Posts filed under 'Recipes'
Recipe; Cranberry Sauce
Many of us are looking forward to tucking in to a turkey in a few days’ time and what better accompaniment to turkey (and all of those leftover turkey and stuffing sandwiches!) than a lovely cranberry sauce. Here is our favourite recipe for an easy to make cranberry sauce for your enjoyment this festive season.
Cranberry Sauce Recipe.
Ingredients:
2 clementine’s,
200g cranberries,
100g of light muscovado sugar,
6 tablespoons of port (or spiced dark rum if you want a sweet but spicy sauce).
Method.
1.) Juice one of the clementine’s and add the juice to a pan with all of the sugar, all of the cranberries and the port or spiced rum.
2.) Place the pan over a medium to low heat and allow to cook for five minutes until the cranberries begin to soften and burst open.
3.) Peel the other clementine and (if you have time) remove the membrane from the fruit. Pull it into segments and add to the pan along with the cranberry mixture.
4.) Cook for a further two minutes over a medium heat until all the fruit is soft and has a lovely rich sheen to it.
5.)Pour into a bowl or Tupperware container and allow to cool before storing in the fridge or freezing.
This mixture will stay fresh in the freezer for up to two months, so there’s plenty of time for you to make it in advance for Christmas day or store it if you have any leftover. Ensure that you allow the mixture to thaw fully and return to room temperature before serving.
If there are lots of you dining, you can easily double the quantities up to make enough for everyone.
Recipe; Stuffed Peppers
We’re all aware that Christmas fever sets in well before December but with less than a month until Christmas day, the panic buying has already began. Mothers are beginning to store packets of twiglets and Cheeselets like they are going to go out of fashion and the discussion about who’s cooking Christmas dinner has begun.
To try and help out, we’ve been offering you simple recipes to create delicious dishes that you can serve up on Christmas day that look like a lot of effort has gone in to them when in reality it’s just a bit of fancy flavour work. Today’s recipe makes a great hot or cold starter and is perfect for vegetarians and meat eaters. You can mix and match your fillings – we’re going for mushroom and bacon but you can add whatever ingredients you like.
Stuffed Peppers.
Ingredients: (serves four)
4 x Large Red Bell Peppers,
One packet of Cous Cous (choose a flavour to complement your fillings, we’re using mushroom!)
250g Halloumi cheese,
1 x Red Onion,
100ml vegetable stock (or one veg stock cube dissolved in hot water),
Pack of mushrooms,
Smoked bacon.
1.) Pre-heat your oven to 200C/Gas 6/fan oven 180C.
2.) Chop the peppers in half from the stalk to the base of the pepper. Scoop out all of the seeds and lay the halves on a baking tray covered with tinfoil. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over the peppers, season with salt and pepper and then bake for 20-25 minutes until they start to become tender.
3.) While the peppers are baking make your filling. Peel and slice the onions and chop the bacon up into bite sized pieces before frying. Slice the mushrooms up and add those last as they take the least time to cook. When the onions are soft, the bacon is cooked and the mushrooms are nice and brown, put the mixture to one side.
4.) Empty the contents of the cous cous into a bowl and cover with 100ml of vegetable stock. Cover with a tea-towel and leave to soak up the stock for five minutes. When the liquid is all absorbed, fluff the cous cous up with a fork and add the mushroom, onion and bacon mixture. Cut or tear the Halloumi into small pieces and add this to the mixture too.
5.)After the peppers have baked for 20-25 minutes, remove them from the oven and fill the pepper halves with the mixture. Return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes until the cheese turns golden brown.
6.) Serve immediately with salad and garlic bread or leave to cool down, cover with cling film once cold and serve when ready.
These make brilliant healthy lunches too, so make a few extra and enjoy them at work.
If you don’t fancy cooking, or washing up on Christmas day, why not browse our Christmas restaurants? Just view Christmas restaurants in Nottingham, Christmas restaurants in Derby, Christmas restaurants in Leicester, Christmas restaurants in Leeds, Christmas restaurants in Sheffield, and Christmas restaurants in Northampton.
