Broomfield bhajis, what to do with yet another carrot

I arrived home with a massive haul of super fresh, super cheap carrots for my local farm shop, Broomfields - so after the soup, the cake and the salad, a little inspiration was called for.
This is what I came up with;  a variation on one of my son's favourite foods - onion bhajis from our local takeaway.

Carrot bhajis with spiced tomato sauce

First make the tomato sauce

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1" ginger, peeled and roughly shopped
2 tblsp water
2 tsp kalonji
1 tsp turmeric
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar


Blend the onion, garlic, ginger and water to a smooth paste.
Heat 1 tblsp of oil over a medium heat.  Add the onion paste and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the kalonji and turmeric and cook for a further minute.
Add the tomatoes, salt and sugar.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat while you cook the bhajis - serve the sauce warm, not piping hot.


250g gram flour
3 tsp cumin seeds
Chilli to taste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
4 large carrots, coarsely grated

Mix the dry ingredients with enough water to make a thick batter.
Stir in the coriander and the carrots

I use our 13" wok to cook these
Drop dessertspoonfuls of the mixture into hot oil a few at a time and fry until golden brown.
Lift out of the oil, drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while you prepare the rest.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2013 ©
www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

One pot, two dishes

I love lentils, cheap, versatile, tasty and low fat!!  This is a dual recipe, which makes two separate vegetarian starters from a single pot of lentils.

This is an ideal recipe to make in the Kitchen Companion - making the most of one pot cooking.

Lentil pate and lentil and tomato soup

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
200g red lentils
10 sun dried tomatoes
1 sprig thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
800ml water
1 fat garlic clove, sliced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
400ml stock
Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the sweet potato, lentils , sun-dried tomatoes, thyme and water in the cast iron bowl. Cover with the cast iron lid. place the bowl on the heater base or on the hob.
Turn the heater base to its highest setting and bring to the boil.
Turn down to a low heat and simmer for about an hour - until the sweet potato is very soft and most of the water has been absorbed.
Add the sliced garlic and season to taste.  Cook, without a lid, for another 10 minutes until all the water is absorbed.

Remove the thyme if you have used fresh herbs.  Blend the mixture until smooth and cool half in the fridge.  
Serve the cold pate with toast.

Use the remaining half to create a tasty and warming soup - ideal on a chilly winter day.
Add the chopped tomatoes and  stock to the other half of the mixture.  Stir well to mix, return to the heat and warm through.
Serve with crusty bread.

Netherton FoundryShropshire 2013 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Wok fried chicken with plum sauce

Our woks are incredibly popular and I use mine several times a week.  Nothing can beat a stir fry for a tasty meal in a hurry - and with busy lives, weekday dinners are more often a hurry than not!

This dish was inspired partly by Jan's last recipe for pork chops and plum sauce and partly as a variation on the classic duck and plum sauce so beloved in Chinese restaurants

300g chicken breast, diced
1 leek, sliced
¼ white cabbage , shredded
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 star anise
300 ml chicken stock
1 tblp plum jam
1 tblsp soy sauce
2 tsp cornflour
2 tblsp oil

Heat the oil in the wok oil over a high heat.
Throw in the garlic and fry for 10 seconds, then add the chicken and star anise.  Fry until the chicken is golden brown on all sides.
Add the leeks, cabbage and star anise and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the jam, soy sauce and stock and cook for 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Mix the cornflour to a paste with water and then stir into the dish and stir until the sauce is thickened.

Serve with steamed rice or noodles.

PS I also use my wok for frying chips!! But not quite so often as the stir fries!

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2013 ©
www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Pork chops with plum sauce

It has been somewhat busy at Netherton Workshops over the last few weeks - not least with our latest 2 export orders.
Shropshire made cookware is now making its mark in Germany and the Czech Republic and we have been busy loading the pallets and waving our pans off to foreign homes.

I have been very conscious that it is a bit too long since I posted a new blog, so I was mightily relieved when our fabulous customer Jan dropped me an e-mail.

Jan came to visit our workshops last summer after being disappointed that she couldn't buy a Shropshire made slow cooker in the county town of Shrewsbury - sadly still the case!
But we are always happy to meet customers, so she was, in her words, "treated like royalty" and has been keeping me up to date with her recipes ever since.

