Toad in the Hole with Onion Gravy

Toad in the Hole with Onion Gravy

A British classic perfect for a mid-week supper on a winters evening!  Serve with mashed potato and roasted vegetables.

Serves 4

Prep time:  15 minutes

Cooking time:  45 minutes

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

8-10 good quality pork sausages

150g plain flour

½ tsp fine sea salt

2 large free-range eggs

150ml milk

For the onion gravy:

20g butter

2 red onions, peeled & finely sliced

Freshly ground salt & pepper

1 ½ tbsp plain flour

300ml chicken stock

1 tsp English mustard

2 tbsp redcurrant jam

Few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

Preparation method

1.  Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6.  Place the oil into a 1.5 litre ovenproof dish making sure the oil evenly covers the base.  Add the sausage and cover in the oil.  Put in the oven for 10 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile prepare the batter, place the flour, salt, eggs and milk into a large bowl and whisk until the mixture is fully combined and there are no lumps.

3.  Remove the sausages from the oven and pour the batter all over the baking dish.  Return the dish to the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the batter has risen and is golden brown.

4.  Meanwhile make the onion gravy.  In a large saucepan melt the butter and add the onion, season with salt and pepper.  Over a medium heat cook for 8-10 minutes stirring occasionally until the onions are soft.  Add the flor and stir through for a couple of minutes.

4.  Stir through the stock a bit at a time and bring to a simmer.  Now add the mustard, jam and Worcestershire sauce.  Simmer until the gravy has thickened and season to taste.

5.  Remove the Toad in the Hole from the oven and allow to rest for a few minutes.  Serve with mashed potato and roasted vegetables.

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French Onion Soup with Gruyere Toast

French Onion Soup with Gruyere Toast

A classic soup - superbly warming and satisfying for a wintry evening

Serves 4

Prep time:  15 minutes

Cooking time:  1 ½ hours

Ingredients

60g butter

700g medium white onions, peeled & sliced

2 tsp caster sugar

2 garlic cloves, peeled & crushed

1 tbsp flour

1.5 litres beef stock

1 bouquet garni (bay leaves, thyme & parsley)

275 ml dry white wine

2 tbsp cognac

Freshly ground salt & pepper

For the Gruyere Toast

4 slices of baguette, 2cm thick

2 garlic cloves, peeled 

225g gruyere cheese, coarsely grated

Preparation method

1.  Heat the butter in a large pan, when melted add the onions, garlic and sugar and cook over a medium heat.  Stir regularly for 20-30 minutes until the onions are really soft and well caramelized.

2.  Now add the flour, mix well and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the wine and leave to simmer until it has reduced by half.

3.  Add the beef stock, cognac and bouquet garni, cover and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove the bouquet garni and season the soup to taste.

4.  Meanwhile preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas Mark 2.  Place the slices of bread onto a baking tray and leave them to dry out but not brown.  Remove from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 220°C/Gas Mark 7.

5.  Rub ½ a clove of garlic over each piece of bread.

6.  To serve, place a slice of bread at the bottom of an ovenproof soup bowl and ladle the soup on top, making sure the onions and soup are evening distributed.  Cover the soup with the cheese, place the bowls onto a baking tray and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden and bubbling.

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Spiced Potted Beef

Spiced Potted Beef

This is a great starter that can be made ahead as it will keep in the fridge for up to three days. Delicious served spread onto fresh, crusty bread or hot toast.

Serves 4-6

Prep time:  10 minutes

Cooking time:  3 ½ - 4 hours

Ingredients

100g butter

2 garlic cloves, peeled

½ tsp sea salt flakes

1 tsp grated nutmeg

½ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

300g braising steak, cut into large chunks

Freshly ground pepper

For the topping:

25g butter

4 sprinklings of peppercorns

Preparation method

1.  Preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas mark 2.  Place the butter, garlic, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cayenne pepper into a small saucepan and season with pepper.  On a low heat slowly melt the butter, stir occasionally.

