oz of rice needs 16 fl oz of water. For the 3 of us I use between 6 and 8 fl oz but this is being a bit greedy really.

Put the rice in a heavy saucepan, add 16fl oz of boiling water and teaspoon of salt and put onto a high heat. Stir it to break all the rice up as it can clump at this stage. Once the water is boiling stir just once then put on the lid, then reduce the heat to the lowest simmer you can manage.

If you have an AGA you're in luck - this is one of "those made for AGA" dishes - put the pan in the simmering oven on the oven floor. And leave for 18 minutes without peaking. By which point it will be perfect.

Don't worry if you don't have an AGA - I have been cooking this recipe successfully for years before I became an AGA owner and have any cooked it on a camp stove. Just simmer it on a very low heat for about 20 minutes without peaking.

By this time it will be perfectly cooked. If your main course is not ready, then take off the lid, fluff up the grains with a fork and cover with a clean tea towel.

Karen's Very Easy Chilli

2008-01-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

This is a bit of a cheat as it's my previous recipe with a tin of kidney beans - but it tastes yummy!

Karen's Very Easy Chilli

Leftover Bolognese Sauce
1 tin of kidney beans in Chilli Sauce
1-2 tsp of Chilli Powder

Put the bolognese sauce and chilli beans into a pan and hear gently. When hot add chilli powder to taste - this will depend on your own personal preference and the heat in your chilli powder.

Serve with guacamole, soured cream and plain basmati ric.

Karen's All Purpose Bolognese Sauce

2008-01-14T07:45:00.000-08:00

I always keep a 1/2 kilo of mince in the freezer ready for when I'm feeling lazy, don't want to think and just need some good old comfort food. And the really great thing about it is that there will be enough leftover for me to add a tin of chilli beans and have a very simple chilli tomorrow!

This isn't an authentic bolognese sauce - but I can't think of another name for it I have spent years messing around with the ingredients until I have got the perfect flavour for me ( and my family ). I also hide vegetables in it so it gives you at least 1 portion of your 5 a day - if not more.

Karen's Bolognese Sauce

500g mince steak
1 onion
2 sticks of celery
2 carrots
a few mushrooms if you have them
2 cloves of garlic
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tbs of sundried tomato paste
1 stock cube
a splash of worcestershire sauce
a glass of sweet sherry
a tsp of dried oregano
olive oil

Dry fry over a high heat the mince until brown. Whilst frying crumble in a beef stock cube. Once the meat is browned - put it into a dish for now. Heat the olive oil over a medium heat. Peel and chop all of the vegetables very small ( my daughter is a superb vegetable chopper but if she's not around I use my food processor ) and saute in the olive oil until soft but not brown. Add the meat back to the pan and add the sherry, increasing the heat till most of the liquid has reduced away. Decrease the heat to medium again. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce and oregano. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.

You now need to cook it over a low heat for at least 30 minutes. If it gets too dry add more water but if it's too wet at the end increase the heat to reduce it down.

I like this with spaghetti and loads of finely grated pecorino cheese.

This makes enough for three very generous portions with enough leftovers to make a chilli tomorrow.

Tomato and Lentil Soup - Helping You To Your 5 A Day

2008-01-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

I resist using the word healthy in my cooking. It will immediately put my family off. Instead I sneak healthy ingredients into recipes when they are not looking.

This soup is an example of one of those recipes that is both delicious and healthy. A large bowl of it will provide at least 3 portions of the vegetables you need each day.

If you start the day with a smoothie ( at least 2 portions of fruit) and have this soup for lunch you can feel very virtuous about having achieved your target. Any other fruit and veg you eat will be a bonus.

Do not worry too much if you are missing an ingredient. This is a great soup for using up those odd vegetables lurking in the bottom of the fridge - so just substitute or leave out.

In the summer it tastes great with fresh tomatoes. If you want to spice it up, add a tablespoon of curry powder or paste to the heated oil and cook for a minute before adding the vegetables. Or to make it lentil and bacon soup, miss out the olive oil, dry fry 4 rashers of streaky or back bacon until it releases its oil, then add the veggies.

Tomato and Lentil Soup

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
2 celery sticks, peeled and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1tbs olive oil
4 tsp Marigold Bouillon powder
100g split red lentils
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 litre boiling water
1tbs of sundried tomato paste

Put the lentils into a 1 litre measuring jug, add the stock powder and the boiling water. Leave to soak for 20 minutes.

Heat the olive oil over a gentle heat and add the chopped vegetables. Saute over a medium heat for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft but not browned.

Add the lentils and stock, the tin of chopped tomatoes and the tomato paste.

Simmer for 45 minutes then whizz smooth with a handheld blender.

Seville Orange Marmalade

2008-01-04T04:13:00.000-08:00

Homemade marmalade is a real treat and loved by B&B guests. And the very best of marmalades is that made with seville oranges.