Here's the latest, thanks Jan


Here’s a nice simple tasty recipe to add to the blog. I got the recipe from the web. It was for pork ribs, but works very well with chops.  They cooked quite quickly and were incredibly tender.

Slow cooker pork chops with plum sauce

¹/₃ cup plum jam

1 chicken stock cube

2 teasp cornflour – I omitted this as I don’t like glutinous sauces

¼ cup of water

3 teasp soy sauce

1 clove garlic crushed

Chops of course!

I fried the chops briefly on the hob and then added the sauce ingredients. It cooked  in about 4 hours on HIGH. The meat was so tender and sweet. Delicious! This is nice with some simple vegetables, cauliflower, and jacket potatoes.

It seems years since we came over for our cooker, and I think it was one of the best purchases ever! I am always telling my friends about the virtues of slow cooking.

Happy Christmas to all,

Jan

If anyone else has a recipe that they'd be happy to share, please e-mail it over to me, ideally with a photo and I will post it on to the blog.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Autumn treats

WARM DISHES FOR COOLER DAYS

The leaves are turning colour - those still left on the trees after the recent winds - and the temperature is definitely falling with them, so here are some lovely warming recipes for Autumn.
I made these indoors, I have to admit, but we have recently sold a lot of our Outdoor Hobs, which will no doubt be used on Bonfire Night and on those lovely cold and crisp days which really bring the joys of Autumn to mind. 
One bowl of charcoal will barbecue for up to 4 hours, but if you pop the pot on, you can cook for up to 7 hours - believe me, I experimented in the Springtime ( remember the snowy April we had?).  The seasons really do seem topsy turvy these days.  

 

We should all be doing whatever we can to minimise the impact of climate change and in our own way, we are trying to make a difference with our cookware range - we don't use anything other than iron, wood and flax oil for the pans, we make sure that you can restore the surface and replace most of the parts, but most of all these are built to last - they are durable and get better with use and age.  Sustainable materials, low component miles and a complete contrast to the concept of "disposable" product, with built in obsolescence

Anyway, enough of the philosophy - on with the cooking..............

Baked beans

500g haricot or cannellini beans, soaked and cooked
1 tblsp oil
1 tblsp black treacle
2 tsp grain mustard
4 cloves garlic
1 tblsp brown sugar
½ tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
2 tins chopped tomatoes
250 ml water
Salt and pepper to taste

Warm the oil in a casserole dish over a medium heat and add the chopped garlic. Cook gently for a couple of minutes. Don't let it burn or it will taste very bitter. Add all the other ingredients, except the beans and stir well to mix.  Cook until the sugar has dissolved and then add the beans.
Cover with the lid and simmer for at least a couple of hours, but they will be even better after 5 or 6 hours.  You can do this on the hob, on the slow cooker base (use the LOW) setting or on the charcoal base of the Outdoor Hob

These are fantastic on toast, with baked potatoes, with sticky sausages or chuck in some chorizo, chunky bacon pieces or chestnuts to make an even more sustaining meal.

These sausages were added to a pile of caramelised onions and then I stirred in a large dollop of marmalade to make a very sticky and tangy glaze.

Pumpkin and cashews

2 tblsp oil

4 cloves of garlic

2 heaped tsp cumin seed

2 tsp salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp paprika

750g squash or pumpkin (peeled and seeded weight), cut into chunks

Juice of 1 orange

100g cashew nuts

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

Dry sherry

Pre-heat the oven to 180º C/gas mark 4

Crush the garlic with the salt and cumin to make a paste.

Warm the oil in a cast iron casserole and add the garlic paste, cinnamon and paprika.  

Cook gently for a minute, then stir in the squash or pumpkin. Stir well to coat with the spice mix.

Add the orange juice.

Put the casserole in the oven and roast for approx 25 minutes.

Meanwhile heat 1 tblsp oil and a knob of butter in a frying pan

When the butter foams, add the sliced onions and cook over a medium heat til soft and beginning to turn colour.

Add a splash of dry sherry and continue cooking until sticky and caramelised.

Remove the casserole from the oven and scatter the cashews on top - return to the oven for a further 5 minutes to heat the nuts.

Serve the pumpkin and the onions on top of a bed of cous cous.

This would also work well as an accompaniment to roast chicken or roast pork, particularly with some buttered kale or spinach.

If you like these recipes, have a look on the website for more details of the pots and pans I used.