2.  Place the beef into an ovenproof dish and pour over the melted butter, covering the beef.

3.  Place in the centre of the oven and cover with foil or a lid and cook for 3 ½ hours or until the beef falls apart.  Halfway through the cooking time turn over the beef, cover again and return to the oven.

4.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.  Place the beef and all the juices into a bowl, shred and mash until the mixture is as smooth as possible.  Transfer to a small preserving jar or ramekins and spread evenly.

5.  For the topping, melt the butter on a low heat.  Remove the white foam that rises with a spoon and then pour the remaining clarified butter over the potted beef and sprinkle the peppercorns on top.  Cover and chill.  Serve with crusty bread or warm toast. Enjoy!

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Thai Green Curry with Beef

Thai Green Curry with Beef

This fantastic Thai green curry recipe features tender, thinly-sliced pieces of beef together with aubergine. The curry is very sumptuous - wonderful on a chilly night! The homemade green curry paste is what makes this dish sing, so don't be tempted to substitute the shop-bought variety. (You will have more curry paste than required but it will store in the fridge for one week).

Serves 4

Prep time:  20 minutes

Cooking time:  10-12 minutes

Ingredients

For the green curry paste:

10 long green chillies, roughly chopped

3 shallots, peeled & roughly chopped

6 cloves of garlic, peeled & roughly chopped

4cm of fresh root ginger, peeled & roughly chopped

Bunch of coriander

2 lemongrass, trimmed & roughly chopped

3 kaffir lime leaves

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp peppercorns

1 tsp sea salt 

1 tsp shrimp paste

For the beef curry:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

450g beef fillet or tenderloin, cut into bite-sized pieces

5 baby aubergines or 1 regular sized, chopped into bite-sized pieces

400ml tin of coconut milk

2 kaffir leaves

1 ½ tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp palm sugar

To serve:

Roughly chopped coriander

Jasmine rice, cooked as packet instructions

Preparation method

1.  For the curry paste, place the chillies, shallots, garlic, ginger, coriander, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves into a food processor.  Blend to a fine paste adding the oil as necessary. 

2.  Toast the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry frying pan until fragrant.  Using a pestle and mortar or coffee grinder grind the spices, peppercorns and salt to a fine powder.  Add to the food processor with the shrimp paste and blitz to a fine paste.

3.  For the curry, heat the oil in a large pan or wok.  Add 4 tbsp of the curry paste and stir over a medium heat for 1 minute.  Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer.  Now add the aubergines, lime leaves, fish sauce and sugar.  Cook for 3-4 minutes until the aubergine is tender and then add the beef.  Cook for another 2 minutes and then remove from the heat.

4.  To serve, ladle the curry into warm bowls and scatter with coriander.  Serve immediately with jasmine rice, enjoy!

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Florentines

Florentines

This recipe for chewy, sticky Florentines is absolutely foolproof. Whip up a batch for a party or make as edible Christmas gifts.

Makes 20

Prep time:  15-20 minutes

Cooking time:  45 minutes

Ingredients

25g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

70g unrefined caster sugar

15g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

4 tbsp double cream

50g whole blanched almonds, roughly chopped

50g flaked almonds, toasted

50g mixed peel, chopped

50g undyed glace cherries, chopped

50g preserved stem ginger, drained and chopped

70g plain chocolate, broken into pieces

70g white chocolate, broken into pieces

Preparation method

1.  Preheat oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.  Lightly grease 2 baking sheets with butter and dust with flour.

2.  Put the butter, sugar and flour into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring well, until the mixture has melted.  Gradually add the cream, stirring constantly, then add all the remaining ingredients, except the chocolate and stir thoroughly.  Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

3.  Drop 5 teaspoons of the mixture onto each of the prepared baking sheets, space well apart to allow for spreading, the flatten with the back of a spoon.

4.  Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes.  Leave the biscuits to harden on the sheets for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.  Repeat with the remaining mixture, again using the 2 baking sheets.

5.  When the biscuits are completely cool, put the plain chocolate in a heatproof bowl, set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until melted.  Using a teaspoon spread the base of 10 of the biscuits with the melted chocolate.  Repeat with the white chocolate for the 10 remaining biscuits.

