Our £20 Christmas

Christmas dinner had to come early for hubs and I, or not at all. One of us is working and the other volunteering on Christmas Day so a 3 course slap up the day before was a must. However, I gave myself the added challenge of creating the festive feast, with drinks, for under £20...a success? Yes, with change to spare.

Our Christmas menu consisted of Cream of Broccoli Soup to start; Roast Gammon with Boiled Potatoes, Shredded Sprout Salad and Pineapple Puree for main as well as Luxury Hot Chocolate and Homemade Shortbread for dessert. We are completely full and have left overs to boot so maybe this blog should read 'feed 4 for £5 per head'...!?

In order to keep the target spend in check we bought our necessities from Lidl. We are familiar with Aldi and tend do to most of our shopping there week to week however, if you aren't a regular at these budget supermarkets I would encourage you to give it  bash- quality produce at a fraction of the price compared to mainstream supermarkets, win win in my opinion. Our total spend was £10.63 which included a gammon roast wrapped in streaky bacon, all veg, freshly baked bread rolls, double cream along with white and milk chocolate. Additional bits a pieces such as pineapple chunks and condensed milk were fetched from Tesco, taking the total spend to £13.35.

Our custom made cocktail of rum, bourbon, cinnamon, orange zest and ginger ale tallies up to a grand total of £1 per cocktail (granted you have to buy a bottle of Bulleit and Morgan's upfront) but warms the belly nicely. The finished dishes also included store cupboard items such as mustard, plain flour and stock cubes. Now onto how they were made...

Soup: fry 1 large onion and 1 stick of celery in butter adding a whole broccoli (including stems and leaves for flavour) and 500ml of chicken stock. Leave to simmer for 20mins, blitz with a hand blender and add double cream, cornflower to thicken and ground pepper to taste. Tip- add chopped smoked bacon when frying the onion and celery to give greater depth.

Main: the gammon came pre prepped with cooking instructions and was served with boiled potatoes dressed in melting butter and ground pepper. An added twist was given by steaming shredded sprouts for 8 minutes and then running under cold water to give a cold crunchy, yet seasonal, salad side. The pineapple puree was made my warming pineapple chunks in juice with brown sugar, lemon juice, cornflower and mustard giving a final blitz in the last minute with a blender once again.

Dessert: get ready for a heart attack! Melt condensed milk, a full bar of milk chocolate, half a bar of white with milk and cocoa powder...you only need a small cup of this stuff to satisfy your sweet tooth! This was served with shortbread biscuits which were made from a traditional recipe of sugar, butter and plain flour.

We are now throughly stuffed, lying on the couch watching movies- exactly how Christmas Day should be ;) have a great day when it comes folks! Ho Ho Ho x

Queen to Approve Crime Combating Chocolate!

Every so often, when I was younger, my Mum used to allow me to select just a few "posh chocolates" from the Pick'n'Mix  stands in Safeway or Woolworths. You know, the ones in wrappers or the ones with runny centers. It became known, between us, as "3 each"- inventively named as the limit would always be six between us both. I used to feel so priviledged, part of an exclusive club in which I would savour each bite and make each piece last as long as possible. This involved carving off the solid disc chocolate bottom with my nashers, sooking out the thick caramel from within and leaving a crisp naked cup to crunch!

I later became mildly obsessed over "chocolates with sections" (meaning chocolate boxes in which each piece had its own little bed) after watching Ms Trunchbull in the film Matilda wrap her gums around some fine looking morsels and smack the words "much too good for children". It became a tradition thereafter  that each Christmas I received a partitioned box of treats from Maw and Paw which, along with my stocking, made my day!

You can then only imagine the euphoric high I experienced upon discovery of the "confectionery counter" for the first time-  perfectly formed pyramids of choice! I loved everything from their little name plaques, to the varying shades of white, milk and dark. I've maybe only visited confectionery counters six times in all my life, but on Sunday I made that number seven!

Hubs and I were returning from a weekend down south when we stopped off at Lake Windermere and wandered around the village of Bowness. To my delight it held an array of indie retailers and charity shops- I love a good find - but the greatest treasure to uncover was "Huttons of the Lake District" who have been chocolate making since 1920. My eyes widened at the choice of over 30 different, individual chocolate types. That wasn't including wall to wall sweetie cladding around the shop! We refrained from gorging on all varieties by sticking to my previous ritual of "3 each".