The Outdoor Hob is a fantastically versatile charcoal powered barbecue and outdoor slow cooker, which you can use all year round.

The cast iron casserole has a 4 litre capacity and is great on the hob and in the oven - I use mine for so many thing from curries to crumbles, risotto to rice pudding

The spun iron frying pans have a completely natural flax oil finish, which gets better and better the more you use them.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Rosehip jelly

ROSEHIP JELLY

There are still rosehips to be found in the hedgerows, so if you get the opportunity to pick some, have a  go at making this simple jelly.

I am lucky enough to have these in the back garden, but there are plenty in the hedgerows and parks.

This jelly's  great for so many things - we love it on Scotch pancakes for breakfast, stirred into rice pudding, on ice cream, with Greek yogurt, drizzled over bread and butter pudding and mixed with hot water to make a fabulously soothing drink, ideal when you have a cold.

Rosehips have a very high Vitamin C content - so this really does do some good as well as tasting delicious.  This is an extract from http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-rose-hip.html to whom I am grateful for the following information.

Rose hip Benefits

Contents

• Rose hip benefits
• Notes / side effects
• Where to buy Rose hip
• Rose hip reviews

A Rose hip is the fruit of a rose. The wild dog rose is the type of rose most often cultivated for their hips. This plant grows up to ten feet tall and bears a white, very fragrant flower. Once the flower has bloomed, and all the petals have fallen off, the hip is picked and used in a wide variety of preparations. Rose hips are the best source of vitamin C; they contain 50% more vitamin C than oranges. A single tablespoon of the pulp gives an adult more than the recommended daily allowance of 60 mg. They can be eaten raw, after being put through a blender, or soaked in water overnight and then cooked in the water for about half an hour. Because of the high vitamin C content they are an excellent immune system booster, and are often used as a supplement to prevent or treat a cold. The pulp from rose hips may be used in sauces or made into jelly.

Take your harvest of rosehips and rinse them well.  Then put them in a food processor and chop them coarsely.  Put the chopped fruit in a pan and cover with water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Strain through a jelly/muslin bag.  If you haven't got one a pair of (clean) tights works well!  Measure out the resulting liquid.

transfer this into a clean pan and add 1lb of preserving sugar for every pint of liquid.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat  and cook until you reach a "set" - we like ours quite runny, but be careful you don't overcook it or it will turn to glue.

Transfer to hot, clean jars and cover.

Enjoy!

Two soups - hearty homage to the genius of Victoria Wood and Julie Walters

2 soups - with acknowledgements to Victoria Wood and Julie Walters - the 2 soups sketch is one of the funniest things, I have ever seen.  If you have seen it, you will know what I'm talking about - if you haven't, click on the 2 soups link and give yourself a giggle.

When my teenage kids were small, there were 2 authors they preferred above all others;  Dr Seuss and Helen Cooper - and one of their all time favourite stories was Pumpkin soup by Helen Cooper - I got to know it off by heart.  I am sure many of you know the feeling.

There's a good smell of soup, and at night, with luck, you might see a bagpiping Cat in the window, and a Squirrel with a banjo, and a small singing Duck. Everyone has their own jobs to do. Everyone is happy... or so it seems.... until one day Duck, the littlest one, decides it's his turn to stir the soup.

And that inspired this first recipe, a grown up soup for my growing up (all too quickly) kids

Spiced pumpkin and corn soup
A spicy blend of autumn ingredients to warm the body and soul

2 tblsp oil
2 onions, sliced
500g pumpkin flesh, chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp paprika
Chilli to taste - fresh or dried
25g creamed coconut
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
2 corn on the cob

I cooked mine on the versatile and incredibly useful Kitchen Companion

Put the bowl on the diffuser ring on top of the heater base  and pour in the oil.  You can choose what ever oil you fancy, I used some local rapeseed oil, but anything from olive to vegetable will do.
Heat over a medium heat and add the onions.  Sweat them until soft, but not coloured.
Add the spices, stir well and cook for a minute.
Add the pumpkin, stir well and cook for around 5 minutes.
Add the coconut, stock and seasoning and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 15 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft.
Blend until smooth and then add the kernels from 2 corn on the cob.
Cook for a further 10 minutes and serve.

We had ours with some crusty bread, flecked with fresh sage and topped with sea salt.