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This Week's Menu - Beginning of December

December 2012 ALREADY.... 21 days until Christmas! How are you handling the stress of the holiday season? Make sure to check out the December Sanity Retreat 2012, begun by Cheryl Harris and hosted by several wonderful gluten-free bloggers. This past week's post was written by Valerie of City Life Eats. Iris of The Daily Dietribe also wrote a fantastic post about the event in which she shares her own personal goals for the month.

Do you make lots of cookies or candy for Christmas? Generally I don't, but I'm working on a new project so I hope to test a bunch of recipes in the next few weeks, and my plan to try out some new gluten-free Christmas cookies! What are your favorite kinds? The theme of the Gluten-Free Menu Swap this week is gluten-free christmas cookies, so share your favorites over at Lisa's blog "Extraordinary Life." She is hosting the menu swap today!

A few cookies I definitely want to make this year:

• Refrigerator Pinwheel Cookies
• Spritz Cookies
• No Bake Oatmeal Cookies

This Week's Menu: 

• Monday -- Big ol' batch of slow-cooker beef stew, this will probably last for 2-3 meals throughout the week. (Will freeze leftovers in portion size containers.) This beef stew was made with about 1 cup of frozen leftover beef stew from another batch  added to: 1 pound browned, grass-fed ground beef + 3 diced carrots, about 1 1/2 cups frozen lima beans, 1 large chopped sweet onion, 2 chopped potatoes (yes, it's a starch heavy stew... lol), and about 3-4 cups of beef broth + salt, pepper, and fresh garlic. All added to the slow cooked and cooked on low for about 9 hours. 

• Tuesday -- A big salad plate with mixed greens & raw veggies, shaved ham, poached eggs, with an oil & vinegar dressing. PS... GF Rice Chex make awesome croutons! 

• Wednesday -- I'm still in Thanksgiving mode, so I am going to slow cook turkey chops (thick slices of turkey breast) and serve with Cheryl's Celery in Chestnut sauce with steamed broccoli and my favorite apple-cranberry sauce on the side. 

• Thursday -- Dinner out since we have errands -- Hibachi stir fry with no sauces -or- leftover slow cooker beef stew!

• Friday -- Homemade GF pizza using this vegan pizza crust, it's a super easy, super crispy crust! I'm thinking of making a BBQ chicken pizza with caramelized onions. 

• Saturday -- Leftover slow cooker beef stew from Monday, as I'm having a gluten-free baking class that day. 

• Sunday-- We've made this crustless kale & bacon quiche from Jenna's Everything Blog at least 3 times and we love it so much we're making it again... really delicious and hearty meal! 

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Christmas Spiced Loaf

Christmas Spiced Loaf

This festive bread can be made ahead and frozen and makes a lovely treat for breakfast on Christmas morning

Serves 6-8

Prep time:  2 hours 40 minutes

Cooking time:  1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

450g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting

Pinch of salt

2 tsp mixed spice

115g unsalted butter, chilled & diced

7g sachet easy blend dried yeast

115g unrefined caster sugar, plus extra for dusting

115g currants

115g raisins

50g mixed peel, chopped

1 orange, zest only

1 egg, beaten

150ml milk, warmed

Vegetable oil, for oiling

1 egg, beaten for egg wash

½ tsp ground cinnamon 

Preparation method

1.  Sift the flour, salt and mixed spice into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Stir in the yeast, sugar, dried fruit, mixed peel and orange zest, then add the egg and the warm milk and bring together to form a soft dough.

2.  Knead the dough briefly on a floured work surface.  Flour a clean bowl and add the dough.  Cover the bowl and leave to rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

3.  Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4 and oil a 900g loaf tin.  Knead the dough again briefly then pace it in the tin, cover and leave to prove for 20 minutes.  Use a little egg wash to brush the loaf, and sprinkle with a little caster sugar and ground cinnamon.

4.  Bake in the oven for 1 hour 10 minutes, the loaf should be golden and well risen.  Leave to cool in the tin.

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