As we stood in silence eyeing up 'the chosen ones' the lady infront of me turned and whispered, "I'm being naughty." It was at this point I realised my life long facination stemmed from an enjoyable guilt... tucking into delicacies not everyone could have, unlike mass produced Cadburys or Caramac. There is an air of exclusivity in these crispy, milky, bitter, rose flavoured, flakey, creamy, pretty little bites- often with restricted access once the branded ribbon or sticker  seal have been applied. It's an experience, not just a product!

And so, as hubs and I left the shop, we sought a quiet corner to carefully peel the bag open and try our well considered selection. As my teeth sunk into Turkish Delight, Champagne Truffle and Marzipan I admired the design of Paul Smith style stripes and feather like chocolate curls. I realised this sense of 'being naughty' probably satisfied my rebellious tendencies enough when I was younger to refrain from house breaking and drug taking. Could this be a new solution to young offender rehabilitation? Curbing the cravings of criminals with a trip to the nearest Chocolatier? I'm sure Her Majesty would approve of such new age innovation in her prison service - I mean she's now on Twitter forgodsake. Well, if you are reading this Ma'am, you're welcome, it's been a pleasure. Nikki R.

Scottish Bramble Sorbet

Ok, so the second blog of this evening goes to dessert: Sorbet!

This was inspired by my better half's little brother who has made brilliant (if slightly alcoholic) sorbet in recent weeks which made me realise I totally discount it as a satisfying pud! I also reckoned if a 12 year old could make sorbet- so could I.

I started by mixing 170g of sugar with 1 pint of cold water in a saucepan and added the rind of a lemon. I brought this mix to the boil slowly, ensuring all sugar had dissolved prior to blasting it heavily with heat for 4 minutes.

The juice of the lemon was then squeezed into the pan, now off the heat, and the liquid mixture left to cool completely.  Whilst this was cooling, I removed all random leaves and twigs from the freshly picked brambles and washed them of all additional protein (creepy crawlies), blitzing them in a blender to await the cooled syrup.

Once the sugar syrup had cooled completely,  I mixed this with the bramble pulp and drained through a sieve in order to get a completely smooth sorbet. 

Leave in the freezer for around 6 hours and then meet your new best friend. Endless opportunities exist with sorbet to try this with alternative fruit - I think the perfect pal for this tonight would have been a crisp mint chocolate thin. The fresh sweet taste or the bramles were brought to life by the lemon yet could have been better showcased with a bitter dark chocolate play mate.  Bon, bon.

Salmon Fillet with Parmesan and Pesto Crust

Tonight I shall write two short blogs, on a very delicious but super simple 2 course meal. The first shall focus on the main- salmon and roasted veg.

This is a very typical dinner dish for us, it's easy, healthy and relatively quick however salmon can sometimes just be plain boring and tonight I fancied a change. So, I blitzed 1 slice of seeded batch bread in a blender and added around 20g of grated parmesan and 3 teaspoons of pesto in order to make a slightly moist breadcrumb mix. This tops the salmon fillets before heading into the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

To join the salmon I laced a baking tray with olive oil, salt and pepper then chopped white onion, yellow pepper, carrot, courgette and garlic - tossing them in the oil mix before heading onto a lower shelf for a similar time frame. You can pick any veg you like however this colour mix felt quite 'autumnal' and suits the weather we are having at the moment.

To serve, I placed the steaming hot salmon onto a bed of veg. The pesto and parmesan crust really complimented the garlicy veg but did not over power the gentle taste of the fish. This is definitely one to be played around with- I hope you find your own perfect combination and enjoy!

Homemade Hollandaise Sauce

The first time I tried hollandaise sauce was upon the eve of my graduation when my parents treated me to the best steak I have ever had, at The Potted Pig in Cardiff. This sublime steak was served with hollandaise sauce and a lightly dressed side of rocket. 

I remember the taste of that sauce being creamy, yet sharp and fresh, very, very fresh-  full of flavour! I'm actually not sure this would have been "the best steak ever" without it.

This weekend, Saturday night came and I was salivating for this meal all over again yet the distance of 418 miles stood in my way....I had no other choice but to recreate it, if I could.

Typically we buy our meat from the supermarket. When buying steaks we always aim to get 'the best of' range or prime packaged cuts, however, on this occasion hubz2b paid a visit to the local butcher and picked up 2 belters of steaks- the sirloin variety. I knew I had to treat this flesh with respect. I also knew I had to balance our over indulgence in a butter based sauce and beer with the lightness of veggie sides so I attempted parsnip crisps. In the end, they were slightly overdone (fault on my part) but crispy and sweet nonetheless, and finished off with a light cajun spice. 

For the main star of this piece I mixed the juice of half a lemon with a cap full of white wine vinegar and added the yolks of two medium eggs. Using a hand blender I lightly blitzed these together.
Then, in a small pot, I gently melted just under half block of unsalted butter- as it began to foam I turned off the heat and slowly trickled the melted butter into the yolk mix blending continually. I did this carefully and in 'batches' so as not to 'dump' the butter in all at once. I then blended this full buttery mix until it thickened in consistency and added salt and pepper to really bring the flavours to life. This final blending stage took around 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds.

The sauce was lovely, certainly edible and did not split, curdle or cook the eggs. However I must admit it wasn't a patch on that of The Potted Pig's and wondered if I had missed something....

I didn't wonder for long though as I was soon too engrossed in digging into this beautiful cut of perfectly cooked meat (slapped evenly onto a very hot pan and left for 3 minutes either side) served with the parsnips and griddled corn on the cob. A lush dining out alternative!

Homemade Spiced Onions

Just a wee short one tonight- but then again spiced onions speak for themselves so not a lot of writing to do!

As mentioned in previous posts, hubz2b and I are on a bit of a health kick (she writes as they both lie on the couch munching on Toblerone and down a few beers! It's Friday,  we are allowed to, and they are light beers at that!) Anyhoo,  I digress... Our healthy choice recipes have been surprisingly tastey however tonight called for "a little extra" so spiced onions seemed the obvious choice to accompany our curry-  which was still made with low fat natural yoghurt.

To make these taste bud tingling beauties I mixed raw chopped onion (2 medium onions) with juice from half a lemon, one tablespoon of mango chutney, two tablespoons of tomato sauce, a splash of chilli hot sauce, 3 teaspoons of mint sauce and a good old grind of black pepper.

Done!

These spiced onions really added an extra crunch and tang to our already tastey marinaded chicken curry, with coriander and tomato rice mix. I hope you enjoy x

Orange and Mango Mini Loaves

So today was a loooong day, it was a difficult day too. What do long, difficult days usually call for? Munchies, that's right. Yet, when you are on a pre-wedding healthy eating stint munchies can be a pretty tough gig and are usually out of bounds.

Now, before I go any further I have to admit I'm no baker! I approach baking as I do cooking which usually turns out well - 'add a bit of this and that'-  it's all rather technical really but all bar 2 of my previous baking creations have ended in the bin! The 2 that have made it to the plate left a vile taste in the mouth so I didn't have high hopes for tonight's experiment. However, beggars cant be chosers when it comes to munchies...

Much to my and hubz2b's delight they were edible AND delish!  I present to you my mini orange and mango loaves:

I mixed approximately 175g of self raising flour, 50g of caster sugar, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 50g of chopped dried mango and 3/4 quarters of a squeezed orange together - I could already see the acid from the orange juice reacting with the baking powder! Once these ingredients were mixed slightly, I added one egg along with the tiniest tad of milk to fold the mixture. I then split this evenly between 3 mini silicone loaf trays and baked at 200 degrees.

In order to justify this treat, I proceeded to do light weight arm reps in my kitchen for the 13 minutes they took to cook. This step is optional....

The beeper goes and my beauties are ready.

Hubz2b and I taste tested them on their own, with Mackays Scottish Strawberry Conserve, Mackays Dundee Orange Marmalade and a wee touch of olive oil spread. All tests proved extremely successful, with hubz2b commenting "I dont even like marmalade but they are good!". However we both had to agree that the strawberry conserve really pulled the flavours of the mango and the orange together to make quite an impression!

Not bad for a 20 minute munchie improv.... Enjoy! X