Soup 2 is made from more autumn bounty, including apples and sage from my garden.

Parsnip and apple soup

2 tblsp oil
2 onions, chopped
2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 apples, cored and chopped - there is no need to peel them
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp chopped fresh sage - be careful with this, sage is a very pungent herb and too much will ruin the soup
Salt and pepper to taste

Again I used the Kitchen Companion for this.

Warm the oil over a medium heat and add the onions.
Cook until soft but not coloured
Put the parsnips, apples, sage and stock into the bowl .
Cover with the lid and bring to the boil over a high heat
Reduce to a simmer and cook for around 15-20 minutes until the parsnips are soft.

Blend and season with salt and pepper - it's likely you'll want to use a little more seasoning than usual,as this is quite a sweet soup.
I drizzled mine with hazelnut oil, for a luxurious and show off presentation and accompanied it with cheese bread.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2013 ©
www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

A recipe from our favourite pieman

After using our frying pans on Saturday Farm, which was filmed at the fabulous Daylesford Farm, James Strawbridge, founder of the fantastic Posh Pasty Company was keen to try out one of our tagines

This is the very first dish he cooked, which he has been kind enough to share with us.

Chicken & Sweet Potato Bake

INGREDIENTS

Chicken Marinade

• 1 tsp Paprika, Turmeric, Fennel Seeds, Pink Peppercorns
• 2 Garlic cloves
• Juice of Lemon
• 1 finely chopped Chilli
• Pinch of grated Nutmeg
• 2-4 tbsp Local Rapeseed Oil
• Handful of sliced Parsley stalks
• Salt and Pepper

Vegetables

• 2 roughly chopped Red Onions
• 2 Sliced Red Peppers
• 1 Sweet Potato diced
• 1 Lemon thinly sliced
• 1 Stick of Celery

Chicken

• 1 whole Chicken - jointed

• 1 pint Chicken Stock (Chicken carcass plus celery, carrot, bay leaf)

Pasta

• 200 g Rosmarino pasta or small Macaroni

METHOD

• Marinade the Chicken pieces for 1-2 hours and then heat your Tagine https://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/electric_taginesbase on high.
• Place the chicken in the cast iron pan and cook until the skin is golden. Then add in the vegetables and stir.

• Allow to cook for 5 minutes before adding in the stock and place on the lid.
• Turn down the heat and cook for a further 20 minutes
• Stir again and add in the pasta - cooking for a further 10-15 minutes
• Serve with corn on the cob and some Spanish style beans

James Strawbridge

Founder of the Posh Pasty Company

Lamb in red wine

I love it when you send us your recipes, there are so many talented and imaginative cooks out there.

So when Janice sent this recipe to me, I really wanted to share it with you - so here it is and I have to say, I can't wait to try this myself.

This one was cooked in the garden hob - making the most of our Indian Summer, but I think this will be just as good cooked in the electric slow cooker when winter sets in.

Today I was very busy and wanted something tasty for dinner which wouldn't take up much time. I also wanted to use my garden hob as the weather forecast was for fine weather.

My husband was sent off to buy anything he fancied for dinner and he came back with a boned half shoulder of lamb. So I decided to go for slow cooked lamb in red wine.

Ingredients:

Half shoulder of lamb boned and rolled

2 - 3 sprigs of rosemary

1 large or 2-3 small cloves of garlic

1 large glass of red wine

Sea salt to taste

1 table spoon of oil

1 tsp mint jelly

1 tsp damson jelly

Method

Prepare the lamb by tucking slivers of garlic into the meat. Salt the meat to taste.

Heat the cast iron bowl on the kitchen hob and add the table spoon of oil and brown the meat all over. Pour over the red wine and add the rosemary sprigs. Bring the wine to boil. Put on the lid and transfer to the garden hob. Leave to cook for 4-5 hours.

Remove the meat and cover loosely with foil and keep warm.

Add the two jellies to the sauce on the kitchen hob and dissolve. Boil vigorously to reduce by to half and achieve a nice glossy sauce.

The lamb will be wonderfully tender and the sauce tasty. Serve with whatever you like. We had roast potatoes and parsnip together with lots of veg - carrots, swede, broccoli and cabbage. A feast!

With many thanks to.......

Janice Bell
Bread at Home
www.bread-at-home.co.uk

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk