Cranberry & Onion Pork Belly

In two weeks it’ll be Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve guys, can you believe it? I can’t, but boy I cannot wait for the Christmas foodies. The time to be with loved ones, having a good time, laughing, good food, literally ticking all my boxes. I love the lead up to Christmas, everyone out buying gifts and preparing the delicious treats for the big day. A tasty treat we have this week with this pork belly recipe, full of flavour and so very simple to make. If you’re feeling a richer flavour use a meatier stock, otherwise vegetable stock will work just as well.

Ingredients:

• 600g pork belly slices
• 400ml stock
• 200ml cranberry juice
• 7-8 shallots, peeled and quartered
• 1 bulb of garlic, peeled leaving the cloves whole
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• Salt
• Ground black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 fan.
2. Place your baking tray on the stove, add the garlic, shallot and oil and fry for a couple of minutes.
3. Put the pork belly slices on top of the garlic and shallots, distributing them evenly on the tray.
4. Pour in the stock and the cranberry juice, try to avoid touching the meat so that the fattier parts of the meat can render and become crispy in the cooking process. Season the pork with salt and pepper
5. Put the baking tray in the oven and leave to cook for 45 minutes to an hour. Best served hot and with some mashed potatoes.

Enjoy ☺️

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Lunch On The Go

Mustard Beef Casserole

A recipe filled with deep flavours, highlighting the richness of the beef as it slow cooks for 3 hours becoming tender and juicy. Fantastic if you have leftover or off cut pieces of beef that need using up. The gravy is an absolute winner in this dish and is so delicious with fluffy and crispy roast potatoes.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 380g beef shin, cut unto chunks
• 2 shallots, roughly chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 150ml white wine
• 150ml beef stock
• 250g frostier mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp double cream
• 1 dsp wholegrain mustard

Method:

1. Start by coating the beef in plain flour.
2. On medium heat, pour in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the coated beef into a deep pan. Fry for 5 minutes or until browned and sealed. Then remove the beef from the pan and place on a plate.
3. Add one tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add the garlic and shallot. Fry together until translucent.
4. Add the mushrooms and leave to cook for 4-5 minutes allowing the water contained to be released.
5. Put the meat back in the pan along with 50ml of white wine and cook for 4 minutes.
6. Pour in the stock and the remaining 100ml of wine and bring to a gentle boil. Season with salt and pepper and add the worcestershire sauce. Mix well, cover and drop the heat. Leave to cook for 3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so.
7. Just before serving, mix the mustard and cream together in a separate bowl. Then mix into the casserole and serve.

Best served with roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

Bacon wrapped Dates with Blue Cheese & Almonds

‘Tis the season for the indulgence and the time of the year where you can have all the naughty foods and truly enjoy those deep and rich flavours. These small bites of pure heaven are the perfect festive snack or starter and a real treat.
For this recipe smoked bacon was the port of call for me as it provides a more balanced sweet and savoury contrast. However, they are just as delicious using unsmoked.

12 dates

Ingredients:

• 12 medjool dates
• 6 bacon rashers
• Flaked almonds
• Stilton blue cheese
• Golden syrup

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5 or 170 fan and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Cut the dates lengthwise (not all the way through) and remove the stones.
3. Take around a 1/4 teaspoon of cheese and stuff the dates. Then take 2-3 almond flakes and place inside too.
4. Cut the bacon rasher in half and wrap around the date. Make sure to keep the wrap around part of the meat at the bottom so that it won’t fall apart when cooking. Place each date on the baking tray.
5. Drizzle over a small amount of golden syrup and place in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until the bacon is golden and crispy.

Enjoy! 🙂

Chocolate & Amaretto Cocktail

The festive season has begun, it’s time to party, have lots of good food and surround yourself with the people you love. This delicious Christmassy beverage is the perfect evening drink to wind down with while watching a festive film and is an indulgent alternative to a sweet treat.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 30ml Disaronno liqueur
• 50ml Baileys chocolat luxe liqueur
• 30ml single cream
• Ice cubes

Method:

1. In in a glass, fill with some ice cubes. Pour over the Disaronno, Baileys and single cream and stir.

Enjoy 🙂

Leftover Turkey Treat

Merry Christmas Everybody!! I hope you all had an enjoyable time, had lots of amazing food and spent some quality time with some loved ones. Now, I know what you are all thinking, Carla, we have all just stuffed our faces with turkey and you’re coming here and posting something about Turkey, are you feeling alright love? I know,I don’t blame you. There will be a fair few of us with some serious leftovers after yesterdays antics and lets be honest, we need to gobble up those goodies.

This recipe works perfectly for any leftover Turkey or works just as well with Turkey steaks, which is fantastic as they are so easy to access all year round, not just for the Christmas period. So quick and easy to make, you’ll be back to chilling on the sofa watching all the treats in store on the television.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 3 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 2 turkey steaks, chopped into chunks
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• Salt
• Pepper
• Lime

Method:

1. On medium heat, fry the shallot, ginger and garlic in the olive oil until lightly browned.
2. Add the turkey and cook for 3-4 minutes.
3. Season with all the spices and mix.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook until they are blistered and have released its juices.
5. Squeeze over some lime juice, stir and take off the heat.

Best served hot.