Recipe: Cider and Onion Gravy
Everyone is starting to plan for Christmas now. Even the most stubborn individuals who refuse to feel festive until the 24th December and being sucked into the turkey-ordering and present-buying that surrounds the festive season. With the big day creeping even closer, t’s time to start thinking how many people you may be catering for and what you’re going to make so here’s a simple recipe for cider and onion gravy that you can make by the vat-full.
Ingredients:
4 onions, sliced (using red onions make a sweeter gravy)
20g flour
600ml chicken or beef stock (readymade or just dissolve a few stock cubes in water according to the pack instructions)
300ml dry cider
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce (not a requirement but tasty nonetheless!)
45g butter
Salt and pepper
Method:
1.) Add a teaspoon of oil to a frying pan and add the butter. This will stop the butter from burning and the gravy getting a bitter taste.
2.) Finely slice the onions (run the blade of the knife under cold water first, it’ll stop you from crying!) and add to the pan. Fry the onions over a medium heat until soft and nicely browned.
3.) Add the flour and stir well.
4.) Gradually add in the stock and whisk well to avoid any lumps. Add the cider followed by the Worchester sauce and soy sauce and season to taste using the salt and pepper. Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally until the mixture has reached your preferred consistency. If it becomes too thick, add a little water and stir.
6.) Serve immediately whilst still piping hot.
The quantities can be doubled as required. This recipe makes just under a litre of gravy, depending on the thickness. This recipe can be made vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of chicken or beef.
If cooking on Christmas Day seems more hassle than it’s worth, why not book a table at a restaurant? If you’re not sure where, view our Christmas restaurants in Nottingham, Christmas restaurants in Derby, Christmas restaurants in Leicester, Christmas restaurants in Leeds, Christmas restaurants in Sheffield and Christmas restaurants in Northampton and let someone else do the washing up this year.
Leek and Potato Soup Recipe.
As we head closer and closer to December a definite chill has started to creep in and with comfort food high on most people’s ‘winter must-have- lists, we thought that we would offer you a really simple but incredibly tasty recipe for Leek and Potato Soup! This not only makes a great meal for those dark winter nights but it’s also a great recipe to use at Christmas as you can make a huge batch and freeze it ready for Christmas Day.
Leek and Potato Soup Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes,
4 medium sized leeks,
2 red onions,
2 pints of chicken or veg stock (readymade or just dissolve a couple of stock cubes in boiling water),
2 tablespoons of butter,
Salt and pepper.
Equipment:
Tablespoon,
Sharp knife,
Large pan,
Measuring jug,
Blender (hand or freestanding),
Chopping board,
Tupperware boxes if you intend to freeze it.
This recipe makes approximately 6 large servings. If you want to make more, this recipe freezes really well, just double the ingredients up as required.
Method:
1. Slice the leeks lengthways and peel off the first layer before washing them and chopping them into small pieces roughly 1cm wide. You don’t have to be exact but the smaller the slices of leek are, the quicker they will soften.
2. Top and tail the onions before cutting them in half and then finely slicing them. Again, being exact doesn’t matter but the smaller you cut, the quicker they cook.
TOP TIP: Run the blade of your knife under cold water before you chop an onion, it’ll help you not to cry.
3. Add the butter to a saucepan and melt it over a medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the veg, give it a stir and allow it to soften. Every now and then stir the mixture while carrying on with the rest of the recipe.
4. Peel the potatoes and cut them up into small chunks. The smaller the better as they will take less time to part-boil. Add the potatoes to a pot of boiling water for roughly 10 minutes before giving them a prod with a normal knife (don’t make the mistake of using the tip of a sharp kitchen knife as more often than not you will find they are still raw!). If they begin to give way then drain them.
5. Return the drained potatoes to the pan and add the leek and onion mix which should be nice and soft by now on top.
6. Pour over the two litres of stock, bring to the boil then allow to simmer for twenty minutes on a low heat. This will finish cooking your potatoes and allow the veg to infuse the stock.
7. Your soup should now be ready to blend! We recommend using a hand blender but using a large, freestanding blender is also fine – you just may have to blend the soup in batches. Whiz the mixture up until it is nice and smooth, or if you prefer a soup with a bit of bite, leave a few chunks in it.
