British Sausage Week : Chipolata Fajitas

British Sausage Week this year runs from Monday 31st October until Sunday 6th November, and is now in its 19th year!

These days you can find so many varieties of sausage to suit all tastes and dishes, and the majority of sausages in Britain are made from fresh pork meat rather than processed meat.

I usually have a pack of sausages on the weekly shopping list as they're so versatile and can be used in so many different ways, from the good old British fry up to a more sophisticated cassoulet. By slicing sausages into bitesized pieces it's easy to make one pack stretch to feed a family of 5 too!

British sausage week promotes sausages that are made from quality or Red Tractor sourced pork from Britain. Sausages that depict the Red Tractor logo are traceable and have been produced responsibly, ensuring their quality. With this in mind, I selected some Red Tractor Asda Extra Special chipolatas to make these Chipolata Fajitas. You can find the original recipe on the Love Pork website, along with a guide to sausage etiquette - did you know that the type of sausage you choose says a lot about you!

This was such an easy dish to make for the family, and takes very little time to prepare. As it's cooked in the oven you don't need to spend time standing over the stove, and can instead get on with other things whilst it's cooking. It's definitely an easy one that the kids can get involved with making. What I loved about these chipolatas is that they weren't swimming in fat once they'd been cooked, and they are also gluten free, which is a plus point for many.

I served these fajitas with home made tomato salsa, sliced avocado and Greek yogurt, which we prefer to sour cream.

Chipolata Fajitas - serves 4

1 pack of Pork Chipolata Sausages
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced

to serve
wraps
salsa
avocado slices
yogurt or sour cream
grated cheese 

• add the chipolatas to a large bowl along with the other ingredients
• toss well to combine
• place all the ingredients on a large baking tray or baking dish
• bake in a preheated 190C oven for approx 20-30 minutes, until the sausages are browned

What will you be eating during British Sausage Week? If you're looking for inspiration, follow @LovePork on Twitter or Facebook, or take a look at some of my many sausage recipes :

Sausage pesto pasta

Butternut squash & sausage tagine

Spicy sausage & bean cobbler

Slow cooked sausages in onion gravy

Jumbo Mediterranean sausage pasty

Beef & mustard sausage rolls

Slow cooker sweet & sour sausages

Spanish sausage & mash

Fresh ravioli with sausage & chorizo

Baked full English

this is a commissioned post for Love Pork

Great British Meringue Crown with Strawberries & Pimms

Well, that's it, Bake Off is officially finished as we know it. What it's going to be like once it moves over to channel 4 & loses Mary, Mel & Sue is anyone's guess. 

I haven't managed to join in with the bakes as much as previous years for a number of reasons. I was on holiday for the first week so managed to get out of making jaffa cakes, although I may still try them at some point. Week 2 was biscuit week and I made Rhubarb & Custard Viennese Whirls. Week 3 was bread and I made a Cherry, Chocolate & Almond Bread Ring. Week 4 was batter, and I made these delicious Maple & Cajun Spiced Filled Yorkshire Puddings, inspired by an afternoon tea at Ma Pluckers in Soho. Week 5 was all about pastry and I made breakfast pastries in the form of Maple, Apple & Cinnamon Pinwheel Pastries . It all went to pot in October and I never baked anything for weeks 6-9, but I was determined that I would make something for the grand finale, whatever it may be.

Thankfully the final episode was kind to us, and I was spoilt for choice as to what to bake. In the end I decided to make a meringue crown, as I do love a pavlova.

My Great British pavlova was made up of 3 tiers of red white and blue meringue, filled with strawberries and cream and a touch of Pimms, all topped off with a gold replica (cough, cough) of Queen Victoria's crown.

I used 6 egg whites in total for the meringue (same recipe that I used here, but with increased quantities), and for the coloured layers I brushed some food colouring paste into the icing bags before filling them - I might have gone a bit overboard with the blue! I was inspired by Candice's meringue crown and piped my own over a silicone mould before spraying with edible gold spray.

I folded freeze dried strawberries into the cream for the bottom layer, orange zest in the middle layer, Pimms, mint and fresh strawberries in the top layer, more strawberries around the sides and popped the crown on top.