These days you can buy just about every fruit and vegetable all year round, but seville oranges seem to be the one fruit that you can still only buy in season.

So in January start looking out for these bitter oranges in your local greengrocers. They're in season through to February. I get very excited when they first appear, buying kilos of them to make the hundreds of jars of marmalade I get through at the B&B in a year. However after my 3rd batch I get bored of marmalade making.

I was explaining this dilemma to my lovely neighbours, Olive and Doreen, when they provided me with the solution. Seville oranges freeze beautifully. You don not need to anything with them apart from wash them, stick them in a bag and out them in the freezer. When you run out of marmlade you cook them from frozen as per the recipe below!

My husband likes dark marmalade. To achieve this I replace 6oz of the white sugar with 6 oz of dark muscovado sugar. The great thing about this recipe is because it is made in 2 batches you could make half ordinary marmalade and half muscovado marmalade.

A few tips:

Make sure you have a really large preserving pan. The marmalade does boil up to twice its volume when it's going at full boil.

Ensure you have a really hot heat to get it to boil properly ( the first time I cooked it it took 6 hours to get to boiling point because my AGA hot plate wasn't hot enough )

Allow a whole afternoon to do it. You can't rush the process. I prefer a cold gloomy day when there is a good black and white movie I can watch on the kitchen tv

Seville Orange Marmalade

1kg Seville Oranges

Juice and pips of 2 lemons

2 kg granulated sugar

3 pints of water

Put the sugar somewhere to warm. The airing cupboard will do nicely.

Put the oranges and lemon juice and pips into a large pan.

Pour in 3 pints of cold water. Add a bit extra if it doesn't cover the oranges.

Bring to the boil, then pop on the lid and simmer at the lowest heat possible for 2 hours or until the oranges are soft. You can also put them in a low oven or bottom of the AGA if you have one.

When the oranges are tender. Put a colander over a large deep plate and put the oranges into drain, leaving the cooking liquid in the pan for now.

When they have cooled enough to handle, cut the oranges in half and scoop out all of the pith and pips into the liquid in the pan.

Bring to the boil for 7 minutes with the lid off.

Strain the liquid through a sieve, pressing it through with a spoon. You need as much of this thick liquid as possible as it is full of pectin which will make the marmalade set.

You now put half of the liquid into a large preserving pan.

Put 1 kilo of the warmed sugar into the pan.

Cut the peel into strips - as thin or as thick as you like ( this is much easier when the oranges are cooked than when doing it raw ). Add half of the peel to the pan.

Heat the liquid, sugar and peel until all of the sugar as dissolved. Then increase the temperature until it is boiling and will not calm down even when you stir it. Then boil rapidly for 15-20 minutes.

Test for a set by putting a teaspoon of marmalade on a plate that has been on the freezer. If it is setting then, after a minute, it will wrinkle up when you pull your finger through it.

Leave for 10 minutes then put into warm sterilised glass jars ( the easiest way to sterilise the jars is by putting them in the dishwasher on the hottest setting. If you don't have time to do this then fill them half full of water then put them in the microwave on full power until the water has boiled for at least a minute ).

I always use screw cap lids, which you can buy on the internet - much less hassle then waxed paper and cellophane. Put the screw caps on as soon as the marmalade is in the jar, then label with the date when cool.

Repeat the whole process with the other half of the liquid, peel and sugar.

This recipe will make about 7 or 8 1lb jars of marmalade.

Orange Muffins

2007-12-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

Well I thought I had come to the end of my lifelong perfect muffin quest when I perfected my Streusel topped blackberry muffins - but maybe I stopped looking too soon!

These muffins orginally started life as clementine and poppy seed muffins from a Good Food Magazine Recipe. Unfortunately I didn't have enough clementines and my poppy seeds were 16 months past their sell by date.

It's the yoghurt in these that makes them so light I believe.

Orange Muffins

125g self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

50g golden caster sugar

3 oranges zested and juiced

50g melted butter

1 beaten egg

1 pot natural yoghurt

Heat oven to 180C, Fan 160C and line 9 holes of a 12 hole muffin tin

Mix together all the dry ingredients and, in a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.

Quickly fold wet ingredients into dry - don't over mix - it will look lumpy.

Put into paper cases and bake for 25-30 minutes until risen.

Eat hot!

Ginger Scones

2007-12-22T05:19:00.000-08:00

If you mention a scone to an englishman he will immediately envisage a traditional round scone, topped with clotted cream and home made strawberry jam.

However in the States scones are different beasts. Usually triangular in shape and served up for breakfast.

If you fancy offering your B&B guests a bit more variety they are a great option as you can make them the night before, keep them in the fridge and then guests can come down to the smell of fresh baked scones in the morning. You can even freeze them and cook them straight from the freezer.

When we stayed in Maine in October we had ginger scones. I prefer them hot from the oven as they can get a bit brick like if they hang around too long!

This recipe is from an Anerican Cookbook I have, adapted to be a bit more english friendly!

Ginger Scones

2.25 cups of plain flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

2 teaspoons of ground ginger

170g cold butter from the fridge

0.75 cup of double cream plus 1 tablespoon extra

0.5 cup of crysallized stem ginger chopped up very small in a food processor

Heat a fan oven to 180 degrees

Put the flour, baking powder and ginger in a food processor and whiz till mixed.

Chop the butter into cubes, add to the dry ingredients in teh food processor and process until you have a breadcrumb consistency.

Pour in the cream and pulse until it is all combined.

Being careful not to overwork the dough, roll it out onto a floured surface. Put the stem ginger on top and then fold the dough in half, rolling it out. Do this about 6 times until you have a soft dough and all the ginger is mixed in.

You'll probably need to add more flour as it can get sticky.

Cut the dough in half. Roll out each half into a circle and cut each one into 6 triangular pieces.

Put on a baking tray, brush with cream, then cook for 15-20 minutes until puffed up and brown.

Cheat's Cheese Sauce

2007-12-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

There are times when I want to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen and not have to do any faffing around.

Making a cheese sauce falls into the faffing around category because you do need to pay a bit of attention to it.

This isn't "made from a packet" cheating rather "using modern technology" cheating. So it all depends on how much of a kitchen purist you are.

If you're not confident making a roux then this recipe is idea.

Cheat's Cheese Sauce

250ml milk

25g butter, chopped into cubes

25g flour

100g cheese

seasoning to taste

Put all the ingredients, except the seasoning and cheese, in a large microwaveable bowl. Whisk a little bit.

Put the bowl in a microwave and cook on high for one minute. Take it out of the microwave and give it a good whisk. Put it back in the microwave and cook for another minutes. Take it out and whisk - repeat this twice more ( so you have cooked it for 4 minutes in total ).

The sauce should be thick and glossy - add the cheese and season to taste.

Fish Pie

2007-12-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

Having read my last few posts one thing that is obvious to me is how cold it is here at the moment. All that talk of warming stews eaten in front of the fire.

It's still very cold and now also very grey so it looks even colder so my fish pie is another of those dishes I'm afraid - hot tasty comfort food.

I love eating fish and shellfish. We have a fabulous fish restaurant - the Jolly Frog - just 3 miles from us. The last meal there was heaven - crevettes and langoustines in garlic butter, followed by roast cod and mussels in this tomatoey herby broth and finished with lemon vanilla panna cotta doused in grappa.

Whilst I love eating fish the one exception is when I have prepared it myself - I'm not particularly squeamish - I used to quite happily fish for mackerel and gut them on my grandfather's fishing boat - I just find that having prepared and cooked it I lose my appetite.

I can, however, cope with fillets of fish. This dish is so very easy to prepare but tastes wonderful!

I am suddenly reminded of a wonderful incident in the local supermarket when I went to the checkout with my undyed smoked haddock. The young lad behind the till suddenly looked very alarmed and said to me "Undyed - does that mean it's still alive?"

2 medium sized or 1 large fillet of undyed haddock

1 250g bag of large frozen prawns ( cooked or uncooked )

500ml milk

40g butter

40g plain flour

100g strong cheese

5 medium sized potatoes and butter and milk to mash

Peel the potatoes and cut into quarters. Put into a pan of cold water with a teaspon of salt. Bring water to boil and cook for 20-25 minutes. When soft, drain and mash to taste with butter, milk and season.

Make a cheese sauce - melt butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add flour and stir around till all butter is absorbed. Cook for a minute.

Add the milk very gradually, stirring all the time until all the milk is incorporated and the sauce is thick. Cook for a couple of minutes then add grated cheese and seasoning.

Cut haddock into mouth sized cubes and arrange with the prawns in a shallow baking dish. Pour cheese sauce over, top with mashed potatoe, top with butter and put in a hot oven ( 220 degrees celsius or top oven of AGA ) for 25 minutes until brown on top.

Beef in Local Shropshire Beer

2007-12-15T02:09:00.000-08:00

We are lucky here in Shropshire to have quite a number of small independant locally breweries, which means when I cook my favourite beef in beer I can be really local with all of the ingredients.

This is one of those warming in front of the fire dishes that needs preparing early afternoon ( or even better the day before ) and benefits from about 4 hours at low temperature ( bottom oven of the AGA preferably but a low oven will do ).

You can also turn into beef in ale pie by putting it in a pie dish and topping with puff pastry

serves 3 generously

500g stewing beef

olive or vegetable oil

1 large onion

couple cloves of garlic

2 500 ml bottles of local beer

1 tablespoon of plain flour

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of wholegrain mustard

couple sprigs fresh or dried thyme

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

In a heavy casserole over a high heat, heat about a tablespoon of oil and then brown the beef in about 4 small batches, removing each batch to a dish as you it's ready.

When the beef is browned all over turn the heat down, add anther tablespoon of oil and brown the sliced onion until it is soft. Add the garlic and stir for a few seconds.

Add the beef and all juices back to the cassrole and then add the flour, stirring ti round to absorb all the juices. Cook for a bout a minute.

Turn heat up again and gradually add the beer to the meat stirring all of the time. Add the mustard, thyme, bay and sugar. Bring to boil, put on lid and stick into bottom oven of the AGA or a low heat ( about 140 degrees celsius ) for about 4 hours. Check about every hour to see how it's doing.

Once the meat is very tender it's ready. You may have to reduce the sauce. I do this on the simmering plate of the AGA till the sauce is lovely and thick. Check for seasoning and it's ready to serve.

Perfect with mashed potato and steamed green cabbage.

You can add other vegetables such as carrots and mushrooms to bulk it out and use less meat if so desired.

7 Hour Lamb

2007-12-12T05:43:00.000-08:00

I was listening to farmer on the radio the other day and he was explaining that many sheep farmers actually lose a certain amount of money per lamb. I don't begin to understand the economics of it but it is a dreadful shame.

However our local farmer is being very enterprising and going round knocking door to door to see if we will buy a half or full lamb ( jointed and ready to eat I hasten to add ).

We were very keen to support him so have ordered our half lamb. How fabulous to know we are eating something so local and keeping our farmer in business.

I will admit to experiencing a slight doubt when I saw him driving past me on the dog walk last week pulling a trailer full of lambs off to the abbatoire ( this too is jut 3 miles away from us ). However that didn't last long. If we didn't eat meat we wouldn't have fields of sheep and cows around us. And if I'm going to eat meat I want to know where it comes from and that it has led a happy life and hasn't been driven miles to be slaughtered - I know exactly how happy as I've seen these babies grow up!

Our pack contains 2 lamb shoulders. I will be cooking these as follows. An AGA is really best for this recipe but if you don't have one of those lying around then a good lidded casserole and a low oven with suffice.

I rolled lamb shoulder

1 bottle white wine

2 sprigs rosemary

1 whole bulb of garlic cut in half - no need to peel

Pepper

Hedgerow jelly

Stick all the ingredients in a lidded casserole. Put in the simmering oven of the AGA or a low oven. Cook for 6.5 hours. Take off lid and move pan to top oven of AGA to brown the meat. Remove the lamb shoulder to a plate and keep warm. Skim off any fat then stir in a couple of tablespoons of hedgerow jelly and wait for it to dissolve. Boil the juices until they have reduced and thickened into a yummy sauce.

Carve with a spoon it will be that tender!

Bubble and Squeak

2007-12-11T08:19:00.001-08:00

I've had a bit of a bizarre day. We have had to move the chicken coop to make way for our new guest bedroom in the barn.

Now chickens are creatures of habit. Every evening as it gets dark they take themselves off to bed. But they are also rather stupid so when their coop was no longer there they tried to go to roost on a patch of now coop-less ground.

We do have a nightly visit from a fox so we needed to get them into the coop.

If you've ever tried catching a chicken in 2 acres of land you'll know it's not easy - the large fat ones will usually give themselves up but we have some lightweight hens that make you realise exactly where the expression flighty comes from.

However what you may not know about chickens is that once it gets dark they stop moving around and fall into a sort of torpor - it's why a fox in a coop at night can kill so many. So as they slowed down my daughter and I were able to catch all 22 chickens and take them to their new home.

After 40 minutes of chicken re-locating in the freezing cold I am not in the mood to cook. So it's bubble and squeak and sausages for tea - perfect warming winter comfort food and great for using up leftovers from Sunday dinner.

Leftover cooked mash potatoes

Leftover cooked cabbage ( or sprouts or leeks )

Onion

Butter

Thick Sausages

Gravy

Put the sausages in a small roasting tin with a bit of oil and put in the top oven of the AGA ( or a hot oven at about 220 degrees C ) for 20 minutes.

Saute the onions in butter in a small frying pan until soft and translucent. Add the potatoes and cabbage and fry over a medium heat until golden brown on one side. Flip over and cook on the other side.

Serve with the sausages and lashings of gravy ( bisto will do fine - we're not being posh here )

Leek Risotto

2007-12-09T00:48:00.000-08:00

I don't do spontanteous. Those cookery programmes and magazine articles that promise a sumptious 3 course dinner made from storecupboard ingredients in 10 minutes for friends that unexpectedly pop in leave me confused.

What sort of friends would pop in expecting you to rustle up a 3 course meal for them at the last minute?

I like to know about things in advance. If guests want to eat at the B&B I ask for at least 48 hours notice. And the emphasis is definitely on the AT LEAST.

So you can imagine my horror when 2 ( very nice ) vegetarian guests arrived back from a day out on the back of a tow truck with a non functioning car. It was 6 o'clock, we have no eating places within walking distance and taxis need to be booked 12 months in advance if they come out at all!

I offered to drive the guests to the nearest pub and pick them up. "No Karen we'd rather stay in and eat". But I haven't got anything in. They looked rather disbelievingly at a full vegetable patch and said "Look baked beans on toast will be absolutely fine"

Now if you want to goad me into producing a 3 course meal from nothing suggesting that Baked Beans on Toast is an adequate dinner for Hopton House guests is the way.

So that evening they ate a courgette and pamesan cheese risotto made with courgettes from the garden, followed by a fresh fruit from the garden pavlova made with eggs from my chickens.

Baked Beans - pah!

Now it's winter so courgettes aren't in season so last night we had a leek and parmesan risotto.

Serves 2

150g risotto rice

1 glass of white wine

2 leeks sliced very thinly

25g butter

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock simmering in a pan

freshly grated parmesan cheese - about 2 tablespoons

seasoning

Another glass of wine to drink whilst you're cooking

Melt the butter and oil over a mediumish heat and saute the leeks until soft - not browned.

Add the rice and stir it round till all the grains are covered.

Turn up the heat a bit and add the wine. Stir continuously until all the wine is absorbed.

Then adding on ladlefull of stock at a time. Add stock and stir continuously until absorbed.

Keep doing this until the grains are rice are cooked with just a little bite to them.

Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
Stir in 2 tablespoons of parmesan

Serve in warm bowls.

A Healthy Cooked Breakfast?

2007-12-07T02:31:00.000-08:00

It may seem a contradiction but it is possible to have a healthy and delicious cooked breakfast when you come to my B&B!

First, start with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice - full of vitamin C and counts as one portion of fruit and veg

Then a bowl of porridge made with half semi skimmed milk and half water. Top with just a teaspoon of unrefined sugar. Oats are Low GI so keep you going through the day and also contain soluble fibre which is good for the heart and for lowering cholesterol. The milk contains protein and calcium - both essential for good health

Then the cooked bit. I suggest 2 rashers of lean grilled back bacon, a poached egg, one grilled tomato, a large grilled flat mushroom and baked beans

Some survey said that people who eat eggs in the morning are shown to be slimmer than those who don't. Again full of protein. The tomatoes and mushroom count as one portion of vegetable each. The beans are full of fibre - recommendations say you should be 18g of fibre a day

Then have a bowl of prepared fruit - another 2 portions of fruit with a natural yoghurt.

Finish with a slice of wholemeal toast with a small amount of butter - much better in my opinion to have a small amount of natural butter than synthetically produced margarine. The toast contains fibre and also wholegrains which are good for the health.

Perfect and no desire to snack on unhealthy foods for the rest of the day!

Kedgeree

2007-12-04T09:41:00.000-08:00

Fish for breakfast isn't everyone's cup of tea and unless you have unlimited amounts of time this is probably best served as a Sunday Brunch treat. It's also great as supper dish with a green vegetable - peas would be my choice!

I much prefer undyed haddock to the very bright yellow fish you get, so look out for it if you can. Loch Fyne in Scotland will deliver.

The following feeds 3 very hungry people for supper or 4 for breakfast.

1 large smoked haddock fillet, skinned and any visible bones removed

9 fluid ounces of basmati rice measured in a measuring jug

16 fl oz of vegetable or chicken stock

1 medium finely chopped onion

1 tablespoon of medium curry powder

2 bay leaves

2 slivers of lemon pared with a vegetable peeler

50g butter

3-4 poached eggs if liked

Preheat the oven to 190 celsius ( 20 degrees less for a fan oven )

Use a shallow casserole with tight fitting lid

melt the butter over a medium heat and saute the onions until translucent

Add the curry powder and sizzle for a few minutes

Add the rice and stir round till thoroughly coated in butter and curry powder

add the bay and lemon and stock.

Turn up the heat and when boiling stir once, lay the haddock fillets on top, put on the lid and transfer to the oven.

Cook for exactly 25 minutes

After 25 minutes take out of the oven and leave with the lid on ( no peaking at all ) for 7 minutes

Then flake the haddock into the rice.

Dish up topped with eggs if desired.

Berry Smoothie

2007-12-03T02:11:00.000-08:00

I like to offer guests a healthy option. We're bombarded with what is and isn't healthy these days but my smoothie probably should count in the very healthy ( and tasty ) bracket!

Current thinking says you should have at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day and 3 portions of dairy produce. I reckon my smoothie has at least 2 portions of fruit and 2 portions of dairy. And its such an easy way of getting that in at breakfast before you've really woken up enough to think about it.

Again like most of my recipes if you don't have the exact ingredients to hand then improvise with what you have. Using frozen fruit it cheaper and it's a great way of using up bananas that are past their best!

if you are dairy intolerant or trying to eat more soya it doesn't taste too bad with soya yoghurt and milk!

Berry Smoothie

About 250g fresh or frozen berries ( I'm using half and half blueberries and raspberries at the moment)

a medium sized banana

1 pot of natural yoghurt ( or fruit yoghurt if that's what you have )

1 tablespoon of honey

a glass of milk

Defrost the berries if you don't like it too cold. Put all ingredients in a blender and whizz till smooth.

Serves 2 people generously!

Cottage Pie

2007-12-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

I have always been surprised by the number of guests who ask for an evening meal at my B&B. I suppose that since they've been out all day exploring they want to stay in and relax without having to drive out again - we are quite rural and have no pubs or restaurants within walking distance.

One very popular dish in the Autumn and Winter is my Cottage pie. It's rich warming nursery food that doesn't take too much chewing! As a family we normally always eat round the table but occasionally treat ourselves to a "TV dinner and movie meal in front of the fire". This is perfect food for that as you just use afork to shovel it in and don't need to concentrate too hard!

You don't need to be bothered about the exact quantities and if you're missing a particular vegetable leave it out or substitute it with something else. It's good for using up the odd mushroom you have leftover from guest's breakfast.

If you've got fresh herbs such as parsley or thyme - they're good in it. If not don't worry. If you make it Shepherds Pie by making it with minced lamb then an unusual version is to make it with chopped mint.

The cinnamon is a strange ingredient ( thanks to Delia for that suggestion ) but really adds a depth of flavour.

I always have sherry, maderia and marsala to cook with and will throw in what ever is nearest!

Cottage Pie
500g minced pie ( making it with minced lamb will turn it into shepherds pie )
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
a slug of sweet sherry
a beef stock cube ( sorry I know I should probably be boiling up beef bones for hours to make mine own stock but this works very well ! )
1 tablespoon of tomato puree ( I prefer sun dried )
1 tablespoon of worcestshire sauce
About 4 medium sized potatoes
butter and milk
salt and pepper

Dry fry the mince until brown. Crumble in a stick cube as it browns.
Chop all the vegetables up very small - I use a food processor - then add them to the browned mince which should have realised some fat to cook the vegetables in.
Stir and fry over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.
Add the sherry and allow it to reduce, then add the tomato puree and worcestershire sauce.
simmer for at least 30 minutes - the longer the better and if you do it the day before it is just perfect. Taste ofr seasong and add salt and pepper as required.

Boil the potatoes until soft and add the butter and abit of milk - not too much.

Pour the meat sauce into a deep ovenproof dish. Top with the mash.
To make it into a "luxury cottage pie", Delia tops hers with sliced leeks and cheese
Bake in the oven at about 190 degrees C for about 20 minutes till the top is brown and bubbling.

The only vegetable to serve cottage pie with ( In my humble opinion ) is / are peas!

The Full English Breakfast

2007-12-02T04:46:00.000-08:00

Guests come to an English B&B and they expect a cooked breakfast. I offer freshly baked muffins, cereals, fruits, omelettes and lots of other choices but 95% of people still ask for something cooked.

I give guests a choice as very people can manage the "Full English". If you're brave enough to give it a go - don't make plans for lunch - you may be hungry enough again by mid afternoon to fit in some afternoon tea.

Allow 30 minutes for preparation and cooking time.

Ingredients

1 thick sausage ( from a good local butcher if at all possible )

2 slices of dry cured back bacon ( ditto )

1 or 2 eggs

1 tomato

1 large flat mushroom

White Bread

Baked Beans

Olive oil ( or bacon fat for the purists )

salt and pepper

I fry the sausages on a very low heat for about half an hour. If you have an Aga you can fry on the bottom of the oven floor. Use a small amount of oil in the frying pan. Keep an eye on them and turn regularly.

Line the grill pan with foil and put aplate in the oven to warm.

Slice the tomatoes and put them on the grill pan with a small amount of salt pepper and olive oil.

Grill them for about 5 minutes.

Melt a small amount of butter and brush the mushroom all over. Add the mushroom and bacon to the grill pan. As soon as the bacon starts to curl, turn it over and grill until your desired level of crispiness in reached.

Heat the beans in pan.

At the point you turn the bacon, heat some oil on a medium heat in a large frying pan and add a slice of white bread ( the simmering plate on the AGA is perfect for this ). keep an eye on the bread and turn it occasionally.

Heat some oil in a small pan. When it started to shimmer add the egg. Using a large spoon baste the top of the egg with the oil to ensure all of the white is cooked.

Dish it all up, add tomato sauce if desired, enjoy then go for a long walk!

Pheasant Casserole

2007-12-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

I've never been a great fan of game. It's a bit too strong for my taste. However I just can't resist all the pheasants that are in our local butchers at the moment. You really can't get much more local, free range and organic - and all for £5 for 2 birds which is enough to feed 4!

The first trick with pheasant- if you're not into anything too gamey - is to buy it before its been hung too long, at the beginning of the season and to buy the female birds ( hens to those in the know ;0)). I caused lots of schoolboy guffaws when I asked the butcher if he could tell me which were the female birds - "they'll be the ones with the nice plump breasts my dear" mmmm

The next tip with pheasant is to slow cook it for ages in a sauce. Game can become very dry very quickly if you're not careful. I cook mine for 4 hours in the bottom of the AGA with my homemade sloe and crab apple jelly - perfect.

This is the perfect recipe if you're cooking for guests - paying or otherwise - because all the hard wor is done in the early afternoon. You are then free to dish up and entertain.

Pheasant Casserole

25g butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

50g plain flour

2 hen pheasants

100g smoked streaky bacon

2 medium onions

half pint red wine

one pint chicken stock

fresh bay leaves

fresh sprigs of thyme

2 tablespoons sweet jelly ( I use sloe and crab apple but any jelly such as redcurrant will do )

2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

Melt butter and oil. Brown pheasants all over and remove from pan. Add chopped up streaky bacon and cook till crisp. Add sliced onions and cook till soft. Remove with slotted spoon.

Add flour to fat in pan. Cook for 1 minute. Then gradually add the wine and stock stirring all the time.

Add herbs, jelly, worcestershire sauce, bacon, onion and birds back into pan.

Bring to simmer and then put in a low oven ( 130 degrees celsius or bottom of AGA ) for about 4 hours.

After this time the meat will be falling of the bone.

Take out pheasant and remove meat from bone. Skim off as much fat as possible and reduce sauce. Add meat to sauce to warm through.

Serve with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts - yum

Perfect Poached Eggs

2007-12-01T02:34:00.000-08:00

Being able to cook a good egg is an essential B&B owner's skill. Unfortunately I don't eat boiled, poached or fried eggs so learning how to cook them properly has not been an easy task.

My number one rule of cooking is never to cook a meal for someone else that I won't eat myself - how else can you know if something tastes good or not? However if I were to turn to guests and tell them I didn't do eggs I'd have an empty B&B.

Luckily my husband is an avid egg eater and we have 23 free range rare breed hens to produce lots of supplies to practise with.

One of my biggest trials has been poached eggs. They are the eggs that are must luckily to go wrong. And if they do go wrong it messes up the whole breakfast timings as you need to wait at least another 3 minutes. But I have a solution!

A Guide to Perfect Poached Eggs served at the same time as the rest of your Breakfast!

1. Choose really fresh eggs. I only use eggs that are less than 5 days old. I am lucky in that I know what day my eggs are laid and the name of the chicken who laid them. If you aren't in a similar situation then I suggest you make friend with your local free range egg supplier.

2. A word about fancy eggs. I have Cream Legbar Hens that lay very pretty blue eggs but I have never successfully poached one, even a "freshly laid in the last hour" egg. You put it in the water and it just disintegrates. Someone told me that this is because the protein in the white is different to normal eggs. So keep these for boiled or scrambled ( they don't fry well for the same reason ). The golden yolk looks beautiful against the blue of the shell if you boil them.

3. Start with a small saucepan of boiling water to which you have added a good slug of distilled white vinegar. I haven't measured a "slug" but you are probably talking a good sherry glass full.

4. With the water boiling, tip the egg into the water. I do stir it beforehand. If you want to get fancy you can whisk the water with a balloon whisk and then you eggs will come out in the shape of torpedoes!

5. Boil for exactly 3 minutes then fish out with a slotted spoon. Rest the slotted spoon on a wad of kitchen towl to absorb any water.

6. Now my trick of the trade. I always pre cook my poached eggs at the start of breakfast time. As soon as the timer goes off I plunge them into iced water to cool them rapidly. Then when it's time to serve up I put them in boiling water for a minute to reheat. This reduced the stress levels considerably because if they do go wrong you have time to sort it out!

Pumpkin and Tomato Soup

2007-11-30T04:30:00.000-08:00

Just after we'd moved to shropshire, 4 years ago, we were invited to a bonfire party being held up in the hills at a local farm. This was our first social outing and I mentioned it to one of our neighbours who was also going. "That'll be a boozy night - that one" he said "Better make sure you go fully stocked".We'd moved up from Runnymede - the council with the highest number of alcohol related illness in the UK - so the thought of a boozey night didn't faze us at all.

We loaded up the boot of the 4x4 ( a necessity for the party we were attending I assure you ) with bottles of wine and beer.When we arrived at the party we were about to unload, when my 6th sense, intuition, whatever you like to call it kicked in. I suggested to Rob we left the bottles in the car and waited to see what happened.

We went into the already full farmhouse kitchen and looked around for the drinks table - it was at this point we were offered tea.Our hosts, unknown to us, were strict welsh methodists and there wasn't a drop of alcohol in the house ( apart from the whiskey in flasks in the pockets of a few our fellow guests - this was surreptiously passed around in the dark outside! ).

Luckily we'd been saved from making our first social gaffe with our new neighbours - though it would no doubt have provided lots of amusing stories for many months along the Clun Valley.

Anyway at this party they were serving mugs of soup. The soup was delicious and I was shocked to discover it was Pumpkin soup. I've never been a fan of squashes or any sweet vegetable. I've just starting making it this year and it's one of the easiest soups to make, full or superfoods and quite delicious. I will admit that the predominant taste is the tomato - but it is great for using up pumpkin and I've just used the last of the tomatoes that have been ripening on the windowsill since being removed from the greenhouse in September.

500g roughly chopped pumpkin ( about 1/2 a small pumpkin )

250 roughly chopped tomatoes ( no need to skin ) or one 400g tin tomatoes

1 litre of vegetable stock ( I use marigold bouillon )

1 tablespoon of tomato puree ( I prefer sundried tomato paste )

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 medium sized onions or 2 leeks or a combination - roughly chopped.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large pan.

Bring to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes until veg are soft. Puree with a handheld blender. And you're ready to eat. Serves 4 very generously.This is just perfect eaten sitting in front of the fire with a camembert or other soft cheese, baked for about 10-15 minutes until the inside is runny, and lots of crusty bread to dip in!

Hopton House Fruit Cake

2007-11-30T02:26:00.000-08:00

Many of my guests tell me that the decision making factor on my website was the promise of homemade fruitcake on demand.

The cake sits between the rooms and guests can help themselves whenever a dose of the munchies hits them - though I was surprised to see 2 pieces disappear last week between going down to start on breakfast at 7.00am and popping upstairs again at 7.15!

I started with an AGA fruitcake recipe and have adapted it over the years to my own.

Now the funny thing is I really don't like fruitcake and have never tasted my own. It's one of the reasons I cook it as otherwise I would be double the size I am already - luckily I have a willing tester in Rob.

As my guests seemed to be enjoying it so much and were pigging out for free I decided it was the ideal opportunity to raise some money for our local Community Hospital, so I had some recipe postcards made up which I invite fruit cake loving guests to buy in return for a donation.So now your turn to contribute. I have copied my secret fruit cake recipe below.

If you try it then please donate a small amount to the charity of your choice - Calories without guilt - perfect.

Enjoy

12oz mixed fruit
9oz self raising flour
6oz butter melted
6oz sugar ( caster, brown whatever )
2tsps of cinnamon or mixed spice1 tbs marmalade
6 eggs ( free range only please )

Mix together dry ingredients with the marmalade. Add eggs and butter and mix well

Line two 1lb loaf tines or one 8inch round cake tin with silicon paper ( I use those cake tin liners you just pop in - perfect and very quick ).

Put in cake mix and cook in the bottom of the aga for 1.5 - 2.5 hours.

Sorry I can't be more exact but the timing varies ( and it has taken about 30 seconds to prepare so far - so a little attention now is no bad thing! ) - you are looking for just cooked and slightly squidgy. Slightly springy when you press the middle but not rock hard.

If you don't have an AGA then a conventional oven at about 140 degrees C should do it

Blackberry Muffins with a Streusel Topping

2007-11-30T01:58:00.000-08:00

I found and ate my first wild blackberry back in September whilst out on a walk with Murphy - yummy. went a bit mad, picked a load and froze them, so we can now enjoy wild blackberry muffins for breakfast whenever we like.

If you ever stay in an American B&B you will almost certainly be offered a different type of baked good everyday including muffins and often a large eggy entree dish of some kind.I do offer "freshly baked at the crack of dawn by my own fair hands" muffins, though 99% of guests choose the full english whatever else I try and entice them with; muffins, omelettes, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, smoothies....

Finding the perfect muffin recipe has been a bit of a lifelong quest but I think I'm there now. The magic ingredient is really the cinnamony sugary streusel topping!

These can also be made using blueberries, whinberries (wild bilberries to those of you that don't live in Shropshire ), raspberries or, in the Autumn when you have a glut, apples.

For the muffins

225g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
60g caster sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
140g fresh or frozen blackberries
55g melted butter
1 beaten egg
200ml milk

For the streusel topping

50g soft brown sugar
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
50g plain flour
40g butter, melted

Preheat conventional oven to 200 degrees or fan oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 6

Take either a 6 giant muffin tin and grease well or put paper muffin cases in 10 holes of a conventional muffin tin.

Mix together all the ingredients for the streusel topping - it should have some biggish crumbly lumps.Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, then stir in the sugar, cinnamon and blackberries.

Mix together all the wet ingredients and combine very gently and quickly with the dry ingredients - the mixture will look quite lumpy and unappetising.

Spoon the mixture into the cases and sprinkle the streusel topping on top.

Put in the oven for about 15-25 minutes until risen and golden brown - eat immediately!