8. Season to taste and serve whilst still piping hot. If you’re feeling fancy you can add a dash of cream.
If you are planning to freeze this mixture, allow the entire batch to cool before transferring to Tupperware containers and placing in the freezer. Do not add cream to the mixture if you are planning to freeze it, add it when you serve it.
If this all sounds like too much effort for Christmas, why don’t you check out our restaurants Christmas menus and let someone else do the washing up! See Christmas menus Nottingham, Christmas menus Derbyshire, Christmas menus Leicester, Christmas menus Northampton, Christmas menus Leeds and Christmas menus Sheffield.
Recipe for Spanish Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
A classic Spanish tapas dish, meatballs in tomato sauce are easy enough to prepare at home. You can serve them as part of a tapas selection or just enjoy them as a lunch or supper dish, along with some crusty bread to mop up the sauce and some salad on the side.
This meatball recipe is quite simple without any hot spices, as you will find it in many authentic Spanish bars. However you can spice it up to your own taste by adding herbs or spices to the mix; try Spanish paprika, turmeric, thyme or cumin for a variation on the recipe (not all together though!).
Ingredients:
500g / 1lb beef mince
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
White wine
2 slices stale bread
½ cup milk
1 egg beaten
Flour to dust
Salt
pepper
Olive oil
4 ripe tomatoes chopped roughly
1 medium onion
With a pestle and mortar, or in a blender, crush two cloves of garlic, mix with the chopped parsley and a dash of white wine.
Put the beef mince in a bowl and mix well with the garlic mixture. Leave it to stand for the flavours to develop for 20 minutes or so. In the meantime soak the bread in the milk.
Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and crumble it into the beef mince. Add the beaten egg and a seasoning of salt and pepper then mix it all well.
Form the mixture into small balls. Sprinkle some flour on a plate and dust or roll each ball in the flour until lightly coated. Shake off the excess.
Fry the meatballs in olive oil until golden brown.
Drain them and place them in an oven-proof dish.
Chop the onion finely. Chop the remaining two cloves of garlic finely too. In a little of the oil left from cooking the meatballs, fry the onion and garlic until they soften. Add the chopped tomatoes and half a cup of white wine. Bring to boiling point and cook for about 5 minutes until it has formed a sauce.
Pour the sauce over the meatballs and bake for about 20 minutes at 175C / 350F.
Serve hot with plenty of fresh crusty bread to mop up the sauce.
Not feeling like cooking meatballs tonight after all? Eat out at one of Nottingham’s Spanish restaurants for plenty of delicious, authentic Spanish flavour.
Recipe for Ensaladilla Rusa – Spanish Potato Salad
Potato salad may not seem like a very traditional Spanish dish, but it is actually one of the standard tapas dishes that you can find throughout Spain. It does vary slightly from region to region but this recipe is the basic one. The potatoes shouldn’t be drowned in mayonnaise, just lightly coated so that the flavours mingle and the mayo just complements the rest of the salad.
This is a good recipe to make ahead earlier in the day, and will keep till the next day, but as with any mayonnaise dish, it doesn’t keep well for more than a couple of days.
Ingredients:
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
125g / 40oz green beans, topped and tailed
¼ cup peas, fresh or frozen
½ medium onion or red onion finely sliced
1 small red pepper, chopped
4 gherkins, sliced
2 tablespoons capers
12 olives stuffed with anchovies
1 hardboiled egg, sliced
For the dressing
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
Parsley to garnish
Put the potato cubes and carrots in a pan of lightly salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer until they are almost tender, then add the green beans. IF you are using fresh peas, add them at the same time. Frozen peas can be added after a few more minutes. Cook the vegetables together until they are all tender. Drain them well and tip them onto a serving bowl or platter.
When the vegetables have cooled, gently fold in the rest of the main ingredients: the onion, pepper, gherkins, capers, olives and egg slices.
In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise well with the lemon juice and mustard. Pout this dressing over the ingredients on the serving platter, season with freshly ground black pepper, then carefully toss the salad until all the ingredients are well coated. Sprinkle the parsley over to garnish. Keep refrigerated, but let the salad stand at room temperature for an hour before serving to allow the flavours to develop.
For more great tapas ideas, eat out at one of Derbyshire’s Spanish restaurants.
Recipe for Spanish Empanada
Empanadas are typical of Galicia, the north-western region of Spain. Essentially they are a bread pie and can be filled with anything from seafood to meat or chicken or just vegetables. They can be served in small slices as part of a tapas selection or be a meal in themselves for lunch, with nothing more than salad needed alongside. This recipe uses pork loin or tenderloin, but you can replace it with chicken or beef if you prefer. For a vegetarian version replace the meat with extra vegetables and add more eggs.
If you can buy ready-made bread dough or yeast pastry, this is a relatively simple and quick recipe, despite the list of ingredients. Or make it when you are already making a batch of bread and just reserve enough dough for the pie.
Ingredients:
325g / ¾ lb pork loin sliced thinly
½ teaspoon smoked pimento (Spanish paprika)
½ teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium onions, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
3 ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
450g / 1lb bread dough or yeast pastry
½ cup piquillo pimentos sliced
2 hard boiled eggs
1 egg beaten
Marinade the sliced pork with the paprika, oregano, salt and pepper, and 1 tablespoon of the chopped garlic for at least 30 minutes.
Peel, deseed and chop the tomatoes. Chop the onions and peppers into fairly small pieces. Hard boil the two eggs and allow to cool.
Put the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry the pork quickly just to brown it. Remove the slices to a warm plate as soon as they are browned.
In the same oil cook the chopped onions, the remaining garlic and the chopped pepper until they are softened. Add the prepared tomatoes, the chopped parsley and a seasoning of salt and pepper and cook to a thick sauce.
Divide the bread dough into two equal pieces. Roll it out to about 1 cm / ½ inch in thickness and line a cake tin with it.
Spread half of the sauce onto the bread dough base. Arrange the browned pork slices on top. Add the piquillo pimentos as the next layer. Follow this with the sliced hard boiled eggs. Lastly cover with the remaining sauce.
Roll out the remaining dough and cover the pie. Crimp the edges together, pressing down firmly. Cut off any excess dough.
Make a hole in the centre for steak to escape.
Bake at 180C / 375F for about 30 minutes. Then brush the top with beaten egg and bake for another 15 – 20 minutes until the crust is golden and crispy.
Try more delicious tapas treats at some of Nottingham’s Spanish Restaurants.
Recipe for Traditional Gazpacho Soup
Gazpacho soup is the perfect Spanish dish for hot summer days, when you want flavour without heat. Satisfying and substantial, it is served well chilled, to cool you down while giving you the flavour you crave. If you don’t feel like cooking, this is the dish to make: a little bit of chopping and blending, straining through the sieve and enough time in the fridge to cool off and you have bowls of flavour waiting to delight the taste buds.
One thing to note here: gazpacho is essentially a summer dish. It needs perfectly ripe and flavoursome tomatoes to be worth making, otherwise most of the flavour is lost. So save this recipe until there is a glut of gorgeous tomatoes to be used up. As with most traditional Spanish dishes, Gazpacho was developed as a peasant dish that makes the most of cheap and plentiful ingredients, ripe tomatoes, ripe peppers, old bread, olive oil and garlic in this case, and summer is the time for enjoying gazpacho.
Ingredients:
100g/3oz crusty white bread (slightly stale is best)
1kg/2.2lbs ripe tomatoes
1 ripe red pepper
1 green pepper
1 cucumber
2 cloves garlic
125ml/ ½ cup extra virgin olive oil (the good stuff!)
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (or wine vinegar)
Salt
Garnishes (discussed below)
Tear the bread into pieces and soak it in cold water for 20 minutes.
Dice the tomatoes. De-seed the peppers and dice them. Peel and dice the cucumber. Peel and crush the garlic.
Put the tomatoes, cucumber, peppers and garlic with the olive oil into a blender or food processor.
Squeeze out the bread with your hands, until most of the water is out. Add it to the blender.
Blend everything together until smooth.
Add salt and vinegar to taste.
Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove any bits.
Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve. It should be well chilled. Give yourself enough time. In an emergency you can add ice cubes but these will dilute the flavour so are not ideal.
Gazpacho is often served with garnishes. These can be as simple as croutons and a swirl of olive oil, or get more complicated: chopped hard-boiled egg, diced black olives, small dice of cucumber and peppers, chopped mint or parsley are all good options. The garnishes can be served alongside in small bowls so that everyone can choose their own combination.
Try out the gazpacho soups served in some of Leicestershire’s Spanish restaurants if you want to get an idea of the versatility of this traditional Spanish recipe.
Recipe for Spanish Chorizo and Steamed Clams
An ideal dish for a tapas meal or to serve as a starter for a Spanish inspired dinner party, this combination of seafood and smoky Spanish chorizo is a real winner. The flavours complement each other and create an earthy and robust flavour that will wow guests. You can use most shellfish for this recipe with great results: cockles, mussels, clams or whatever your fishmonger can provide. Traditionally the large clams from the north coast of Spain were used, but in true country cooking style, the recipe can be adapted to whatever is available.
Cooking shellfish is simpler than it seems. You just need to remember the basic rules of shellfish preparation: pick through the shellfish, discarding any that are open. Scrub their shells clean under running water. After cooking discard any shellfish that have not opened in the heat.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500g/1lb Spanish chorizo – the softer cooking variety
1kg/2lbs clams, scrubbed
1 cup dry white wine
¼ cup parsley roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
The Spanish chorizo you use should be the soft cooking variety if possible, which can be crumbled into small pieces. However if you can only get the firmer slicing chorizo, that will also work; just cut it into small cubes instead.
First of all prepare the clams, as described above, making sure that you have discarded any open ones and the shells are clean.
You will need a casserole or pot with a close fitting lid to contain the steam as the shellfish cook.
Heat the olive oil in the pot over a medium heat.
Cook the cubes or pieces of chorizo in the oil until lightly browned.
Add the garlic and bay leaves and continue cooking until the garlic is just coloured.
Add the prepared clams and the wine, stirring briefly to combine everything.
Cover the pot immediately and turn the heat to medium high.
Steam the clams until they are fully opened, at which point they are cooked. Discard any that have not opened.
Remove the pot from the heat and sprinkle the chopped parsley over the shellfish.
Serve immediately.
It is up to you how you serve this dish. It can be dished into small tapas bowls or brought to the table in the pot if it is a single starter for everyone to dish up into wide bowls. Provide plenty of crusty bread for everyone to mop up the delicious juices with, and put a big bowl on the table to collect the empty shells.
If you want to experience the authentic flavours of Spain without doing the work yourself, try one of Nottingham’s Spanish restaurants for tasty tapas or a full Spanish meal.
Recipe for Piperade – French Scrambled eggs with peppers and tomatoes
A great summer supper dish, piperade is a speciality of Southern France, typical of the Basque region. It relies on flavourful ripe tomatoes and peppers for its appeal, which are always plentiful and cheap in summer in this region of France. This is a vegetarian recipe to cook up for the family, rather than to serve guests, as looks aren’t its strong point, but it makes a satisfying and nutritious quick family meal with plenty of French flavour.
Ingredients:
1 onion sliced finely
3-4 peppers red and green, chopped into chunks
3-4 large ripe tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, sliced
sprig thyme
a fresh bay leaf
4 eggs
Olive oil
In a large heavy based frying pan, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil. Cook the onion over a low heat until it is soft but not coloured.
Add the peppers and cook for 10 more minutes.
Peel the tomatoes by pouring boiling water over them to loosen the skins. Chop them in to chunks
Add the tomatoes to the peppers with the garlic and herbs and allow it all to cook together until it is soft.
Beat the eggs in a bowl, then pour them into the pan with the vegetables, stirring. Continue to stir, as you do scrambled eggs, until the eggs are lightly set.
Serve with toast or crusty French bread.
Want something a little more sophisticated with that genuine French flavour? Browse our listings of French restaurants in Sheffield and book some great French cuisine this weekend.