I am joining in with the Mummy Mishaps Great Bloggers Bake Off

Bloodied Bones Halloween Cake

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. 
All opinions are mine alone. #CollectiveBias

Halloween is a week away, but many people are celebrating it early this year and having a Halloween half term week, with end of term Halloween themed school discos and parties galore. Kids love dressing up and what better excuse do you need to join them. I usually don my black cape and witches hat or mask to surprise the trick or treaters when they call, and decorating the doorway gets us into the spirit (excuse the pun) of things.

I've already shared some ideas for simple Halloween party treats , but with some additional effort this Bloodied Bones Cake can form an eye catching centrepiece for your party. Full of blood clots and puss, it really is mouthwatering!

If you don't want to bake your own cake, you could buy a plain chocolate or vanilla cake and decorate it yourself. I made my own, using my go-to chocolate cake recipe, and for the meringues I used powdered egg white, which is very handy to have in the cupboard for the times that you feel the urge to make meringues, but don't want to use all of the eggs.

Dr Oetker Free Range Egg white powder can be found in the baking aisle of most supermarkets, including my local Tesco which has a very good range of baking ingredients. (You can also find a chocolate cake mix for just 99p in the same aisle).

Bloodied Bones Halloween Cake

cake
175g Stork for baking
175g Soft Dark brown sugar
150g Self Raising Flour
25g Cocoa Powder
1 tbsp Baking Powder
3 Eggs
100ml Greek Yoghurt

frosting & filling
300g Full Fat Cream Cheese
300g White Chocolate Spread
250g frozen cherries, thawed & lightly crushed

• Beat the Stork & sugar together in a bowl
• Sift the flour, cocoa & baking powder together
• Add the dry ingredients to the bowl along with the eggs & yogurt
• Beat well until combined
• Divide mixture between 2 x 8" round pans that have been greased & lined with baking parchment
• Bake in a 180 C oven for approx 25 minutes, until the tops are springy
• Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tins & allowing to cool fully on a wire rack
• Beat the cream cheese & white chocolate spread together 
• Sandwich the 2 cakes together with some of the icing and a few cherries, and use the rest to cover completely

meringue bones

1 packet of Dr Oetker egg white (4 sachets)

225g caster sugar

1tsp white wine vinegar

1tsp cornflour

• make the egg white up according to the directions on the pack
• whisk to soft peaks with an electric whisk or stand mixer
• gradually add the sugar whilst whisking, until it has all been added
• keep whisking on a high speed until it forms stiff peaks, and then whisk in the vinegar and cornflour
• spoon the meringue into an icing bag fitted with a small round nozzle
• pipe your bones onto baking sheets lined with baking paper
• preheat the oven to 150C and turn down to 100C once you place the baking trays in
• bake for approx 1 hour and then turn the oven off, leaving the door ajar, until the meringues are completely cool
• take care when removing from the baking sheets as they can be quite fragile
• just before serving, decorate the cake with your bones and drizzle some cherry 'blood and clots' over the top
• serve extra bones with bowls of puss (cream cheese & white chocolate spread) & blood (blended cherries) to dip into

additional Halloween items :

Light up Pumpkin : Waitrose

Eyeballs, rats, fingernails & bats : Tesco

Have you found any really cool items for Halloween, or made any grizzly looking food?

Roast Scotch Beef with Watercress, Horseradish & Grana Padano

Last Thursday I ventured to the capital for the biggest event in the food calendar; the annual Observer Food Monthly Awards, held at the Freemasons Hall. 

There are 10 reader categories and 5 categories decided by a Michelin starred panel of judges. Here you'll see big names such as Jamie Oliver winning an award alongside a lesser known fisherman from Padstow. All equally as deserving.

I was invited along as a guest of Scotch Beef, sponsor of the Best Sunday Lunch category, and with whom I've previously worked, on my recipe for Beef Fajita Burgers. It was a night of food and drink, with a little bit of celeb spotting thrown in for good measure. Food for the evening was created by Swedish raised Marcus Samuelsson of Red Rooster, Harlem (soon to be coming to Shoreditch), and there were cocktails aplenty.

You can find out more about the #OFMAwards, the winners, and photos of the evening at the Guardian online.

As Scotch Beef sponsored the Best Sunday Lunch category I wanted to put together a dish that takes two of the main components of a Sunday Lunch, and give it a twist. The silverside of beef was roasted with a crust of English mustard powder, sea salt and black pepper, as per the Scotch Beef website, before slicing and tossing with a salad of balsamic roasted plum tomatoes, watercress and shavings of Grana Padano, as inspired by a recipe of seared carpaccio of beef in the Jamie Oliver 'Return of the Naked Chef' book. The salad is then served in a jumbo yorkshire pudding!

If this was served on a Sunday in the pub down the road (which, incidentally, was one of the runners up in the Best Sunday Lunch category) I would be straight down there!

Roast Scotch Beef with Watercress, Horseradish & Grana Padano - serves 4
silverside of Scotch Beef 
olive oil
2 tbsp English mustard powder
tsp sea salt
tsp ground black pepper

yorkshire puddings
4 eggs (weighed out of their shells)
plain flour
milk
water
salt & pepper
oil for cooking (I use Trex)

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
200g baby plum tomatoeswatercress
horseradish sauce (thinned with a little extra virgin olive oil)
Grana Padano cheese

• allow the beef to rest at room temperature for an hour & rub with a little olive oil
• mix the mustard powder, salt & pepper together & rub over the top of the meat
• roast for 25 mins per 450g + 25mins (for medium) in a preheated 180C oven
• (if you're a little unsure of your oven temperature and want to make sure you don't under or over cook your meat then I would recommend a Thermapen thermometer, which gives an accurate reading in just 3 seconds)

• whilst the beef is roasting, make the yorkshire pudding batter 
• using the weight of the eggs out of their shells, weigh an equivalent amount of plain flour, milk and self raising flour, and whisk all the ingredients together
• set aside

• Once the beef is cooked to your liking, leave it to rest
• turn the oven up to the highest temperature 
• place some fat into 4 x 6-8" round baking tins and place in the oven for 10 minutes
• pour the batter into the tins and return to the oven
• turn the oven down to 200C and cook for 25 minutes, until the yorkshire puddings are puffed up & crispy

• remove the beef from the baking dish and add 2tbsp balsamic vinegar to the juices
• add the tomatoes to the dish and roast for 15 minutes
• carve the beef into thin slices or strips
• add a handful of watercress, some beef strips, roasted tomatoes and some shavings of Grana Padano to each large yorkshire pudding
• drizzle with some of the balsamic juices and horseradish before serving

If, like me (before conducting some research) you don't know the difference between 'Scotch Beef' and 'Scottish Beef' this will explain all. 

It explains why the quality of beef you get from a Scotch Beef PGI butcher is so good. Where to buy.

this is a commissioned post for Scotch Beef

5 Halloween Party Treats {using SKIPPY peanut butter}

 

Autumn is well and truly upon us, and Halloween is fast approaching. Over the past decade or so Halloween in the UK has become a much bigger deal, but I'm not sure we'll ever catch up with America, who manage to celebrate the Halloween/Fall season so much bigger and better.

Another thing that seems to be a lot more popular in America is peanut butter. Whether it's peanut butter cups, peanut butter crackers, or pb & j sandwiches (peanut butter & jelly [jam] for those that were wondering), there's no escaping the peanut butter in America. I absolutely love peanut butter, as do all 3 children, and I'll add it to my cooking at every given chance (TIP: stir a spoonful of smooth peanut butter into a curry to thicken the sauce).

SKIPPY is an authentic American peanut butter that's widely available in the UK, in both smooth and crunchy varieties, including a whopping 1.1kg jar that I recently spotted on a trip to London. 

These Halloween treats all use SKIPPY smooth peanut butter, and they can be made quickly, as well as being prepared in advance, leaving plenty of time for trick or treating.

Spider Cookies - makes approx 18

240g smooth SKIPPY peanut butter

160g caster sugar

1 medium egg

mini peanut butter cups

edible googly eyes

black icing

• beat the peanut butter, caster sugar & egg together until combined
• roll into balls and place onto a baking sheet, spaced well apart
• press down gently with the back of a fork to flatten a little
• bake in a preheated 180C oven for approx 12-15 minutes
• cool on a wire rack
• decorate by sticking the eyes to the peanut butter cup with icing, and sticking to the centre of each cookie
• ice the legs on either side of the body

False Teeth

slices of red apple

smooth SKIPPY peanut butter

mini marshmallows

• spread one side of each pair of apple slices with peanut butter
• stick marshmallows onto half of the slices, and top with the other apple slice

Graveyards - makes 6

2 tbsp smooth SKIPPY peanut butter

4 tbsp double cream

2 tbsp cream cheese

1 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 Oreo cookie, roughly crushed

3 Lotus Biscoff (or similar shaped biscuit)

black icing

• beat the peanut butter, cream, cream cheese, sugar & vanilla together until smooth
• divide the mixture between 6 shot glasses
• top with dirt (Oreo cookie crumbs) and a gravestone (half a Biscoff with 'RIP' iced on)

Bloodied Mummies - makes 8

ready rolled puff pastry sheet

smooth SKIPPY peanut butter

raspberry or strawberry jam

caster sugar

edible googly eyes

• cut 8 rectangles from approx 2/3 of the pastry sheet
• slice the remaining pastry into thin strips, approximately the same length as the width of the rectangles
• spread each rectangle with peanut butter, and top with jam
• lay the strips of pastry onto each rectangle to look like Mummies bandages
• sprinkle with caster sugar & place onto a baking sheet
• bake in a preheated 200C oven for approx 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden
• whilst still warm, press the eyes into the sticky jam

Ghastly Ghosts - makes 6

3 small bananas
1 tbsp smooth SKIPPY peanut butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
desiccated coconut
edible googly eyes

• slice the bananas in half, making sure that they stand up
• warm the peanut butter and coconut oil in the microwave for a few seconds, and stir until smooth
• spoon the peanut butter sauce over the bananas and coat with coconut
• stick the eyes onto the ghosts and place in the fridge to set

For more Halloween inspiration, take a look at my Halloween Pinterest board and follow the #SPOOKYSKIPPY hashtag on social media

this is a commissioned post for SKIPPY

Quick & Easy Fruity Chicken Biryani

This week marks the 19th National Curry week (10th-16th October), and to celebrate I'm sharing my recipe for a quick and easy Fruity Chicken Biryani. Whilst a Biryani isn't exactly a curry, it does use spices found in many curries that we eat here in the UK, such as Korma, Tikka Masala and Madras, and is popular in Indian restaurants and takeaways - why get a takeaway when you can make a fakeaway in just 15 minutes!

Friday night is our usual night for a curry, and I will admit that the sauce usually comes from a jar, due to time constraints. This dish was loved by all of the family and, despite using whole spices, was cooked in less time than it usually takes to cook a curry from a jar, and tasted so much fresher too.

Microwaveable rice is an absolute godsend when you're making meals in a hurry, as you can have perfectly cooked, tasty rice in just 2 minutes. Veetee have a wide range of microwaveable rice including Chinese style, Mexican style and plain long grain rice. I decided to use Pilau rice in this dish as it's not only infused with cumin and spices, but it's a great colour too.

Quick & Easy Fruity Chicken Biryani - serves 4

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

handful of cashew nuts

handful jumbo raisins/golden sultanas

seeds from 4 cardamom pods

tsp cumin seeds

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2cm fresh ginger, peeled & grated

2 tbsp mango chutney

3 roast chicken breasts, skin removed & shredded

2 packs of Veetee Pilau rice

handful of fresh coriander, chopped

• heat the oil in a large pan
• add the onion and fry over a high heat until the edges start to brown
• add the cashews and continue to cook until onions and cashews are browned 
• turn the heat down and stir in the raisins/sultanas
• crush the cardamom & cumin seeds and add to the pan along with the garlic and ginger
• fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly
• stir in the mango chutney and shredded chicken 
• place the lid on whilst heating the rice in the microwave (as per directions on the pack)
• stir the rice into the pan along with the chopped coriander
• serve immediately

Lots of lovely juicy fruit bits from the sultanas, raisins and mango chutney, along with crunchy nuts and moist chicken.

This recipe has been commissioned for Veetee