Seasonal recipe - get in the mood for Christmas

In between making mince pies and chocolate truffles, I found time at the weekend to create an entirely new recipe for the slow cooker, using some tasty and seasonal ingredients -  and here it is for you to try:

Game and beetroot casserole
1 tblsp oil
200g smoked streaky bacon
500g diced game - I used a mixture of pigeon, pheasant and venison
4 beetroots, peeled and sliced
12 shallots
1 sprig of rosemary
2 bay leaves
100 ml port
500 ml stock
Salt and black pepper

Place the bowl on the stove top over a medium heat.  Heat the oil and add the chopped bacon.  Fry until beginning to change colour.  Add the diced game and brown on all sides.
Carefully transfer the bowl to the heater base and add all the other ingredients.  Stir well.
Cook on KEEP WARM for 8 hours.
If you want a thicker gravy, mix a flat dessertspoon of cornflour into 50 ml water. Add to the casserole and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Try serving this with some buttered spinach and creamy mashed potatoes

On the air

So exciting - we received a phone call from Vicki Archer at BBC Radio Shropshire on Monday asking if she could come and visit us for a feature on her radio show.  Split second decision, of course we said "Yes!".

On Tuesday lunchtime Vicki arrived with her colleague Adam Green and conducted interviews with all of us, which are being featured all this week on their afternoon show.
Naturally we gave them some slow cooked lunch, Shrophire Hills pork and a seasonal pudding of dried fruit salad in mulled wine.  Listen to the show to hear their reports as restaurant critics!

They also loved our new range of clocks and Adam was thrilled to take one away with him - no excuses for being late now, Adam!

I certainly hope that listeners will now visit our Shropshire stockists to see the Netherton Foundry range for themselves: please go and see Upstairs Downstairs in Oswestry, Rickards in Ludlow, the Bridgnorth Delicatessen in Bridgnorth (and also in Wombourne) Blists Hill Museum and Museum of Iron sites in Coalbrookdale and Cooking Marvellous in Shrewsbury.
If you want a stockist outside the county, check the website or give us a call.

Happy Christmas shopping

Tick tock, tick tock

Tick tock, tick tock, can you hear the countdown to Christmas?  It seems to be drumming in my head as I try and tick of the list of jobs, which gets longer as the days get shorter!!
If you are stuck for unusual and special gift ideas, why not look at our brand new range of clocks - There's one for every style of interior design, but if you can't find what you're looking for, let us know........... perhaps we can create one just for you!

Of course, the Netherton Foundry Slow Cookers should already be at the top of everyone's list for Santa, and there's still time to order yours!

Just off to check on the elves, who are busy packing the parcels.

Christmas is coming; a new recipe

Christmas is coming, so I have created a festive variation of the traditional red cabbage and apple dish, which goes so well with roast goose and baked gammon.  It's also a great accompaniment to sausage and mash or smoked pork - try using our hot smoker set to create your own version.

50g butter

2 tblsp oil

2 red onions, sliced

4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

80g soft brown sugar

125ml cider vinegar

1 red cabbage, shredded

10 juniper berries, crushed

120g cranberries

Place the cast iron bowl on the hob over a medium heat.  Heat the oil and butter and when the butter has melted add the sliced onions.

Cook gently until translucent.  Add the apples, sugar and vinegar and stir gently until the sugar has dissolved.

Using oven gloves to handle the bowl, carefully transfer it to the heater base.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir gently to mix.

Cook on LOW for 6 hours.

Serves 8

Note: because this recipe contains vinegar, you may have to re-season your bowl and lid after use.  Please follow the simple instructions in your manual for the every best results. 

Cold mornings, warm hearts

I've had to scrape the ice off the windscreen of the little blue van for the first time this winter. Just the weather for slow cooked dinners. 
It was however a truly beautiful morning when I set off for Devon and Cornwall, a superb sunrise, followed by a clear, cold sunny Autumn day. 
I really enjoyed my trip around these South Western counties and loved seeing the sea.  Great to get a new stockist in Barnstaple, please go and visit Pots'n'Pans and if you are in Falmouth, drop in to a-dept on the High Street.
As for the warm hearts, would you believe I met a really helpful traffic warden in Falmouth - thanks for the perfect directions.
And also a huge thank you to all of you out there who have helped, advised and supported us in so many different ways.  In particular, thanks to Alan and Sarah at Trevor Mottram in Tunbridge Wells, as well as Halina at the Gourmet Cook Shop in Nantwich for all the useful contacts and to Sarah at Cooks Emporium in Knutsford for all the promotion work she has done.

And a thank you to everyone who has offered me a cup of coffee on my tour of the country - you know who you are!

New recipe coming soon - watch this space!

From Bridgnorth to France

Thanks to our great friends at Bridgnorth Delicatessen - purveyors of fine cheeses, olives and charcuterie, as well as cast iron slow cookers - a Netherton Foundry cast iron tagine has now taken up residence in France!  And here is what they said about it:

"Just to say I've received my electric tagine today and the quality of it is absolutely fantastic. Just love it, thank you. We are all so busy that we only seem to have time to complain, so when something stunning arrives (not very often these days) I do try to say so. If this is your quality then you would be a real runner against 'le creuset'."

 

Drop in to their shop and sample their wares, they are too tempting to resist.

The Adventures of the Little Blue Van

One of the very first shops to stock the Netherton Foundry Slow Cooker was Timmis in the delightful Georgian town of Bewdley on the River Severn.  Here is a photo of the window display, which has caught the eye of lots of passers by. 

This is a great shop, only a few miles down the road from us.  They always seem to have whatever I am looking for and the staff are so knowledgeable - I'd rather go to a shop like this than somewhere like B&Q every time. 

Thank you for reading my latest news.  Please visit our website http://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/